Imagine receiving something special for carrying their child safely for 9 months? Marchelle Abrahams looks at the idea of push presents in celebville.
"Honey, I’m pregnant!” The response can go one of two ways: “Oh um, that’s great” or “I’m so happy I could go out right now and buy you the biggest diamond pendant I can find!”
Yes, the latter means you get an extravagant gift just for having a baby.
“Push presents” are a fairly new concept of the 21st century. Basically, you’re talking about a gift given to a woman shortly before or after she has given birth, by her spouse or partner.
The gift usually comes in the form of jewellery, but in recent times Hollywood celebs have taken it a bit to the extreme, with some even going as far as gifting new cars.
A post shared by Kylie(@kyliejenner) on Apr 18, 2018 at 5:57pm PDT
There’s no conclusive evidence to suggest when or how push presents actually became a thing. Maybe a marketing ploy invented by the jewellery industry? It’s hard to say.
READ: Kylie Jenner's 'push present' is a Ferrari
During an interview with the New York Times in 2004, Linda Murray, the executive editor of BabyCenter, said: “It’s an expectation of moms these days that they deserve something for bearing the burden for nine months, getting sick, ruining their body.
“The guilt gets piled on.”
Other sources point to the fact that women have become more assertive and direct by making their partners more aware of the difficulty and pain involved in pregnancy and labour.
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Whatever the reasons, A-list moms are now finding themselves the recipients of designer bags, new wheels and diamonds.
The latest new mom to bag herself a push present is Kylie Jenner. After giving birth to daughter Stormi a few months ago, she showed off her $1.5-million (R18m) Ferrari, gifted to her by boyfriend Travis Scott.
When Mariah Carey gave birth to twins Moroccan and Monroe in 2011, ex-husband Nick Cannon presented her with a unique piece of jewellery with their twins’ names in the form of a 14-carat pink sapphire and diamond necklace.
Not one for outlandish presents, Prince William went low key when he surprised Duchess Catherine with a Harrods teddy bear. Picture: amazon.co.uk
But it’s not just Hollywood that’s become privy to the practice. For Hope Boka-Mutibura, from East London, her push present was a massive surprise. “I wasn’t expecting it,” she says.
Her husband Abel had stunned her with a new Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV just two weeks after giving birth to a baby boy.
Hope Boka-Mutibura’s hubby had a massive surprise in store when he presented her with a brand new SUV. Picture: Supplied
“We spoke about it briefly. And then he just said the car has arrived and I should fetch it from the dealership.”
So hubbies - if you’re expecting, chances are she’s expecting something shiny and new too