Katherine Heigl Hosts Ellen Pompeo's Baby Shower

Stefan/INF

Mom-to-be Ellen Pompeo was joined by 25 friends, including Kate Walsh, Sandra Oh and Rebecca Gayheart, for a baby shower held Saturday afternoon at Katherine Heigl‘s home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.

Ellen and her husband Chris Ivery are expecting a baby daughter in October.

As an eyewitness told PEOPLE, “Ellen looked gorgeous in a white summer dress with her hair in a braided up-do. She seemed very excited to celebrate with her girlfriends.”

The catered, outdoor baby bash was held in the backyard. Umbrellas shielded guests from the heat — L.A. temps reached 104 degrees Saturday — and pink flower arrangements and candles accented the tables.

Guests brought gifts wrapped in girly pink and yellow colors. Many of the gifts – which included a Sleep Sheep toy mobile, Sleepy Safari stacking toys, organic hooded towels and a Kiddopotamus organic swaddle wrap – came from the Juvenile Shop in Sherman Oaks, where Ellen is registered.

Source: PEOPLE

– Pernilla Cedenheim

Comments

That’s so sweet!

- Clara on August 29th, 2009

I was sooo happy when I found out on people Ellen and Chris are having a GIRL!!!! YEA!!! She’s going to be super cute and soooo loved!!!

- Crystal on August 30th, 2009

I always like finding out the sex of the baby before it’s born. Congratulations!

- jas on August 30th, 2009

oh wow shes havin a girl… so excited for her, i bet shes gonna be beautiful. I hope they pick out a nice normal name, nothin hollywood weird, lol.

- lilly on August 30th, 2009

The baby’s a girl…that’s wonderful news. Congratulations to Ellen and Chris.

- SAR on August 30th, 2009

So she IS due in October with a girl! Cool!

- CelebBabyLover on August 30th, 2009

yeah she’s having a girl my first hunch was right and I bet that little girl is going to be gorgeous congrats to Ellen & Chris

- Courtney on August 30th, 2009

I didn’t know they were having a girl. That’s great news

- Philippa on August 30th, 2009

Awwww. She’s going to be so beautiful. Maybe she can play McBaby in the future on Grey’s Anatomy

- Kait on August 30th, 2009

It is sweet, but being from the UK, I still find the concept of baby showers (and bridal etc) odd. It’s like “I’m having a baby, go buy me my stuff” lol. I just feel that people shouldn’t be/feel obligated to partake in these materialistic things. I don’t know, maybe I’m misunderstanding it. Are all showers to give presents? Or is it enough at some to just attend and congratulate the mother-to-be?

- Alex on August 30th, 2009

Congrats to them, but is their anyone but me who hates the pink overkill when someone is having a girl, can’t baby girls wear godforbid a color other than pink, pink, pink!

- Ivey on August 30th, 2009

I’m so happy to hear that this celebrity baby shower was hosted by a friend and NOT SPONSORED! I find it ridiculous that celebrities have personal parties sponsored….anyways,that is going to be one adorable baby!

- zanna on August 30th, 2009

A shower, in general, is to congratulate the mom or bride-to-be but typically people do bring gifts. There is food, sometimes games, and lots of chatting.

- BAS on August 30th, 2009

Alex I am completely with you. I am from Australia, and here our views on baby showers are clearly different to other nations.

Personally I find it odd that someone with as much money as Ellen felt the need to have a baby shower registry. I personally do not like the concept of getting people to buy you presents you hand picked yourself. I’m all for celebrations, I’m all for letting other know what you may need, but to specially pick out furniture and clothes worth hundreds of dollars for your family and friends to buy, when you have that money yourself, just seems greedy to me.

- Nikki on August 30th, 2009

Oh, I so thought they were having a boy. But I am so excited they are having a girl! That’s really exciting news!

- Stephany on August 30th, 2009

It’s just tradition, and it’s not like it is one that harms anyone so, I don’t really get what the big deal is. It’s not wrong, or greedy, it’s just different.

And when most of your friends are in your same income bracket I don’t think it’s much of a big deal. Besides, I think there were only like two things on her registry over $100.

- dee on August 30th, 2009

I read this story and thought “surely no one could find anything to criticize about this”. Good Lord people, celebrities friends can’t buy them baby gifts?

- Kat on August 30th, 2009

What is the difference between having a baby shower or bridal shower and when someone throws a birthday party? Sweet Sixteen? Turning 21? Turning 30 or 40? All are milestones. All are parties in which there is a host and loads of friends and family show up (sometimes bearing gifts) to celebrate the person of the hour. The people come to the party, eat, drink, play games, and have a good time so what is the big deal? Who cares who pays for it? Who cares if the person of the hour gets gifts? It’s an event that is a good time and is usually enjoyed by all so what is there to begrudge? As for the registries,a lot of time people do registries to pick out the essentials, things that they may need or deem as useful versus having people by things frivolously that they would never use. Like another poster said, there is no harm in a shower or a party. I have never once questioned why someone is throwing a birthday party so I wouldn’t do the same for a baby shower, especially not for a first child. And there is no reason to think that someone should not have a shower and be celebrated simply because they achieve a certain economic status. If their friends and family don’t mind showering them with gifts then there really is no harm at all.

- lizzielui on August 30th, 2009

Okay, I’m really confused. I just looked at Ellen’s baby registry (which CBB linked in the post, if anyone’s wondering)….and she has her due date (and yes, it IS the due date. It is clearly marked “due date” and under it is the shower date) listed as July 23rd, 2009. However, her actual due date, as stated in this post, is October.

Why did she list a date three months in advance of her actual due date?

- CelebBabyLover on August 31st, 2009

Oh, and I noticed that Ellen registered for a nursing pillow. It looks like she’s going to breastfeed (although she also registered for some Born Free bottles….but I’m guessing those are so baby girl can get fed even when Ellen is at work, and possibly also so that daddy can be part of the feeding experience. ). Yay, Ellen!

- CelebBabyLover on August 31st, 2009

CBL, that was the day she went to the store. Maybe she didn’t want to put the due date or just forgot to enter it.

- dee on August 31st, 2009

I don’t know how it is in other parts of the world, but here in the states a baby shower is typical for a first child.

And part of the fun is everyone ooohing anad aaaahing over the baby gifts.

Most of the items listed on Ellen’s registry were reasonably priced. And it seems a good portion of the guests that went are in the business and I’m sure could easily afford it.

And if someone couldn’t, they could go always “go in” with someone else for a gift. That happened at my baby shower. A larger (more expensive) gift would be from two or three people and they all chipped in for it. So I don’t understand why some people are making a big deal.

Anyway…I hope she had a great day and can’t wait till baby is here. I’m sure she will be gorgeous!

- Michelle on August 31st, 2009

When I was invited to a baby shower for my cousin, I couldn’t get anyone to “go in” with me and all the gifts were expensive so I just didn’t go. She was mad I didn’t come but presents were expected. It’s a sort of pay to play mentality so I figured if I came empty handed or with some inferior gift, she’d feel I didn’t deserve to be at the shower. In fact, my cousin invited people she barely knew and people she hadn’t been close to for years just to increase the number of gifts. So while it’s great when baby showers are just about celebrating the impending birth of a child, many times they turn into a greedfest. Oh, and don’t even get me started on weddings.

Of course, Ellen is rich and most of her friends are rich so I doubt anyone worried about “going in” on a gift.

- Willa on August 31st, 2009

Alex/Nikki, same here in NZ, seems very OTT! Fair enough she celebrates her upcomning arrival, her perrogative and exciting for her and hubby of course but to have a registry, we don’t do ‘registries’ so much here in NZ, perhaps for weddings but not for babies, people buy where/what they want to for the new parents/baby (isn’t jealousy on my part either, BTW), but we generally do things perhaps more low key here/down to earth (we have a reputation as being down to earth herein NZ, biased as it will probably sound?!). Seems very greedy and materialistic to me, considering how wealthy they are. Obviously they like a big celebration, everything’s OTT and on a bigger scale, esp celebrities, being the US, lol. Just my opinion…

- Sam & Freya's Mum on September 1st, 2009

I live in Indonesia and I’m the complete opposite, I love gift registries! I wish we have them here. My mum just discovered the concept of wedding registries when her cousin who lives in the US got married and she thinks it’s fantastic When she got married in 1986 people just give whatever they want, so she got a lot of things she already have / don’t need. Nowadays people only give money that’s put inside of an envelope, it’s very practical and people can decide for themselves how much they want to give.

When you give someone a present, wouldn’t you like to give them something you know they’d use instead of just something to add to their blender collection?

With babies, according to Javanese tradition, you have a party when the mother’s seven months pregnant, then another one when baby’s how-many-months-old (I forgot), then finally on their first birthday. And you thought a baby shower was a hassle We only give the baby presents once though, traditionally little gold jewelries (if it’s a girl), usual baby things, and money inside a red envelope. I’m also Chinese, we give money for everything, haha.

- stephanie on September 1st, 2009

stephanie- ITA! With a gift registry, you know you’re getting the person something you know they actually want and will use.

- CelebBabyLover on September 2nd, 2009

I’ve had small parties for my sons where I’ve listed on the invitation that the priority is attending and gifts are optional.

My children were horrified but it removes the stress from attendees. When we attended parties I gave my children a maximum budget, usually $15-20 dollars. I taught them to pick the card first, then check the price of wrappings or bags, and then go pick the gift with the balance and to remeber the sales tax must be included in the budget.

This helped them so much and moved them away from wanting me to buy Barbie mansions for their friends without a thought to the cost.

I’m glad Ellen had a celebration with friends and family. Having people who love you and want to spend time with you is the best blessing…the gifts are just a ribbon in the deal.

- Shawna on September 2nd, 2009

To the Aussie chics and NZ chic, get a life! Have you ever thought that her wealthy friends WANT to buy her gifts. It’s no unheard of to give a gift for a new arrival, don’t use being an Aussie or a Kiwi as a reason for your sour grapes. I’m aussie too, and if I could afford to buy beautiful expensive gifts to give to my friend when expecting their child I would, no hesitation. It’s not greed it’s called friendship.

- Nikki from Aus' on September 8th, 2009