Blessingway?

[jbk21]

I know people are probably planning showers for most of you, but is anyone having a blessingway?  This is my second boy and we live 2700 miles from family, so I haven't heard of anyone wanting to give us a baby shower (fine by us- we have most of the things we need and family members are buying some of the things we don't have- like a second car seat and some other newborn stuff (we sold a lot of newborn stuff when we moved cross country)).  

Anyway, I'm really excited about having a blessingway.  I'd love to hear ideas from other mamas who've had one or are planning one!

So far I'm thinking that I will send cloth flags- like penants- to friends and family and ask them to write an encouraging phrase or verse on it and send it back.  I'll sew them together into a bunting to hang up at the birth.  

I'm also going to ask attendants of the party to bring an unscented candle (preferably beeswax or soy to reduce toxins) and to put their name or initials on the bottom.  We'll light them during labor :)

I am so excited to have a henna artist too!  

Any other ideas? 

[Jaimee]

I had a mother blessing with my first, which was very ceremonial about the transition to motherhood.  My sister researched it and chose little rituals to put together for the event.  We drew pictures of what it means to be a mother, shared stories, made birth bracelets, everyone went around and read pre-prepared statements about spirituality and motherhood, and then everyone said a few things they thought I would be sacrificing to become a mother (we wrote them down and burned them) and then said a few things about me that they felt would make me a good mother.

With my second, I also lived far away from old/good friends and family.  So a new friend I had here just put together a luncheon and had friends from other places send cards or small meaningful gifts for me instead of for the baby.  Many chose self care type items, mix CD's, etc.

I do want to throw this out there, though, before your thread potentially gets hijacked... there are many people on MDC that are offended by the use of the term "Blessing Way" when you are not Native American, specifically not of the one of the tribes that claim this term.  There are SEVERAL threads on here already that totally got out of hand, back and forth about the terminology.  So while you certainly don't have to, you might want to consider changing your title since that's what will show up in "recent posts" for everyone to see.

[jbk21]

I certainly didn't know the term was so divisive- I have read books and posts about it and have never gotten the impression that the term was claimed.  I don't think I'll change the title- this is usually what it is called, like I said, in the info that I have read about it.  I can appreciate the Native American tradition (as well as the Scottish and Christian backgrounds) of the ceremony but I don't think that using the term should necessarily be taken by anyone as an offense.  To me, it's sort of like non-Christians using the term Christmas to describe their holiday celebration.  Ah well.  I hope nobody takes offense to it, I just wanted to get some ideas. 

[Jaimee]

I hope not, too.  It's really been awful in the past.  Threads have been shut down.