So, there I was last week minding my own business, comparing the differences between a baby shower and a diaper party asking poignant questions, and weaving a story of words to capture reader attention about an event I had attended, when I had a thought: I really need to cut my lawn.
As of this past Monday, I still had not cut my lawn, but plan to soon. For those who read last week’s gem of a Don’t Rush Me column (When guys have ‘baby showers’) you know I attended a diaper party and I am here to report on that day, 3,200 diapers were gifted.
Here’s what some readers thought of said column.
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Don. Though, like you, I never heard of a diaper party but I like the idea. Way more fun than a boring baby shower that can take up to half a day. Besides, cute little baby clothes never get a chance to wear out as the little tyke grows out of them so fast they wind up being given away to some other expectant mom. My grandson and his wife recently had their first child and she had such a pile of used baby clothes given to her by friends and family that they would never wear out either.
Now diapers on the other hand is an excellent gift that will be useful for several months and any leftovers would always be welcomed by new parents. Besides, even the men can get ‘em without being concerned about colors, style or size which usually wind up wrong and dropping them off, grappling something to eat and leaving is the way to go. Wonder why it took so long to come up with such a great idea?
Good stuff. I laughed, read it again and laughed again. I’ve been drug off to a few baby showers that seem to go on for hours, so I really like the concept of diaper parties. Regards, Barney A.
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Dear Don, I read your “Guys baby showers” column with some degree of nostalgia. I hadn’t considered the quiet town of Big Rapids where I grew up — home of the Ferris State Bulldogs! — as a trend-setter, but in reading your column, I now know it certainly is.
The year was 1955. I was a senior in high school, my 50-year-old dad and 44-year-old mom learned they were going to have a baby. It had been 15 years since my younger brother was born, so all their baby things had long since been given away. Of course, Mom’s friends had a baby shower for her to replenish those needed baby things.
Dad’s friends thought it would be fun to have an evening “baby shower” for him. They even called it a “baby shower,” somewhat tongue-in-cheek. The guys all chipped in and gave him a real nice versatile high chair for the baby as a “shower” gift. During the evening I doubt there were any cute games typical of the ladies’ baby showers. If there were any games, they probably involved cards and a dollar or two on the line to make the evening interesting. I don’t know what food was served, but if the shower was for Dad, scotch would have been the beverage of choice.
So, it’s only taken 65 years for the latest in baby showers to go from trendy Big Rapids to southeast Michigan!
As an aside on your remarks about all the packages of diapers given at the baby shower you attended, disposable diapers were not in style in 1955. Diapers were cloth; dirty diapers were soaked (ugh!), then washed and reused. So, you didn’t need so many packages of them. Since the environmentalists are big on recycling and reusing, are they aware of this possibility for diapers? Tom S. Clarkston
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And, from Ortonville . . . Hello again. Plainly, diaper showers for males are common because more and more people are having children with different partners, or are in separated or single family homes.
My daughter’s father had had another child before being with me and we felt it might be odd to have a baby shower since his family had already been to one. So we had a diaper party instead so that the “etiquette policers” (i.e. our relatives who are Baby Boomers and Gen Xers) didn’t complain about attending a baby shower and buying big gifts for a couple who, in their eyes, was not formally “deserving” of having a baby shower.
Now, on the topic of your friends’ pickup trucks looking like “a redneck rally”… sounds like that’s purely your friends’ car preferences and probably has absolutely nothing to do with the diaper parties. Lol, but still, a Ford Escape?
But yeah, no surprise on your odd, back-handed comments on this topic, Don. ?? ?? Your claims of being non misogynistic because you have been to a baby shower and have kids is like saying you’re not a racist because you have a Black friend.
As always, can’t wait till they bring in someone who doesn’t have “fast whitening hair” to write for this paper. From one of those “chicks,” Ms. Millennial Gladys Kravitz (Don’s Note: This is the writer’s name de plume. Gladys Kravitz was the nosey neighbor on the TV show Bewitched.)
As always, thanks for reading and writing! Send comments to DontRushDon@gmail.com

  don rush, don’t rush me