Showering our babies with love

WHEN I moved to Spain in 1980 I was a very enthusiastic teen with a basic knowledge of Spanish, looking for my way in life.  

My path was varied and I learnt much, but it was when I had my first child that I truly discovered an in-built capacity to face new challenges and stretch my abilities beyond all imagination just to keep up with the continuous list of adversities that bringing up children entails.  

Motherhood is pretty powerful stuff!

My daughter’s baby shower however seemed to be my Achilles’ heel. 

I wanted my ‘little girl’ to have a true English experience as she was born and grew up in Spain.  I myself had missed out on all these fun traditions as when pregnant I was living in Madrid at a time when you couldn’t even buy a greetings card in Spanish let alone English and the idea never even came up.   

Living in Marbella however this was a perfect opportunity to celebrate in style. Just one problem: I’d only ever seen a baby shower on the telly so, how to make the perfect baby shower when I’ve never had one or been to one myself?  

I started to search online and look for those films with baby themes, but even when I knew what I wanted to create I still had to put it all together.  That’s when it dawned on me… I had to look to ‘little England’ for help.

Kara, owner of the Boardwalk, has always been my first port of call when I want to talk through a new idea.  Kara was the very first person I consulted on our Zero Hero incentive to reward the designated driver.  Kara was also our Marbella Now TV Unsung Hero Award winner for 2017 for all the charity work she does behind the scenes, particularly with the Malaga orphans who she has supported for over a decade.  

It was also Kara who started including the orphans and vulnerable children into our local community to work when they come of age; central theme to this year’s UNMS2018. I hit the jackpot by once again calling Kara first. She really knew what she was doing!

The cava, spring rolls, finger sandwiches, scones and cakes were delicious with plentiful options for my daughter and son-in-law who are vegan. The extras she organised were just perfect too: Joe West sang and ‘saxed’ us all afternoon, Margie’s Cakery made the cutest ‘baby bottom’ cake which was the perfect centre piece, 

Love Noel made photo key-ring gift bags to put the photos that Milagros Iglesias took of all the guests and Evento Shop Marbella decked the place out fit for a wedding with delightful flower arrangements and delicate decorations festooned everywhere!! 

I wanted to shower my baby with love and thanks to Kara and everyone who helped make it happen and to those who came to celebrate with us, not only was it the best baby shower imaginable, love rained down on us all! 

#BetterTogether 

@marbellanow