However, it wasn’t until relatively recently that modern Western cultures began to give gifts before the baby’s birth. ‘Baby Showers’ as we know them today first became popular in the United States after World War II, at the beginning of the baby boom. Family and friends were anxious to welcome this new generation and show their support for young couples who might otherwise be struggling to meet the financial demands of impending parenthood. Here in the UK it was more common to give gifts at the baby’s Christening or in some parts of the country, to give the child money by placing it in the baby’s pram. But new traditions have begun to form, and it is now recognised by many that the baby essentials needed in those first few months are different from the type of gifts people like to give at a Christening (or naming ceremony), and so the two events have become separate entities.