I didn't have a shower for either of my girls, purely because I really only have one or two friends who live in town - everyone else lives a million miles away and it would have been waaayyyy too hard to get them all together - their social calendars are pretty packed!!
But I love being invited to showers, although I've only been to one (the other ones were out of town and we just couldn't make it, so I sent presents in the mail). It was a pretty small one, just her female relatives and me (as our men have been mates since high school and we were due just a few weeks apart), we all brought small gifts and just sat around the dinnertable all afternoon yarning about kids and eating cheesecake

I did hear of one friend being invited to a baby shower where the mum-to-be sent out her 'gift registry wishlist' with the invites - which sounds fine so that you don't get doubles of everything, but apparently there was not ONE single item on her wishlist that was under $150!! To me, that sounds a bit greedy, like you really do intend your baby shower to 'set you up' so you don't have to buy any big-ticket items... needless to say her guests weren't impressed and most just bought smaller gifts that were in their budget. But I don't have a problem buying a gift for a shower, I usually try to get something more for mum rather than bub, as I know I felt pretty ignored throughout my pregnancies... it was all, 'How's the baby?' 'Baby baby baby baby blah blah' and I was like, 'Wth am I, a cheese sandwich? Why doesn't anybody ask me how I'M feeling?!'.

To me, a baby shower is a chance for you to get together with the girls for an afternoon (or brunch, whatever ) and celebrate your impending motherhood. Gifts are optional, but obviously much appreciated