How to Hold A Virtual Baby Shower During Social Distancing and Sheltering in Place:
Your Baby Shower, a time when close relatives and friends gather to celebrate the impending arrival of your bundle of joy! Except, no one can go anywhere and there is certainly no gathering allowed! Let’s consider the new options – cancel? postpone? or celebrate differently? Since it is difficult to predict when things will return to ‘normal’, celebrating now with the resources on hand is the better option. We ALL need something to celebrate right now. Plus, you’ve nailed the Zoom app (‘Touch Up My Appearance – check! Virtual background – check!)
How
Hopefully, the friend or relative who was going to host your baby shower will be willing to host the virtual one? If they are a little technologically challenged, they may need some help with the setup. On the bright side, they won’t need nearly as many decorations, to pay for all the food or even clean the house first – just the corner of the house that is immediately in the viewable area of the camera!
Pick your favorite online platform
First things first, you will need an online video platform for the virtual baby shower. Fortunately, in today's technologically advanced age, you have plenty of options to get your loved ones together on-screen. Try the free services of Zoom, Skype, Facetime, Google Hangout, or Microsoft Teams – be sure to set your party to ‘private’.
For a virtual baby shower, you need a webcam (most laptops, tablets or even cell phones have a built-in one) a good internet connection, and a platform at the tech-savviness level of your guests (see list above)
Virtual Invites
Gone are the days when invitations are posted in the mail. It is the age of streamlined, beautifully designed digital invites. Here are a few of our favorite invite options: Paperless Post, Evite or Green Envelope. Keep in mind that Evite is probably the most popular and the easiest to remember – so when your guests have to hunt for the log in info for the platform, they are more likely to remember that the invite came through Evite. Be sure to add links to your event page, any meeting I.D’s and passwords. Set the date of the shower far enough into the future to allow people to buy a gift and ship it. If you have already registered to an online gifting registry such as Babylist – be sure to have your host send that info along to each guest.
Decorate the Space
Just because your baby shower is virtual doesn't mean you can't have in-person decorations. Of course, you won’t have to decorate the entire space for your party; Select a wall-hanging of some kind such as a backdrop of balloons, some fresh flowers and check out our Baby Shower Pinterest Board for other ideas. Make that limited space camera-ready and festive!
Online Baby Shower Games
Even at an online baby shower, you can play games and win prizes. Here are some we think are fun:
Baby Photo Match
Ask each guest to email you a photo of themselves as a baby. Make a document that has all the pictures on it, email it to everyone and have them print it out. The first person to correctly name all the babies wins! If it’s a small gathering, you can use baby photos of celebrities too!
Bump Measure
Measure your bump and have everyone guess how many inches you are. Closest wins!
Guess how many in the jar
Fill a baby bottle with small candies such as M&M’s or Jelly Beans and have your guests guess how many are in the bottle (don’t forget to count them ahead of time!)
Open Gifts
From baby bundles to baby essentials and colorful toys, gift opening at baby showers is special for every mom-to-be. But don’t let COVID-19 make your baby shower any less special. Go virtual and receive gifts the same way you would at an in-person baby shower. Most online companies offer gift wrap and if they don’t, don’t be afraid to ask! This is something Bebe au Lait will accommodate today!
Your guests can send their gifts, and if you want, you can open them in front of the camera for everyone to see. Or if guests didn’t have time or the ability to ship you their gift, they can open it in front of the camera.
Thank you!
Just as with an in-person baby shower, show your guests how much you appreciate their time and their thoughtfulness. Send a handwritten card. We all love to get something in the mail that’s not a bill.
Most of all, have fun with it. This is a story you’ll be able to tell your children about in years to come!
