My godh bharai: How I broke tradition and had a fun party for myself instead

I am definitely one of those non-conformist and non-traditional mums who always ends up being told by some or the other well-meaning person to ‘act my age,’ or ‘act my role’ or something similar. I am sure you understand what I mean.

And honestly, I know that some or, in fact, quite a few of you may be in my shoes already, or are on the other side, the ones who end up saying these things to those who do not ‘confirm’ to your idea of what is right.

Let me just say that I am not the typical woman in any way, but in many ways, I still am a ‘typical’ female. Sounds confusing? Let me explain.

How I planned my Godh Bharai

For now, I will just share about how I planned my own godh bharai and how I had so much fun that I hope every woman who has a godh bharai ceremony, or a baby shower if you may call it, has it the way I did, or even better.

Me and my husband live in Mumbai, but hailing originally from Delhi, we don’t have any family here in this city. So when I was expecting my first baby, I had no one to look after me. My parents did come in for a few months in between, and I had a small ceremony which was more traditional but very relaxed.

You know how it is when your parents do something for you. They make sure that you are taken care of and your comfort is of utmost priority, unlike the other set of ‘parents’ who will make sure all traditions and customs are followed and your comfort and preference can go to la-la land.

For my second pregnancy, I was sure I would do things my way, and I did it too. I had always wanted a fun godh bharai, where I would be the one at ease and spend some fun times before the responsibility of looking after a new baby took over.

It is important for any would-be mother to feel relaxed, and only when you are truly happy will your babies be the happiest. So the entire idea was to keep it fun, relaxed and healthy.

Here are some fun things I did at my godh bharai.

1. I arranged a fun get together with my girlfriends at home, so that we all could be relaxed and make as much noise as we wanted to.
2. The theme was pink and blue, so I kept a basket full of pink and blue nail paints. My friends had to help paint my nails using both the colours, and of course they had to do nail art for themselves too.
3. We had fun games such as who can come up with the most number of baby girl and baby boy names in a given amount of time. We also had silly games involving walking around with a pillow around your tummy, guess the pregnant mommy’s weight, guess her biggest food craving and so on.
4. We also had posing sessions for photos, with non-pregnant friends striking pregnancy poses.
5. We had lots of delicious and healthy foods to eat and fresh juice to drink.

And of course, we indulged in a lot of gossip and fun banter about life in general, and how it is important to connect with friends and take a break once in a while to recharge those batteries.

And at the end of the party, all my friends went home with a goody bag of shower gels and hand creams made of pure ingredients and relaxing oils.

So you see, there was no religious ritual involved, no preparing elaborate meals for the priest, no donation to religious places or anything of the sort at all. And today, I have two happy and healthy babies who believe they have the best mother in the world. I told you, when you’re happy, your babies will be the happiest.

Also Read: 9 unique gift ideas for a baby shower

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