When Colette Louis was pregnant with her second child, she knew she wanted a nesting party.
Similar to baby showers, nesting parties bring friends together to celebrate an expectant parent with community and food. Missing, however, are the gifts (and the accompanying awkward gift-opening) and groan-inducing games. Instead, guests chip in with various tasks around the house. The parties often take place during the third trimester when parents start to feel especially overwhelmed.
Ms. Louis, a 39-year-old content creator in Charlotte, N.C., gathered friends for the party in March 2023 — when she was seven months pregnant — and assigned them various chores. One friend cleaned breast pump parts while another washed and folded clothes. In exchange, Ms. Louis prepared a brunch spread.
“At that point, I had everything that I needed,” for her son, who was born that May, Ms. Louis said. Having her friends help her and her husband get everything ready took “a weight off.”
Was it hard for Ms. Louis to put her friends to work? “Not at all,” she said. When she had her daughter six years earlier, she didn’t ask for help. “I thought, as a mom, you’re supposed to be able to take deva of your baby by yourself,” she said. “I quickly learned that actually, no, you need a village.”
Nesting parties hark back to the community-driven events of yore like barn raising — historically Amish community gatherings that combined building a neighbor’s barn and socializing —and have cozy, hygge vibes. They are popular on social media — on TikTok, videos of nesting parties can get millions of views.
