One thing that I learned was that baby showers are not potlucks. I did not know if I should bring food or not, besides the present. Generally the hosts take care of the food part and decorations. It is more like an appetizer thing and the cake is never forgotten. I was talking to one of my friends who is an international student and she does not have a car. We were talking about presents and she asked me if you have to buy a present where the future mother is registered or not. I told her there is no need to buy in one of those places (although she does not have a car to drive there) that it is ok to give things from wherever. It is really optional and the registration is like a help to those who do not know what to buy.
One thing that I noticed is that while the future mother is opening the presents, there is another person writing down what she got and who gave it to her, in the future to write a thank you card. I never wrote or received a thank you card and I think this is an American thing or I was really excluded from this part of my culture. It a good idea and very nice of people to write thank you cards and I just learned recently that you can even write thank you cards when you go to an interview to say thank you for the it time took to meet with you.
