This morning I read an article discussing the merits of a co-ed shower (the article focuses on baby showers, but applies to any kind of shower where two people are getting gifts), and I immediately felt very old-fashioned, and to be totally honest, kind of stupid.


I've repeatedly used this site to write about wedding traditions, and while I still fully believe that some traditions should be upheld, there are some other traditions that make little-to-no sense to me. Like the girls only shower. I mean, honestly. Aren't we having a "girls only" thing already with the bachelorette party? Why does the shower have to be "girls only" too? For those of you who don't want to/won't read the article, I'll summarize what I got out of it for you:

Image via TeenyManolo.com

1. Gender segregation is weird.

I'm not advocating for co-ed college bathrooms when I say that it's weird that, as adults, we have to have women/men only parties. Let's not do away with girls' night outs or mens' hunting trips, but for big life events (a couple getting married or having a baby), shouldn't we want to celebrate together? I mean, don't we celebrate together anyway? Why are we throwing parties (BIG DEAL parties) that keep us apart?

Image via Disney Baby.

2. The presents at the shower are for two people, so why is only one person represented?

The tradition of the groom showing up at the shower for gift opening kind of alleviates this, as he is present to receive his gifts as well (which makes sense). But I haven't really heard of this being true for a baby shower (which it should be). Still, I have yet to meet a guy who is totally psyched about coming to the shower, even if it is to open up lots of cool gifts that he helped pick out. Maybe it's the way we're framing showers, or just the term "shower" itself that leaves most men with the impression of an afternoon of torture. We need to work on this because

Image via VisionDjs.com

3. (Most) Showers are boring.

They are. Be honest. Showers are AWESOME when you're the one getting the gifts, but even the most fun party games don't alleviate the fact that you're watching someone else get a stream of presents. I'm all for traditions, but shouldn't we at least attempt to make them a little more fun? We use the same tired games, the same tired food in the same stuffy places and then we wonder why people aren't jazzed up about coming. No wonder when we say "co-ed" shower, most guys act like they're sick that day. This is probably because most of us girls have complained about showers in the past. Can we blame them?

SO. The article suggests that we all make an effort to make showers co-ed, since
a. we're celebrating the fact that we're marrying/having a baby with a guy
b. most of us are friends with guys
c. parties are more fun with more people

So let's make showers more fun for everyone. Let your girlfriends bring their boyfriends. Make games more fun for everyone involved. Eat good food (and a lot of it. STOP SERVING MINI SALADS PEOPLE). Make the girls/boys only events the bachelorette/bachelor parties, or in the case of a baby, have pamper the new mommy/watch football without a baby screaming for daddy days.

Here are some fun ideas:

Have an "I-Do BBQ" as suggested by these awesome invites via NineEighteen on Etsy

Image via Brenda's wedding blog.

Image via Style Me Pretty.

What do you think? Would you have a co-ed shower? Have you been to one?