...what exactly is ridiculous about saying parents are responsible for supporting their own child? Do you really think it is the 'community's' responsibility to buy your kid a pram/cot/car seat or any other expensive item? Really? No wonder we are going to hell in a basket.
This sounds like a parody of a grumpy old man who never got invited to birthday parties as a child, or the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge (Dickens certainly knew his fellow countrymen) but on the offchance that you are sincere, you should know that people in other parts of the world do indeed feel that it takes a village to raise a child, and believe that parents can do with both the material and the moral support that an event like a baby shower offers.
Nobody feels it is someone else's responsibility to buy them anything, in your typical American baby shower scenario. The people attending feel it is their responsibility to set up the parents with what they will need. There is a subtle but important distinction there.
Typically, the baby shower is held by a friend or a relative of the mother to be, not the mother herself. Invitations are sent out, a link to a gift registry with items in a wide price range is included. This saves guests a huge amount of time and effort. Apparently the British prefer to pound the pavement and buy a pile of duplicate items, things the parents don't need or have no room for, and will have to spend time and effort returning to the shops they came from. There is no accounting for irrational waste of time and money.
I have had two baby showers thrown for me, one a surprise in the office where I worked before DD1 was born and the other thrown by exMIL and my SILs. I ended up with a buggy, a high chair, a toddler car seat, some lovely hand made crocheted blankets, several packets of bibs, a lot of cute stuffed animals, a mobile, some little board books, a collection of Beatrix Potter books, rattles, teethers, muslins, crib sheets, travel blankets, and a few packets of onesies in different sizes. DD1 is now 31 and the kindness of the lovely people who gave all of that to us remains with me. exH and I bought a baby car seat and a crib along with some newborn clothes and packets of diapers to get us started. SIL sent a box of hand me downs after DD was born too. Not being American and having no clue about a gift registry, I hadn't had one, but my colleagues consulted exMIL and figured out what they should get and what would be left for MIL's event. The concept of the baby shower is SO practical, so down to earth, so generous, and there is no mean spiritedness, dourness, or judgey suspicions of grabbiness.
I also had two wedding showers <shock, horror> one hosted by exMIL and one by a friend of hers. ExMIL led me into the china department of a very nice department store before the invitations went out, and told me to choose two china patterns, one for everyday and one for special occasions, which I did. I was also told to choose a crystal pattern, bath towel colour, kitchen utensils, a few cookbooks, small electrics, sheet sets, blankets, kitchen cloths, oven mitts, pyrex, carving board, bread board, steak knives, carving knives, serving dishes, and lots more, and everything was noted in the registry. exH and I received all of that and more - several lovely vases, table cloths, an ice cream maker, a big picnic basket, a case of nice wine...
Smaller items were given at the showers and china and crystal at the reception. I wrote so many thank you notes that my hand hurt.
What a grabby heathen I am.