Read before inviting me to that baby shower!

In my social circles, I have noticed there are too many bridal and baby showers. It is like everybody is getting married or getting a baby.

This year alone, I have been included in countless WhatsApp groups for either bridal or baby showers, against my wish. It’s like I woke up and suddenly I have been added to all these events.

I am fed up of this trend and that’s why I had to vent. The most annoying thing is these showers are for people who know and care little about me.

Picture this: I have been forcefully included in a bridal shower of a colleague who does not even greet me on the corridors when we meet. I have also been added to a group for that sister-in-law who is always on my case and another group of a classmate who I last saw almost 20 years ago.

And I am expected to participate happily and willingly in these groups despite my strong reservations. I have no idea where such people fish out my number from, but they need to have some basic courtesy if they want me to be part of such agendas.

By the way this rant is not directed to the bride or the mother-to-be because they are not privy to the whole thing because it is a surprise. My vent is to those big-headed admins who think they know everything.

Do your homework well: Since you are the initiator and driver of this noble project, please do your research well and establish who the bride’s closest friends are before you sneak in my name.

 Just because I am a frequent ‘liker’ of her comments on FB does not mean we are tight. Ask her closest relations - fiancé and siblings – to establish who her real friends are.

Please call me: When you have established that I am close ally to the mother-to-be, please call me first before you ambush me into the strange group. Otherwise I will ‘left’ before you know it.

Be reasonable: Bridal shower is just the mini event to usher in the grand event. So when you declare that members are contributing Sh5,000 each, I wonder for what? The most I can part with for a shower is Sh1,000 which should cater for snacks and cake. Be alive to the fact that members have different financial capabilities.

Don’t demand/be polite: As admin, learn to use polite and respectful language. At no point should you appear to be demanding the money from us. Be as polite and tactful as possible, otherwise we will exit.

Be open-minded: Please do not Lord over us your expensive, farfetched ideas. You may know all the exotic venues where celeb bridal and baby and bridal showers are done, but please allow us to share our simple jua kali ideas so that we may feel like we are part of the project.

Desist from drafting your grand vision from venue and menu, then expecting us to rubber stamp your ideas.

The writer is a married working mother of a toddler boy and a pre-school girl. She shares her experience of juggling between career, family and social life.