My Tinley Park Baby Shower
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You don’t need to go all the way up to Oak Brook or downtown Chicago to have a really special baby shower. There’s a plethora of venues to choose from right here in Tinley Park as I documented in a previous post. In this post I’m going to share with you my baby shower experience at Frankie’s.
The Place: Frankie’s Ristorante
Frankie‘s goes way back for my husband and I. A quick search into my iCalendar and I can see that we’ve eaten at Frankie’s a total of eleven times in a five year span. We like to try new restaurants rather than just go to the same place all the time, but Frankie’s is a must for us to go to at least once a year.
Because of this history, my mother and mother-in-law (worked together to give us our baby shower) wanted to have the baby shower there for us. We were really impressed with the results. Guests from both our sides reached out to the moms after the baby shower to express how pleased they were with everything. That’s a good thing in my book.
We Have A History
Our history with Frankie’s began in 2012 when my husband and I were first dating. At our first date at Frankie’s we had this amazing server name Jamie. She was pregnant with her second or third child (apologies for forgetting), and she introduced us to what would be our favorite wine for quite some time. She is barn none the best server I’ve ever had. She had this uncanny way of knowing the right things to recommend to you. It was like Mimi Rogers straight out of The Christmas List (1997). She’d ask you what you’re favorite this or that is, what you don’t like, really get to know you. She’d take that input and give you the perfect food and drink recommendations that fit your palate.
We kept getting lucky for a while getting her as our server, each time we had reached a different milestone in our relationship. First we were dating, then she saw us after we had just gotten engaged, and then the night we moved into our first home.
The last time we had Jamie as our server was the night we moved into our new home back in February of 2014. Newly svelt (obviously no longer pregnant), it was really great to see her that night because we were getting married just a few short months later. She was like our fairy godmother in many ways during the course of our dating and engagement years. So on that evening it was like our fairy godmother seeing us off before going to the ball so to speak.
Anyway, back to the baby shower..
Frankie’s When it Comes To Baby Shower
- Book your baby shower three months or more in advance.
- A deposit is required.
- Frankie’s doesn’t do decor unfortunately, you’ll have to go outside for that.
- They let you and the outsider vendor come one hour early to set up, which could be a drawback if you’re going for opulent and intricate decor.
- Great staff (Travis was everyone’s favorite).
- Elegant space. Perfect for small or large parties.
- Delicious, classy food and drink selection.
The moms worked with Angela who is one of the owners and she was very accomodating. For example I heard that the florists had come over an hour earlier than they were told to, but Frankie’s was ok letting them in to set up the flowers and other decorative pieces from BoKay.
How I Chose My Baby Shower Dress
I prefer being able to try a dress on in-store, but most department store maternity sections have slim pickings when it comes to dresses, especially fancy dresses. Destination Maternity is the maternity store in the area, located just a few short miles north of Tinley Park in Orland Park. Although the store sells designer brands, the dresses were more on the casual side and the material too thin for a winter baby shower. I didn’t want to have to drive up to Oak Brook or elsewhere just for more selection, so I decided to take a chance and shop in the regular women’s section, only go up a few dress sizes.
I went to my go-to for special occasion dress shopping Carson’s in the Orland Square Mall and tried on a larger than I would usually wear regular sized dress. It totally worked! Typically a size 4 in dresses, depending on the designer, I tried on a 10 and voilà! this 5″10 mom-to-be had found her new size that perfectly accomodated her baby bump.
I don’t have girlfriends my age down here yet but I needed to get some opinions. I of course reached out to my mom and mother-in-law via text, but I also did something I’ve never done before. I ran an impromptu Instagram poll.
The Tinley Park Mom followers were really helpful. Ultimately I went with the rose gold bling dress from Betsy and Adam. Typically you only do one baby shower, even if you have more than one child, and since I had a very modest wedding dress I thought this time is my last time where I’m the center-of-attention, go big!
The dress actually went really well with the decor the moms chose, and the ceiling of Frankie’s is this ornate copper design, so it was like this dress was made for the occassion.
Take Aways From My Baby Shower
Enjoy the experience because after your baby shower your life is going to change forever. You’ll be the one doing the party planning, giving someone a special day. Soak up every moment, make sure to say hi and chat with everyone that comes, and don’t feel bad if people are offering to get you a drink or something. Aside from your wedding, this is your last chance to feel what it’s like to be the belle of the ball.
If you don’t want to open presents at your baby shower, remember who your audience is going to be. If it’s going to be largely older family and people coming from far away, seeing you open their present and get recognition will mean a lot to them. It’s a generational thing, but it’s also an etiquette thing. I know that opening presents at baby showers is considered passé these days, but sometimes you need to honor traditions to make people happy. It won’t kill you to open presents, it definitely beats those baby shower games. The time completely flew by when I was opening presents. I tried to keep it funny, so I took a standup comedian’s approach to the whole thing. I think it went well, my family said I was funny anyway.
So definitely if you live in Tinley Park, don’t feel like you have to go far for your baby shower. Frankie’s was really lovely for our baby shower, but there are so many other places for you to choose from in Tinley too.
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