11 TIPS FOR HOSTING A VIRTUAL BABY SHOWER
If you’re pregnant just now, it is not the easiest time during this global pandemic, but there is also the amazing sliver lining of getting some extra time at home before baby comes to prepare for baby, or to get those special moments in with older children, before the new arrival.
One of the things you will be missing out on though, is your baby shower. But it doesn’t have to be that way! inspired by a (successful, I might add!) birthday party I held for my son, on Zoom, I got to thinking about how we could do the same for baby showers. So, below are my top 11 ideas for how to have a fabulous baby shower during social isolation PLUS let me create a personalised e-invitation for you, for your baby shower. Scroll down for details.
Create a Zoom account or use another similar video conferencing facility like Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting or House Party. (You can chat for 40 mins for free, with unlimited participants on Zoom. If you run over 40 mins, just sign in again, or create a paid for account.)
“Decorate" the room. You could do this virtually or actually decorate the room. Many of the online video conferencing softwares will let you upload your own image in the background and you’ll be superimposed on to this. Or decorate your room for real. Particularly popular just now are balloon garlands and ballon walls. I use these blush and pink balloons in the studio for my cakesmash balloon walls for girls, and for boys you could use this blue and gold combo. For a unisex scheme, try this mixture of pastels.
Offer refreshments and snacks! Now clearly, you won’t be catering for all your guests physically, so here are some fun options around virtual catering:
Share cocktail / mocktail recipes that everyone can make together with simple ingredients all can buy in
Order a platter of food for delivery to each guest. For example you could do afternoon tea by ordering from Pret-A-Manger or other similar caterers via Justeat or Deliveroo etc.
Send each guest a recipe to create in advance, so everyone is eating the same meal.
As each person to make their favourite party food and ‘bring it along’ - whether that’s home made guacamole or tub of olives!
Play virtual party games. Now there are A LOT of options for traditional baby shower games and you can find loads on Pinterest. The key thing to do, is to pick games that you can easily convert to virtual games. Here are some examples:
Virtual Bingo - Bingo Baker has tonnes of pre-made Bingo boards and call lists including baby shower ones like this one. BUT my personal favourite is combining baby bingo with music bingo - so you could do nursery rhyme bingo and make a playlist of the same rhymes. Play a snippet of each randomly. Guests then have to identify the rhyme, AND find it on their card.
Baby Sherades - you can find many lists on line, like this one. One person moderates and stays out of the game. The moderator then private messages the actor the phrase to act out.
Guess the Baby Photo - create a collage of everyone’s baby photos in advance.. Share the collage on screen while guests guess who is who - first person to guess all correctly, wins.
Emoji Baby Pictionary - download a couple of game cards like this one or this one and screen share it with guests. Ask guests to private message you their answers when they think they are done. First to correctly answer all the clues, wins.
Get crafting. Ask guests to each make something to contribute to baby’s nursery. For example - decoupage letters to spell baby’s name for the shelf. You can order letters, glue and paper (or use any tissue paper and PVA glue) online from Hobby Craft, or other craft retailers. Send these out to guest well in advance of the baby shower. Ask each guest to sign and date the back of their letter before sending it back to you.
Baby boy / girl reveal. If you’ve kept the gender a secret you can still do a reveal via conference call. You can find loads of reveal ideas online but my favourite is using a cake to reveal the gender just like these examples. A simpler option could be to box up one (or more for multiples) blue / pink (or whatever colour you choose to denote the gender) helium balloon(s). Open the box when you’re ready to reveal the gender.
Name the baby’s middle name. If you’re leaving the middle name to your friends to pick, you can give them a small selection of pre-vetted names to vote on, each person casts one vote using the chat function and then you add up the votes.
Invite an expert to give everyone an online experience. This could be a nail technician, hairdresser or beautician who can teach DIY skills via video call, or someone more entertaining like a magician or comedian who can video call in for 30 mins to entertain. Have you got any personal recommendations of East London businesses? Please let me know and I’ll add the links here.
Gift Registry. Although you can’t see the items in person, you can still do an online gift register - there are loads of options online and you can of course simply create an Amazon wish list to share too. If you’re looking for gift inspiration here are my favourite new baby items - based on my experiences as a newborn portrait photographer and what I use in the studio, and a little bit based on my own experiences when my son was a new baby.
Prefer not to do a Gift Registry? Your friends will likely still want to give you something to celebrate the birth of your baby. Here are some ideas:
Contact-less cooked meals delivery once baby has arrived - they can leave a home cooked meal on the doorstep or order you takeaway.
Vouchers for a baby photoshoot once lockdown is over. (Get in touch if you’re local to East London and would like me to capture these for you).
Babysitting virtual vouchers so you can get some time off, once lockdown is relaxed.
Restaurant gift card / vouchers for date night once lockdown is over (in conjunction with the above).
Online story reading for baby - make a date with each guest to do a story time reading to baby - they can pick their favourite childhood book and read it out loud via video call. Record the reading, to keep it forever for baby. Guests might even choose to send you the book as a gift.
Record the moment for baby’s memory box or book. Capture screen grabs during the baby shower, to keep for posterity. Print and add to baby’s memory box. You could even upload digital frames like these to your background to jazz up the screen grab photos you take.
Would you like a personalised e-invite to send to guests, like one of the ones below? Just join my mailing list by clicking here and I’ll create a personalised e-invite for you, free of charge if you join the mailing list through this link. All you have to do is pick which design you prefer and tell me what info to include. Simple.
Finally, if you’d like to find out more about my maternity and newborn photography sessions click here.
As ever, any questions, just ask! Keep safe.
Sara x