Picture this:

You and your fiance arrive at a baby shower for your future sister-in-law.  Neither of you have ever attended a baby shower before, so you’re not sure what to expect.  You have dutifully gone out and purchased a fabulous gift for the new mother, and arrive promptly when you were told the shower started.  So far, so good!  Everyone greets you warmly, you get to eat amazing Brazilian food (did I mention your future sister-in-law is Brazilian?) and ridiculously strong caipirinhas, prepared by your future sister-in-law’s mother.  You feel like you’re doing OK.  You and your fiance do have to fend off the hourly “so, when are you guys going to have a baby?” inquiries, but the caipirinhas are doing a great job of making that question seem less terrifying (or irritating, depending on your temperament) than usual.

And then you hear someone yell that it’s time for “the game.”

All your pre-baby shower information had warned you that there might be games, so this does not faze you.  Showers always have games!  But then all the little girls at the shower (oh, sorry, I forgot to mention that there are a lot of children at the shower, and that while this was initially puzzling, it soon became entertaining to watch and just part of the experience) come into the room carrying poles.  Not flagpoles, or North Poles, more like the long handles that unscrew from a Swiffer broom.  The little girls run around with the poles for a few minutes, and then the adult women come into the room, carrying rolls of toilet paper and blindfolds.

Yes, you read that right!  Poles, toilet paper, and blindfolds.  Things are getting interesting with all these caipirinhas flowing, you and your fiance tell each other.

Half the women line up with rolls of toilet paper BETWEEN THEIR LEGS, right up there, in the crotch area, with the center cardboard roll portion facing out so you can see through it if you look at the woman WITH THE TOILET PAPER BETWEEN HER LEGS face-on.  The other half of the women are blindfolded and place the poles BETWEEN THEIR LEGS, so that the pole is also right up there in the crotch area.

And then the game starts.  Its point?  Whoever gets their POLE in the HOLE IN THE ROLL OF TOILET PAPER first, wins.

At least, you think they win.  You might be so very surprised at the nature of this game that you won’t be able to see through all the tears coming out of your eyes from laughing so hard.

That entertaining snapshot comes directly from the files of my real life… this was something Alex and experienced this weekend!  We think the game was great fun – in fact, I think it might be important that it be repeated at all baby showers I attend from here on out.

I can only assume this was an example of culture shock – if anyone reading has heard of this game before or participated in it, I would love to hear from you!

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