Bizarre cravings aside — like a few months ago when my intense thirst for something salty led me to slurp down pickle juice straight from the jar — this, my second pregnancy, has been marked mostly by cravings for the foods I grew up with and the wonderful and diverse sabores from all across Latin America: Tex-Mex enchiladas and chalupas covered in yellow cheese; chorizo con huevo breakfast tacos with salsa; tacos de pastor drizzled with chopped onion and cilantro and finished with a squirt of lime; media noches; ceviche peruano; fried Nicaraguan cheese and gallo pinto; dulces de leche quemada; and, of course, Frito Pie—the best Texican culinary invention ever. And this is for starters.

So when my sister-in-law accidently told me that my husband’s family was throwing me a baby shower a few weeks before I visited Miami last month, I just knew what would make my ever-growing and apparently very hungry fetus and this ever-expanding mama super happy would be a shower theme built around Latino comfort foods, drinks and desserts. After all, I think if you get the chance to have a baby shower for baby #2 or #3 or so on, you can get away from pastel colors, storks, pacifiers and delicate finger foods and pick a theme that’s going to surprise and delight everyone (yes, even the men in the room) and send them home panza llena, corazón content.

And I know, I know, for most baby showers the mom should be hands-off. I mean, if there was ever a time to let others do the work of planning and setting up, it’s when you’re pregnant. But I did that for the four awesome baby showers I was given my first go-round, and this time I had so many ideas and an apparent streak of high energy (maybe I can blame the cortaditos I drank in Miami?) that I just had to help with pulling this fete together. I figured it would also be fun to gather the girls for a comadre crafts night to make paper flowers and paper pom poms for decorations. Plus, since we already have a 3-year-old daughter, we’re pretty much set with everything we need for baby #2, so it takes the pressure off everyone in the gifts department.

We stuck with the bright beautiful trio of colors of turquoise, magenta and yellow which automatically brought in a bold and festive feel. But to make sure the “baby shower” wasn’t lost, we integrated a pink gingham ribbon throughout as a reminder of our new baby girl. The food was mostly Mexican, but we did have a smattering of Peruvian and Nicaraguan foods mixed in there, too.

Here’s how we pulled of this Latino-inspired baby shower:

The Menu:

• Tacos al pastor, carnitas y alambre
• salsa, lime wedges, chopped onion & cilantro
• Mexican tamales of pork, beef and cream cheese & jalapeño
• Layered bean dip (refried beans, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, pico de gallo and shredded cheese) served with corn tortilla chips

Drinks:

• Jarritos, assorted flavors
• Aguas Frescas de melón y sandía

Dessert Table:

• Basket filled with Assortment of Mexican candies, including obleas, leche quemada and Canel’s chicle
• Alfajores
• Nicaraguan cake
• Arroz con leche
• Pink Cupcakes

Latino-inspired Decorations:

• Paper Flowers and Paper Pom Poms for hanging
• Lavender sachets in calaveras print bag
• Mexican matchbox favors filled with baby rattle candy
• Pink maracas
• Custom food labels and invitations
• Custom-made Papel Picado-inspired cupcake toppers that read Nena, Niña, Bebita, Chavala, Escuincla, etc.
• Floral napkins and pink and turquoise colored plates

We played a few traditional baby shower games, including bilingual baby shower bingo, meaning the announcer had to translate for the non-English guests playing along. We had music, Shakira radio on Pandora, and I also pulled together a slideshow that played on repeat showing photos of my daughter, me, my husband and our parents as babies. It was fun for guests to try to figure out who was who, and my 3-year-old got a huge kick out of seeing her abuelos and parents as babies, especially the photo of her dad as a 3-month-old lying on his tummy in the buff.

Is it just me or does it seem that there are more baby showers in the spring than in the other seasons of the year?

Recently, some friends and I hosted a baby shower for another amiga.  When I commented to my mother-in-law that I would need her help taking care of Sofía for the day because the shower would be at my casa, her eyes lit up! And then the stories started pouring out about how much she and her gals LOVED baby showers when she lived in Peru.  I love to hear stories about the way things are done in different countries, in fact, the cultural traditions fascinate me.  As she spoke, the visions of waiters in black ties carrying trays of mini sanduches and recuerdos (party favors) for the guests danced in my head.

I’m sure that somewhere here in La USA that there are people who all customarily pull their dinero together and hire caterers and waiters to serve baby shower guests so that the hostess doesn’t have to lift a finger. I personally haven’t been to any of those showers, not in La USA nor Latinoamérica, but I can only guess they exist.

As I prepared, organized and decorated our casa, I made sure to explain to Sofía the significance of each. I want her to learn about customs here as well as in Latinoamérica, but unfortunately I’m not very well-versed on them in any country. ¡Gracias a Dios for Pinterest! One quick search and you are served up a platter of current cutesy baby shower ideas (mostly) from La USA!

It also seems that baby shower decorations and arrangements today are a lot more creatively complex than before.  I mean the invention of the Silhouette Machine has opened doors to some dedo-parado/fancy schmancy personalized banners, detailed wall hangings and custom decorations. I feel like I woke up one day and everyone was making Diaper Cakes for Baby Showers. We were no exception!

From Pinterest, I used the idea for a Rubber Ducky Punch Bowl and the recuerdos for the guests — personalized home-made cookie pops. ¡DELICIOSO!

Cookie Pops are much different than the recuerdos that my mother-in-law described used to be given to the guests in Perú. Evidently those recuerdos must be a current local Latino tradition as well — an insight I picked up from a quick trip to our neighborhood Dollar Store.

In my quest to consciously raise my daughter Sofía to be bilingual as well as bicultural, I continue to culturally dissect just about every experience that comes our way. Maybe you reading this could help me fill in some blanks, por favor?

Old or new, borrowed, blue or rosado, I would love for you to share what you know about baby showers in your culture.