The Northwest times. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1947-1955, 1952-10-01
BY CINDERELLA
Q ON SHOWERS. .

ON SHOWERS.
do not believe in showers. Blu
that does not mean that I do no
like to remember a very dear frienc
with some remembrance on the oc
casion of her approachingmarriage
l am against showers in the sam,
way that I am against commercial.
lied Christmas where the real spiri
is lost under a load of gift-givinl
which taxes ones financial capacity
unduly and creates hyper-tensions
There is something deeper. more
spiritual to ChristmaStide than that
And so, l think, there is to the
thoughts which accompany a gift tc
a bride to-be
How bridal showers originated !
have never been able to discover
The reference books at my disposal
completely ignore showers. I sur
mise that it was an American brain
wave, beginning, like many customs.
as an tltruistic solution to an exist
ing problem. 1t is not too difficult
to envision showers stemming from
some pioneer community's attempt
at welcoming new bride for one
o. their colonist brethren with a
little get-together.
Whatever its origin. the shower
has, in our day. become an inStitu-
ton which has me just two steps
from the poor house, and keeps me
up at nights, trying to concoct good
reasons which will excuse me from
a very dull and sorry evening.
I feel that showers are fast be-
coming a social racket From spon-
taneous get-togethers of close girl
friends DESTROYS of wishing the bride
to-be future happiness, they have
developed into highly organized pro-
cedures where the real purpose of
such gatherings is lost in the end
result of securing some article or
articles dearly desired by the guest
of honor.
Today. instead of modest little to-
kens of regard left to the choice of
each giver, the sponsor of a shower
usually asks the guest of honor
what she would like. If she's the
thoughtful type, the gift is one
which is within the reach of most of
the invited guests, but more often
as not, the question of What would
you ike?', elicits a request for a
complete set of crystal ware re-
corder or a complete dinner set in
blue. And the sponsor
has to whack her brains to find
enough guests" to pay for the gift.
This happening once or twice for
some very close friend is acceptable
to guests, but the "once or twice"
develops into numerous such finan-
cial drains for each sponsor of
shower happens to be every close
friend" of the bride to-be, who, ma
turallv desires to give her very close
friend really, special gift
Many is the time I have received
an eye-catching invitation to a sho-
wer, given by someone whom I do
not know in honor of some noddinq
acquaintance. The invitation has
in one corner an elegant
and in another corner,
neatly handwritten is Donation So.
This sort of thing is enough to make
me burst a blood vessel
I'm all for giving a helping hand |
but Lord forbid that 7 be responsible
for gliding the casual friend" bril-
1al lily, (Will you come to a Perso-
nal ShoWerp). for furnishing her
home (Will you come to a Kitchen
for feeding her and her
brute, (Will you come to a |
Pantry Shower0 and-this is the
last straw-be responsible for cloth |
ng her offsprings, however cute |
they may turn out to bel (Will you /
,ome to a Baby Shower?).
Then there is so much pretense /
At a shower on the part of both no.
lored guest and invited guests. To
he honored guest, a shower rarely
zones as a real surprise. I grant