How To Throw a Virtual Baby Shower
One of the very, very, very best things to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic was lots and lots of babies, including one for one of my very best friends, Kara. Since gathering was out of the question, my good friend Laura came up with the genius idea of throwing her a virtual shower. Not only did it end up being a lot of fun, it was also the perfect spot to gather up all of our friends from Alaska to Michigan to Colorado to Iowa without the travel. It wasn’t that hard, either. Here’s how we did it in case you’d like to throw one too:
1. Send Invitations
Not everything will be different, you’ll still need to coordinate with the mama-to-be about a good time and date for her shower. Once you have a date, send out digital invitations with a link to your meeting, a link to the mama-to-be’s registry and any information on contributing to a group gift. Since this is a pretty different format, it would also be helpful to include any other important information the guests should know, like perhaps decorating the background of their party place, what to wear, and any items to have gathered for games or snacks.
2. Send Snacks
For Kara’s shower, we didn’t give ourselves enough time to pull snacks together, but I am a pretty firm believer that everything is better with snacks. You could add some recipe links in your invitation for suggested treats or put some flat, lightweight ingredients together in the mail, like a mini bag of microwave popcorn, a single packet of lemonade, and a small bag of sprinkles to incorporate into a treat. Double your fun (but not your work) by challenging your guests to a “baby bake-off” utilizing your ingredients and presenting them to the judges, er, group. Now you’ve incorporated not just a snack, but a game, too!
3. Play Games
Speaking of games, first of all, take the pressure off by just embracing the fact that group games tend to be lame and that’s ok. For our virtual party, we used some of the usuals but put them into a powerpoint to be screenshared. We did:
“Who’s Your Daddy?”
I thought this turned out be to pretty hilarious. Simply utilize a photo-morphing website to combine a picture of the mama-to-be with celebrities – or even other guests. To play:
Ask guests to number a piece of paper 1 through however many babies you have created ahead of time.
Show your guests a slide numbered 1 with the first picture of your morphed baby picture. Ask them to write down who they think the baby daddy is.
After everyone has had a chance to write down (or shout out) their answer, throw it back to 1998 with a cheesy powerpoint transition to reveal the “Baby Daddy.” Correct answers can receive a point.
Continue until all babies and daddies have been revealed. We ended with a morphed picture of the actual mama and dad, which still turned out pretty wonky, ala that scene in How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days.
“Kara’s About to Pop Quiz”
This was just your standard baby shower game with just a tiny twist of incorporating the questions and answers into a powerpoint. For a silly and personal twist, I created a pregnant bitmoji of the mama-to-be to serve as the graphics on each slide. We did a combination of how well do you know Kara, odd baby facts, and facts about “Alaskan Babies” since our guest of honor moved to Alaska a few years ago. You could do the same or do a quiz of nursery rhymes, baby items, cross word puzzles – really anything you want with the power of screen-share.
To play:
Ask guests to number a piece of paper 1 through however many questions you have created ahead of time.
Show your guests a slide numbered 1 question. Ask them to write down their answer.
After everyone has had a chance to write down (or shout out) their answer, again, reveal the answer on your next slide. Or you could simply put all of the questions on one screen, set a timer, and read off your answers at the end. Each correct answer earns a point.
“My Water Broke!”
This is my favorite baby shower game. We didn’t play it since we pulled our shower together fairly last minute, but with a little time, you totally could.
If you’re already sending a little shower-pack to your guests, include a tiny plastic baby – the ones typically used in a King cake for Mardi Gras. Instruct your guests to freeze the baby into an ice cube prior to the party. Once the festivities have begun, everyone should enjoy their drink over baby-ice. When someone notices that their baby has melted free of their ice cube she shouts, “My water broke!” and wins a prize.
4. Open Gifts
This is a shower after all. If at all possible, have guests send cards and gifts to the recipients’ home prior to the party, and remind the showeree to wait to open her packages at the party. Easy-peasy!
It wasn’t the same as a “real” shower, but I think we’ve learned that so much of living through hard times is being creative and making good with what you’ve got. And you know what? It ended up being pretty darn good.
