Is it wrong of me to not want family-only baby shower?
28 weeks pregnant
My mom and her aunts (my great aunts) are planning my baby shower in December. When my mom told me this, I was super grateful and happy that my first child is going to be celebrated. I was even surprised and super thankful that they would be making time during the holidays to put this together.
At the same time, however, due to family drama, there will only be a handful of people there that I don't really talk to (not because of the drama but because I live 40 min away and family gatherings are few and far in between). During the height of the pandemic, my mom's two sisters had a major falling out and ever since then the entire family has been extremely polarized, divided, different members have taken different sides etc.
The only people at this baby shower would be myself, my sister, my mom, my grandma, my aunt (the sister that she talks to), my uncle, and my two great aunts. My mom said that to keep the cost low and set aside money for actual items and gifts for the baby, we would have an extremely low key shower which I was ok with because I didn't want anything too complex or over the top. My mom said that we would just basically hang out, order food,and gifts would be sent to my house. I told my mom it would be fine to just order pizza and hang out.
Fast forward to last night. One of my friends from church threw a Halloween party for our friend group and they told me the next get together we will have will be my baby shower. I told them about the situation with my family and they essentially told me they would throw me a proper shower. I know this sounds terrible, but I think I'd feel more comfortable with a baby shower put on by my church friends because I see them weekly and we attend social functions together. These gals have supported me throughout my pregnancy, text me to check up on me and see how I'm doing, and offer to visit me. I only see my extended family once a year and they really don't know much about me, my husband, or my current life now because of separation from the pandemic, my moving away for a job, etc. I feel like the occasion would be more of an awkward time to catch up.
I think the main reason my family wants to throw me a shower is because I am the first of my grandma's grandchildren to have a baby and it's something new and exciting for them. While I understand, it feels odd to me to spend a baby shower with people who although they are family I never see and my child will likely never see due to distance.
Having a joint family and friends shower is not an option since my family members would have to travel to my city and they are older so it would be taxing on them.
I honestly just want to have a shower with the ladies who have supported me and constantly communicated with me throughout my pregnancy but I feel like a bad daughter/granddaughter/niece for not wanting a family centered shower.
Is this selfish of me and what do I do?