Same goes for the shower for my SIL that I had 1.5yrs ago. The women invited just didn't get that you are supposed to give nice, useful or lavish gifts. They also didn't really give much, it was like a small toy for the baby and that's it. Not much for the mum either, no pampering things or anything. I found it to be sorely lacking. SIL was happy though, so I kept my mouth shut.
Looks like I will be moving to america before I have my first, so I should be pretty lucky and have a shower 
I guess it depends on the person in this respect. Since (I gather) the general purpose of a baby shower is to give gifts for the baby, I would definitely not expect to be given pampering gifts for myself if it were my shower. Honestly, even if every guest brought a small toy for the baby, I would be both grateful and flattered that they bought just one thing. Plus, everything tends to cost more over here, so maybe the guests just can't afford the nice, lavish or useful gifts that people buy for showers in the US.
I think that perhaps the 'present-giving' culture is slightly different in the UK compared to the US. I was absolutely amazed that my American cousins received several presents each from my aunt at Christmas (she even found she had too many presents and saved some for another occasion) - to me, that's excessive and unnecessary. In my household at least, we get a maximum of one present from each family member, not exceeding a certain pre-determined cost (my parents are not poor, but after all the monthly expenses, there's not much disposible income left over). If the present is more expensive than this amount, then it gets split between family members (i.e. I might get one joint present from my brothers rather than one cheaper one from each of them) or the person receiving the present makes up the cost themselves (e.g. if I wanted a new stereo or item of clothing that was out of their budget, I would pay the extra to make up the cost).
