The Mother's Way

A Mother Blessing is an alternative form to a baby shower. The occasion is still a celebration of new life but the emphasis is not toward commercial gift giving but on spending time having educated conversations with the mother to be. The Mother Blessing is used often by mothers but does not pertain to them only. It can be used by anyone. This can be expecting mothers, mothers adopting, or someone who needs a celebration to brighten their day.

Mother Blessing evolved from the root word Blessingway. This word is actually a Navajo term that many people use and the meaning implies a celebration of pregnancy and motherhood. Since the Navajo people do not approve of the term in this manner, many people use the term Mother Blessing or phrases similar to it.

As mentioned before, the emphasis is not on gift giving but toward a more positive theme. Since the positive message is to keep the mother to be happy and content about her future child, the common baby shower nightmare stories of labor and parenting are not discussed. Many people also choose not to develop and play those impractical games associated with most baby showers.

As with invitations, indicate specifically what you want your guests to bring and what you want them not to bring. If you want, indicate specifically that gifts are not required or needed to be brought. Also if you develop an activity that requires your guests to bring something such as a candle or bead, inform them clearly on the invitation.

Now you must be thinking. There are no presents and there are no silly games. What the heck is done at a Mother Blessing? 

There are many activities that can be done at a Mother Blessing. Here are some common activities performed at most Mother Blessings:

Belly Casting

Best way to celebrate a pregnancy is to have a keepsake for remembrance. These casts are fairly easy to create and proper ingredients are available at most mother/baby related stores. Pamper the mother as the cast is being made, this little extra indulgence is a great way to treat the mother.

Necklace

Most mothers indicate that they feel very lonely and scared during their first and usually every successive labor period. Here’s a way to keep the expecting mother happy. Create a necklace or any other type of jewelry and give it to the mother during the Mother Blessing. In this way, during her terrifying labor period, she will have a reminder of her friends and family thinking of her.

Prayer Flags

These are stripes of cloth that are usually 3″ x 16″, can be larger or smaller, that were originally inspired by Tibetan prayer flags. The cloth is given to each guest, during the Mother Blessing, to write down a blessing or positive message. Same as the necklace objective, the prayer flag is kept with the mother during her labor period so that she has a reminder of all her friends and family members thinking of her.

Candle Lighting

This can be done is two ways. The first manner is to have all the guests bring a candle to the mother blessing. The candles can be laid out on a table or around the room. A popular means is to have the guests light up the candles and say a few positive words or blessings that can help the mother’s confidence about her pregnancy. Another way is to give each guest a candle at the end of the party to take home. Once the mother has gone into labor later on, a phone tree is initiated and all the candle holders are informed of the labor period. They are told to light up the candle and make prayers or have good thoughts as the mother goes through her labor.

Remember that the Mother Blessing should have a positive, women centered theme. It’s encouraged to have the expecting father present and pamper him as well at the Mother Blessing. The whole point of Mother Blessing gatherings is to downplay the material gift giving occasion and increase the recognition the mother and her baby deserve. 

This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 11:03 am and is filed under Baby Shower Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.