It’s another celebration in the yCrash family. And another beautiful memory too. We are welcoming a new baby into the family. Though we are not near the baby’s immediate vicinity, our happiness and love for both the mother and child are just as strong as the ones that are with them. This article is going to shine some light on how we planned a baby shower for our very own favorite UI designer, Harkiran Kaur.
The Initial Planning
As usual, we started concocting the plan months ago. The first thing we did was contact the husband, who at that time was out of town… Wait, no… He was literally out of the country. I still remember the call like it was just yesterday. When I introduced myself and told the purpose of the call, he calmly replied, ‘Well, Ananya, I am currently in the US. I am not sure how I will be able to help you.’. I know what you are thinking. But for some reason, he keeps calling me Ananya till this date.
Okay, getting back to the plan. So I told him that we can do this once he is back in the country. This also gives us time to plan everything ahead. Now that we had decided that we are using the husband to surprise her, we felt calm and relaxed. Since it was her spouse, we decided to ship the hamper to a friend’s house to maintain the surprise. Because we don’t want her receiving the surprise package, do we?
The very next day, Bhuvan, Harkiran’s husband shared the address that the hamper had to be shipped to. He also details about when he was returning. Now that the information was confirmed, we needed to quickly put together a hamper. We decided to order almost the same things that we put together during Prithi’s baby shower. But then, this pregnancy was a little bit different than that. We celebrated Prithi’s first baby, but this is Harkiran’s second. So, not everything can be the same.
The Gift Box
This gift hamper had the following contents: A couple of soft toys, Sash (For the mother, father & the sister), a couple of books, baby dress, diaper bag, a greeting card, and ofcourse the cake. I made sure that everything we chose was gender neutral. For the book, I chose ‘THE SECOND BABY BOOK: How to cope with pregnancy number two and create a happy home for your firstborn and new arrival’ by Sarah Ockwell-Smith that was sold on Amazon. For the diaper bag and the cake, we involved the team members to decide it. We put 5 diaper bags & 5 cake designs to vote. Look at the options and the winner below:
The Card Creation
Since we decided to place an order through Amazon, we didn’t want it to be shipped to the address directly. As we all know most of the time the Amazon orders are split into multiple delivery. So we decided that Kumar will collect all those gifts, and put them altogether in one box and then ship it to the address that Harkiran’s hubby shared. While the orders were placed at Kumar’s address, I started designing the customized congratulations card for both Harkiran & the baby. The whole team shared their wishes and blessings with cute messages that were added to the card. Here’s a sneak peek of the card for you:
I Jinxed It
Once the card was ready, I couriered it to Kumar. The first copy of the card got lost in transit. So, I had to ship it the second time. And even the second time, it did not get delivered on the day it was supposed to, and I lost the tracking number. I was so sad, and mad and all feelings filled, and that was when Kumar gave me a call and informed me that he had just received the courier. I felt so peaceful after that.
But I think I might have jinxed it. The diaper bag we ordered that was out for delivery got canceled automatically and shipped back to Amazon itself. So we placed an order for the second bag that got the highest vote. This bag was supposed to be delivered by May 20th. But this one got canceled too. But Kumar and I had already planned that if something like this was to happen again, we’d go and purchase a diaper bag from a shop directly and send the hamper to the address so that we can finally throw the baby shower.
Mr. ‘Nosy’ Fate
Finally, all the gifts came together and were bundled up in a box. Kumar had it shipped to the address that Bhuvan shared with us, on Day 1, when we started planning the surprise. We informed Bhuvan that the gifts have been shipped and we were waiting for Bhuvan to confirm that they received the package, so that we can go ahead and plan the surprise. Whatever you plan, there is one person, Mr. Fate, who will always interfere.
Mr. ‘Nosy’ Fate decided Bhuvan would put the gift on the table for Harkiran to see, leaving no chance for the team members to celebrate the baby shower with her. It was through a whatsapp message on the group we learnt that Harkiran had received her gifts and she was happy about it. Her message said:
“Thank you so much everyone for sending such thoughtful messages and wonderful gifts. I was truly surprised.
I kept opening the gifts and had no clue who sent it. Until, I opened the last one where annya’s details were there and it put a big smile on my face. I really meant a lot. 🙏🏻❤️”
I was in shock when I saw the message on the group and it took a couple of minutes to grasp what was happening. It was obvious that once Bhuvan received the package, he gave it to Harkiran. I immediately texted Bhuvan, hoping that he at least didn’t cut the cake. But Mr. ‘Nosy’ Fate wouldn’t give us that chance. He made sure that Bhuvan also presented the cake along with the gifts. Bhuvan felt bad that the surprise did not go as planned, but he said that our team should cut a cake and wish her as we’d planned originally. Since that week he was traveling out of town again, we decided to wait till they came back.
It Finally Happened
Days went by. Workload, stress and disappointment that the plan failed, we didn’t get a chance to wish Harkiran and the baby. One fine evening, on May 31st, out of the blue, I got a call from our boss, Ram asking me to gather the team together to connect on a call to wish Harkiran, since we didn’t wish her. I started calling everyone and asked them to join the call. But turns out most of the team was already on call. I finally joined the call and only Geetha was not. So while we waited for her, I asked Harkiran to share her thoughts about the surprise.
Turns out even though our surprise did not work according to the plan, it turned out to be even more special because she got an actual baby shower. She told us how her family had taken her out for shopping, while some of them stayed back and decorated the home, and set up the whole baby shower event. When we heard this we were so happy that our love and blessings were cherished at that moment. As yCrash tradition has it, we sang the Happy Birthday song with our own twist. Instead of ‘Happy Birthday to you’, we sang, ‘Happy Baby Shower to you’.
Here’s the timeline of the baby shower, from how it conceived as a plan and how it was executed:
I would say that this baby shower was really special for her and us. Because she not only celebrated it with this extended family but also with her real family. End of the day, that is what we wanted. Whole family comes together, and wishes the mother and baby all love. We’re eagerly waiting for the newest member to join us and to spread our love even more.
Share your Thoughts!