Are you starting to see the light, that the end of mom guilt starts at the shower?  Not ready to have moms lining up for keg stands at your next baby shower?  I get it.  Embracing the “Bad Mom” lifestyle comes in stages (although, if you need anyone to start the keg stands, in our heads, we’re your girls) and doesn’t have to be an “all or nothing”  extravaganza.

Low Key Ways to Add Some Badness To A Baby Shower

5 – Don’t try to make it too amazing or magical.  Sending a new mom down that path will lead to hours of searching “magical childhood” on Pinterest, unrealistic expectations and exhaustion.  Children’s lives can be magical if you step back and let them find the amazingness and magic (instead of planning it for them).  Make the baby shower just ok so the mom-to-be knows she’s among a realistic bunch.

4 – Mom Guilt Confessional.  Instead of asking the mom guests to include bits of motherhood advice (and getting 7 different ways of saying, “treasure the moments”), then scrapbooking it into the perfect display item, ask the mom guests to include things they feel guilty about.  Then tape it to a piece of posterboard and give to the mom-to-be to hang in a closet.  You know,  the closet that she’ll run and escape to when she wants to eat that piece of chocolate uninterrupted, or just needs to not hear “mom” called for the next 5 minutes.  And as she regains herself, she’ll be able to read this hidden wall of “shame” and know she’s not alone.

3 – Bleeping Motherhood’s Would You Rather: Pregnancy, Baby & Beyond. This book is obviously critical to Bad Mom Baby Shower fun.  Before the mom arrives, pass the book around for guests to sign, write words of advice or inspiration.  In private, ask the soon to be mom to answer about 10 of the questions.  Pass out paper and writing utensils to the guests, and when the soon to be mom is opening a huge bag of individually wrapped onesies and socks, shout out a Would You Rather question and have the guests write the answer.  Once you’ve shouted out all the answers, have the guests tally up and award the winner a gift.  Depending on your audience, it may be questions about putting tiaras on your vagina or never getting a full night of sleep while pregnant.  The book is really flexible to tailor the questions to how loud Aunt Edna’s hearing aid is turned up.

2 – Display your alcohol consumption.  At a recent baby shower I held, we celebrated each bottle of champagne we finished.  Instead of hiding it in the garbage can, we stuck a candle in it and lit up every empty bottle.  It added to the ambiance.  And the “I don’t care if you judge me” factor.

1 – Encourage all the guests to wear clothes with stains.  Give a prize for the most stained attire.  Extra credit to clothes with stains that came from their kids.  This will truly help set the path for the mom-to-be of trying to achieve perfection.

Use any or all of these steps to setting this about to be momma up to be a momma that quits worrying about the judgement, the guilt and the perfection.  Instead, a momma that raises good kids because they enjoy life together, instead of trying to keep up with what everyone around them says is perfection.

What else would you add to this list?  Tell us by commenting below!