Baby number two gets a party. Maybe not a whole registry.
WrapSheet blog
There's a thread on r/BabyBumps right now with a title that's basically the question everyone whispers at the dessert table: "Are people having more than one shower these days?"
The original poster wasn't being nasty about it. She said she didn't care either way. She just noticed that everyone she knows who's having a second girl within two years is throwing another full shower, registry and all, and she wanted to know if she was imagining a trend.
She's not imagining it. And the replies are a pretty good map of where people land.
What the thread actually said
A lot of moms described something smaller. One said her mother-in-law offered to host a sprinkle for baby two (five years after the first), the registry was mostly diapers, cream, medicine, and pacifiers, and the food came from Sam's Club. Another said her registry was tiny, mostly things she wanted to upgrade plus disposables, and she mainly made it for the completion discount. Somebody else put it simply: "I think we should celebrate every baby!"
Then there's the other camp. A few people pointed out that for a second baby there's usually no registry at all, or it turns into "more of a diaper party." In a separate thread, a mom planning a sprinkle got a gentle reality check from a commenter who said not to expect a ton of gifts, especially if she had a big shower the first time.
Over on X it's less gentle. One guy posted this week that having a gender reveal plus a baby shower is the dumbest thing (he used a stronger word). Meanwhile an invitation shop was cheerfully pitching sprinkles as "smaller than a baby shower, lighter on gifts." So the internet is selling you the party and mocking you for it in the same scroll.
Where I land
Every baby gets a party. I really believe that. The second kid did nothing wrong, and a lot of parents feel guilty that the baby book for number two is mostly blank. If your mom or best friend wants to host something, let them.
But the registry should shrink. A lot.
Here's my slightly spicy take: a sprinkle with a 40-item registry is just a shower with a cuter name. If you already own the crib, the stroller, the bouncer, and the swing that played the same song 9,000 times, guests can tell. Asking the same aunts and coworkers to buy round two of big gear is where people start rolling their eyes, even if they'd never say it to your face.
What I'd put on it instead:
- Diapers and wipes in the next couple of sizes, not just newborn
- The stuff that wears out or doesn't get reused (bottle nipples, pacifiers, a fresh car seat if the old one expired)
- Anything you need because of a real gap, like a winter baby after a summer one
- Something for the older sibling, honestly, because they're going through it too
- Meals. A meal train is the best second-baby gift I know of, and nobody has to wrap it.
And write "gifts totally optional" somewhere guests will see it, and mean it.
The exceptions are real, too. Big age gap, you gave everything away, different season, twins, a move across the country. Nobody sane is judging you for registering when the first baby's stuff is long gone. The eye-rolling is mostly about the 18-month gap and a registry that looks copy-pasted from the first time.
About the gender reveal plus shower plus sip and see thing
I don't hate a gender reveal. I hate being asked to bring something to every single event. If you're doing more than one party for the same baby, pick one to be the gift one and make the rest just cake. People will happily show up three times if they're not shopping three times.
The thank-you part
This is the bit people skip, and it matters more at a sprinkle, not less. When the gifts are a pack of wipes and a box of size 2 diapers, it's tempting to think a group text covers it. It doesn't. Someone drove over on a Saturday for your second kid. Tell them you used the wipes at 3 a.m. and thought of them. That's the whole note.
Small gifts are also the easiest to forget, because they all look the same in a pile. Jot down who brought what while you're opening (or snap a photo of each one in WrapSheet if you're a phone person), so you're not staring at six identical diaper boxes later trying to remember whose was whose.
So yes, throw the sprinkle. Keep the list short and the thank-yous specific, and let the second baby have a day too.