1) Read up on Mother Blessings and Blessingways. Start by reading my explanation here. Know what Mother Blessings and Blessingways are all about. Decide which parts you are interested in partaking in.

Remember, you can adapt the activities and rituals to better fit your party. Examples of activities include making a birthing necklace, creating a Mother Blessing/Blessingway scrapbook for the mom, and doing hair brushing (take turns brushing the mom’s hair).

Resources:

• Good information on activities can be found at Richmond Midwife.
• An example of a successful Blessingway can be found on Real Savvy Moms.
• Great tips can be found here.

2) Plan the guest list. Invite a small group of the mother-to-be’s nearest and dearest. If you aren’t sure who to invite, ask her for the list. Choose meaningful invitations that convey the message that this is about the woman becoming mother. For ours, I used blank cards and pasted a description on one side of the inside and the invite on the other. Send the invites 3-4 weeks before the party.

3) Get down to the nitty gritty. Ultimately, planning a Mother Blessing or Blessingway is no different than planning any other party. You have the same basic parts: choose a location, get the guest list ready, send invites, plan the party. The most significant difference is that you are planning things to empower the mother-to-bed, rather than planning fun but silly games like who can identify the most objects in a bag.

In any case, decide on what activities you will be having. Plan the food (remember, this is centered around the mom so choose things she loves to eat). Buy the supplies. Also, consider how you want to decorate. Using just a few candles around is a nice way to go. This is not the time to over decorate.

4) Don’t sweat the little things. On the day of the party, if things don’t go according to your plan, that’s okay! Just let things flow naturally. Accept that things may not be how you imagined – they may be better. And ultimately, make sure the mother to be enjoys herself.

(Updated 6/09)

The following is an excerpt from the invitation. I didn’t write this, one of my wonderful cohorts in planning did. But I couldn’t have said it any better than she (and the second cohort who revised it) did.

About the Mother Blessing Ceremony

A Mother Blessing Ceremony is inspired by one of the traditional healing ceremonies of the Navajo people called a Blessingway. It marks a woman’s rite of passage into motherhood (or motherhood again!) by helping her to prepare mentally, emotionally and spiritually for the work of birthing and her role as a mother. During the gathering, friends of the mother come together to honor the strength and beauty of the mother, welcome a new baby to earth, share wisdom, and celebrate life and sisterhood.

We will be doing many things to honor [this mother's] second journey into motherhood, including:

· each creating a personal scrapbook page for the mother(supplies will be provided)

· creating a special birth necklace for the mother to symbolize our support during her birth (please bring two identical beads with you – one will be used on her necklace and one will be for a special bracelet for you)

· sharing stories about what makes her such a brilliant and powerful woman