In 2003, single, childless Carrie Bradshaw was tired of the number of gifts she had to buy for baby showers and weddings. The Sex and the City character created a controversial gift list to celebrate herself. She questioned why birth and marriage were the only milestones worth celebrating as an adult. The premise was groundbreaking at the time, but not much changed in the years following the episode.
But now, more than two decades later, a new trend for celebrating career milestones is taking off: More and more people are celebrating professional milestones by throwing career showers.
“Career showers are significant because they’re not just about births or weddings, but about people who are worthy of being celebrated for their accomplishments. Professional achievements are a testament to all the hard work you’ve done to get to where you are, and they deserve to be celebrated,” says Olivia Dreisen Howell, CEO and co-founder of Fresh Starts Registry. Amy Chang, entrepreneur and author of Breakup Bootcamp, agrees. “We need to broaden our perspective on what’s worth celebrating,” she says.
Why not celebrate “everything”?
Astronaut, author, and science communicator Kelly Gerardi comes from a family that embraces a “celebration of everything” mentality when it comes to life’s major milestones. While her family celebrates pregnancies and upcoming weddings “with a lot of love,” Gerardi says, “we bring the same energy and enthusiasm to professional accomplishments.”
Gerardi’s family coined the term “career shower” to celebrate professional achievements, as these celebrations are similar in many ways to baby showers and bridal showers. For Gerardi’s family, a career shower is “a gathering of friends and family to show support and celebration in celebration of major life events,” she explains. For example, when Gerardi’s mother became a Master Gardener, Gerardi helped host a garden shower to celebrate. When Gerardi found out she was going to space for the first time, her family hosted a space shower to commemorate the milestone. When Gerardi announced her second spaceflight, friends and family hosted a space sprinkle, which Gerardi describes as an intimate brunch with handmade decorations and space-themed cookies with meaningful phrases.
Gerardi’s family has been hosting career showers for as long as she can remember, and she is proud to continue the family tradition of celebrating professional milestones. Gerardi is thrilled that her daughter is “growing up understanding that there are no limits to her dreams and that all of her different experiences are worth celebrating and uniting with.”
Celebrate career milestones the same way you celebrate motherhood and marriage
Gerardi is not alone. Chang has hosted five career showers for friends and has thrown one herself. Chang has thrown career showers to celebrate a stay-at-home mom who returned to work after a long career, a friend who quit a tough job to start a business, and a friend who got a long-awaited promotion after years of hard work. Recently, one of Chang’s friends threw a career shower to celebrate the publication of Chang’s second book.
Chan says that while she thinks weddings and having children are “amazing events,” they “are not the only moments in life that should be recognized and celebrated.” She believes career showers are especially important for women who choose not to have children or get married. Like Carrie Bradshaw, “they’re often always buying gifts and celebrating other people’s milestones,” while their own milestones can get ignored, Chan says. “Great achievements like landing a dream job, getting a great promotion, starting a business, hitting major career or professional milestones, publishing a book” all deserve to be celebrated, Chan says.
Career showers are a great way to share advice and support
When Chan hosts a career shower, she invites people who have helped the guest of honor on their career journey. She prepares discussion starters aimed at “sharing and exchanging wisdom, offering support, and exploring ways to help each other grow.” She might ask guests, “What lessons have you learned in your career that have helped you grow?” or “What advice would you give to your younger self about money, business, or career?” At the end, she asks each guest to share a “question”: “The one thing you’re looking for in connection, advice, support, or anything else that will help you in your career.” That way, everyone leaves with new wisdom and guidance to help them achieve their career goals.
Howell recommends using your career shower as an opportunity to create a vision board for the guest of honor. “Or, ask everyone to bring their favorite motivational phrase and keep it in a journal,” Howell says. That way, those you’re celebrating can “reflect on the support they received on those tough days.”
Julie Neal can attest to the value of such work: The Mother’s Quest founder hosted a career shower for herself when her company celebrated its fifth anniversary. At Neal’s career shower, one of her friends created a collage “of all the amazing stories and messages” guests shared about the impact Mother’s Quest had had on their lives. “I still have that collage framed and kept somewhere I can look at it every day,” she says.
Give a Meaningful Gift or Nothing at a Career Shower
Not all career showers include gifts, but some do. “The sentiment is much more important than the budget,” Gerardi says. For her mother’s garden shower, Gerardi gave a flower press kit and a cookbook called “Eat Your Flowers” by Loria Stern. For the space shower, she gave a one-handed stopwatch to use in flight training.
Howell has seen an increase in registrations for career showers, and she’s excited to see this development continue. “So much of our lives are intertwined with work and career, so a career shower is a great way to celebrate a fresh start in your career,” she adds, with items that can support the guest of honor in their new adventure. She’s noticed that career shower registrations tend to focus on two areas: practical needs and health. Someone starting a new business or transitioning to working from home might register for items like a stapler, keyboard, ring light or lamp, she says. A self-care-focused registration might include items like a heated eye mask or an under-desk foot massager.
Start planning your career shower
Like a baby shower or bridal shower, there’s no one right way to plan a career shower. Gerardi encourages people who want to host a career shower to “just start planning.” “It doesn’t have to be a big budget or a big gathering. It’s about celebrating and honoring the things that your loved one is most excited about and proud of. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive,” she says.
Neal also suggests inviting people from your community who have “supported and influenced your path,” even if they aren’t the kind of close friends you might normally invite to a baby or bridal shower.
A career shower is successful if “participants leave having fun, feeling inspired and connected,” Chang says, but there’s no one right way to get there.
Photo credit: JLco Julia Amaral/Shutterstock.com
