Blessingway Info.....give it to me people!

[earthfairy]

My best friend is throwing me a "Blessingway" instead of a baby shower. This is my 2nd bub & my first baby shower was er, a fizzer so I am wanting to do something with ritual & more meaning.

I absolutely LOVE the concept of a blessingway & she is stoked to be able to throw me one in a few weeks....I have asked to do the whole "birthing necklace" thing & also to have one made for DD as a "big sister necklace" that she can wear into the hospital to meet her new baby brother or sister.

So! I need all the information you can throw at me....

...did you have one? What did you like/dislike about it?
...did you do any special ceremonies?
...what did you do in regards to gifts?

And any invitation wording would be a HUGE plus too!

Thank you so much :goodvibes:

EF x

[Nomsie]

Will send you a link to a pic on FB :)

A friend of mine who is training to be a doula recently held a blessingway for her friend, and by all accounts it was lovely.. sorry I'm not useful, other than the link...

[Bell & Bug]

PB&J and Ains are two people that come to mind that may be worth asking :) or maybe they will pop into this thread :)

Good luck and have fun :D

[earthfairy]

Thank you!

Also did anyone do any henna tattooing?

Ive found a lady here who is apparently AMAZING at it & am thinking of getting her to come & do henna tattooing for all the girls....what do you think?

[puddlejumper]

Yep do henna. You can also buy it at Indian shops in a tube and have a guest do your belly.

Coloured twine/embroidery thread/wool. You all stand in a circle and wrap it around everyones wrist passing it around. Once all 'joined' you cut between everyone then tie off the bracelets. These are worn until baby is born and the pregnancy journey is complete.

[Thermolicious]

Bellycasting is beautiful too, you can get your henna image transferred onto your cast after you have bubs :D

Some women get the guests to bring a candle which you would then light during the birth (not sure if you can do this in hospital though).

Some women also do a thread ceremony where everyone stands in a circle and you pass a ball of wool from one woman to the next, wrapping it around your own wrist and passing it on, each woman wishes you *something* (usually a wish for a peaceful easy birth, something like that) when you are back to the first person you snip and tie the ends together then the wool is cut between each person and you tie it into a bracelet which you keep on until after the birth.

Sometimes guests will bring a frozen dinner as a 'gift' for after the birth (or leading up too!).

[earthfairy]

Thanks so much!

I love all of these ideas but am worried about how some of my guests will feel about it....they arent really, er, alternative & some of them have already raised their eyebrows at the thought of me not having a traditional baby shower. I dont care what they think, this is REALLY what I want! It holds so much more meaning & represents so much more I think.

Also, Im having a c-sect, does this matter in regards to the ceremony? :confused:

[Thermolicious]

Nope, not at all :) Elleandbump had her blessingway the day before (??) she had Sam, maybe PM her or hopefully she will see this thread.

[Baldie's Mum]

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee100/ainsjosh/blessingway2-1.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee100/ainsjosh/blessingway.jpg

My blessingway was AMAZING!!!!!! It was a total surprise! It was so fun. I got a special necklace that i am getting put in a 3D frame thing........

I had a tent, a pillow bed, food, drinks, my beautiful friends!!!!!!

It was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Baldie's Mum]

go to my FB page and look through the pics of me that others added. :D

[peanutbutter&jelly]

Hey EF :D
Ains' blessingway was awesome :D


What can I share? We held it outside, in early September. We all brought food to share and a bead for her necklace. We brought gifts that leaned towards AP and did the yarn around the wrist thing - in the circle we wound the yarn around everyone's wrists, then cut it, tying it around our right wrists (from memory) and wore it till we heard that her little man arrived safely.
We spoke about our labour experiences and birthing experiences. We spoke about newborns.
Our friend who is married to an Indian guy and spends a few months there every second year did the henna on Ains' belly and we had 2 photographer friends there covering everything on the day. This is the link to one of them, who blogged about it http://www.artographybyjoelle.com/2010/08/30/a-beautiful-blessingway-sydney-maternity-photographer/

We didn't do invites, hers was a surprise blessingway. She cried, it was so very sweet :bee:

(and now everyone in our group wants one :p :laughing:)

[peanutbutter&jelly]

Ohhh, look at how tiny those nappies are :bee: I forgot how small they were. They didn't even fit her huge bubbaloo!! (And I made them lol, how could I forget!?)

[chicken and eggs mum]

i had my blessingway on dec, will post a link to pics when i finish bf and have 2 hands.

it was lovely.

in re to ppl who arent "into that kind of thing" - they will have fun!! my friends were surprised with how moving it was and they all participated.

more when i have two hands and a toddler not bouncing off the walls!!! LOL

[earthfairy]

:crying:

Oh how beautiful! Ains, I 'think' I remember seeing these aaaaages ago.....*think*

It looks like you had an amazing day....exactly what I would like!

Im leaving most of the planning up to my best friend, but as she isnt really a "hippy" or "alternative" Im just trying to get as much info for her as possible.
I have bought the book "mother rising" so hoping that will help her a bit.

I LOVE the idea about handmade gifts/nappies/remedies etc as gifts....not too sure what to do about gifts. This is my 2nd bub so have everything pretty much from having Poppy. Plus I dont know the sex of this bub either :D

I thought about asking that, as well as the bead to bring an item for a nurture basket - yanno something for pregnancy, and post partum? Or shall I just stop being a control freak & let my friend sort it out :laughing:

[Baldie's Mum]

I also got some great brauers stuff. Natural healing for Post birth and some great stories pre birth.

I had the best time. I am so so so lucky!

MJ the nappies went no where near the bumbo! We are going to fit them on his dollies!

I had an amazing time and yes cried like a baby!!!!!!! :D

[peanutbutter&jelly]

Yup, PP stuff too, and things for the baby - natural remedies, organic creams etc were in the box with the nappies ;)

[peanutbutter&jelly]

I also got some great brauers stuff. Natural healing for Post birth and some great stories pre birth.

I had the best time. I am so so so lucky!

MJ the nappies went no where near the bumbo! We are going to fit them on his dollies!

I had an amazing time and yes cried like a baby!!!!!!! :D

lol Bella's fit on a baby born doll and they were slightly bigger I think ;)

Can't wait to start planning the next one :D

[emma2938]

hi there :-)

Ive been to 2 blessingways so far! And plan them as well, in my doula capacity :-)

The most common ceremonies we tend to do is:

Cotton string around all the womens wrists. Once you are all tied together go around the circle and each woman tell you something uplifting/inspriring etc for your birthing journey. then cut the string so each woman has a bracelet. They wear it until you have bubba. As a Doula, i then try and collect all the womens bracelets and ,make a beautiful keepsake of all the bracelets (like in photo box frame).

I alsways do the birthing necklace. Each woman bring a special bead for you. Go around the circle and each woman say why she brought that particular bead... Bead it together and you can wear it during labour so you are reminded of how you are surrounded by strong powerful birthing women.

Its all about you! Be pamerped. Whatever that means to you, foot massages etc.

As far as food, each woman bring something that she loves, is comfort food, of reminds her of her childhood.
Lots of Raspberry Leaf tea!!! :-)

You could do henna belly, you culd paint your belly with water colours, thats always beautiful!

Designate someone to take photos!! it happens so quickly that you dont want to miss it :-)

DO have an invitation. and be clear on your invitation that its a Blessingway, not a baby shower. I think Noms linked you to the wording of the last one i did??? Its also goods to have on there that scary, negative birth stories not welcome! Lets people know the day is meant to be focussed on the positives :D

Theres a heap more, but those are the main bits i can think of right now :-)

[emma2938]

i forgot, we also take small camvases or art paper to do drawings on. Each of the women present can write affirming passages or pictures on paper, so that you can post them up around your birthing room. If thats a csction, then you can have your partner/doula read them out during the birth.

[earthfairy]

Yay!

Thank you so much for all the info you have given! Am getting right into this whole blessing way thing.....even have a friend making soy candles in glass jars as gifts for me to give to my guests! :cheerleader1:

[chicken and eggs mum]

Forgot to come back in here and tell you some more!!! Whoops!!!

Am just uploading some more photos to flickr, then i will link to you.

One thing we did that I loved was I made some prayer flags and got everyone to write messages on them. I had this strung up in my room when I birthed. Everyone wrote words of insipiration.

We also had some poems read - one was written and read by my sister over speaker phone from another part of the country.

we did the candle ceremony - we tied rosemary and ribbons around the candles. I lit them, passed them to each person in turn and they blew them out and made a wish. They were to be lit again when bub was born. This was everyones thank you present as well.

We also did the birth necklace!! Everyone went round and added their bead to a bowl and talked about why those chose that bead!! Was lovely and quite a few tears were shed.

What else??

Oh, we ordered a henna kit off the net. My hubby draws stuff for a living, so he designed his own tree of life. and did this on my belly. was a lovely way to get him involed.

We also had yummy food and drinks!!

Mine was held in the local botanical gardens!! We took a rug, cushions, fold up chairs and natural decorations!!

Was the most wonderful day!! And I cannot wait to throw one for somebody!!!

Hope this link works.

Here are some photos from the actual day
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ittybittyjes/sets/72157625538062350/
(under each photo is a bit of info about each part of the ceremony!! and some of the poems that were read)

And here is me in hospital with my necklace (which despite its size and weight I wore during labout!!) and my flags!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51994988@N02/sets/72157625796456787/

Enjoy!!!

[earthfairy]

Oh my goodness! What BEAUTIFUL photos!!!!

it looks liek you had the most amazing day, how blessed you are! Your necklace is beautiful as are the prayer flags too......*sniff* makes me all teary.....

Im going to go have a cry now :crying:

[chicken and eggs mum]

I am very blessed to have friends and family who helped me on my journey to number 2!!! It was the most amazing day!!

The photos were taken by another, very talented hubber!!!

Yup, have a cry and blame it on the hormones!!!

I treasure my necklace!! It will always hold a special place in my heart!!!!