How To Throw a Virtual Baby Shower

Note: Lion painted my toes the morning of the virtual Baby Shower! :)

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to throw a Virtual Baby Shower for our dear friends. The expecting couple joined us in person and the guests joined in via Zoom. We cheers'd with fruity sparkling water, ate cake, and played games. It was a wonderful day celebrating the parents-to-be and we are grateful to have been able to share it with their family virtually.

Keep reading for my "how to" on throwing a fun virtual baby shower!...

In this blog post, I'll detail the following:

(1) Brunch Menu

(2) Decor

(3) Games + Entertainment

(4) Virtual Baby Shower Schedule

(5) How To Throw A Baby Shower Checklist

(6) Snapshots From The Shower

On The Menu...

Brunch Baby Shower Menu

Cucumber Water

Blood Orange San Pellegrino Sparkling Water

Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

Cranberry Walnut Bakery Bread

Scrambled Eggs, Drizzled Truffle Oil

Breakfast Sausage + Bacon

Arugula Salad (Arugula, Figs, Pumpkin Seeds; Dijon Vinaigrette: Dijon Mustard, Apple Cider Vinegar, Olive Oil, Garlic, Fresh Squeezed Lemon, Honey, Sea Salt, Pepper)

Chia Seed Pudding (Prepared overnight; Topped with Raspberries)

Bakery Cake (Vanilla with Raspberry Filling, Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Decor

Top Row: Pink Satin Ribbon / White XL Balloons / Meri Meri Eco Plates /

Middle Row: Light Pink Velvet Ribbon / Roll White Kraft Paper / Paint Brush Set / Paint Bottles

Bottom Row: Pearled Wrapping Paper / Butterfly Paper Plates / Eco Compostable Utensils / Recyclable Clear Cups

Not Pictured Above: Fresh Flower Arrangements

Games + Entertainment

Pictured: Pink Satin Ribbon / Blank Keepsake Booklet / Baby Dolls / Newborn Diapers / Swaddles / Permanent Marker / Jarred Baby Food / Blindfolds

Virtual Baby Shower Games + Entertainment

(1) Well Wishes Video

- Have guests send in "well wishes" videos of themselves for the expecting couple.

- Ask the expecting couple's families to send in baby and childhood photos of the couple.

(2) Guess The Baby

- Ask guests to send in a photo of themself (and include their name) as a baby.

- Put the photos into a PowerPoint presentation (i.e., first slide: baby photo, next slide: person's name) for a fun interactive virtual guessing game.

(3) Blindfolded Baby Food

- Choose a variety of baby food for the expecting couple to try blindfolded.

- We chose pleasant tasting (i.e., pears and other fruit flavors) for the expecting mom and the "trickier" foods (i.e., meat-based options) for the expecting dad.

(4) Diaper Change Race

- Gather a couple baby dolls, diaper changing products, and swaddles for the expecting couple to race each other.

- We added a couple fun additions: both expecting parents had to pretend breastfeed their baby dolls on each side for 10 seconds and sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star before laying their dolls down.

(5) Late Night Diapers

- Ask guests to send in funny notes to write on the back of diapers for the parents to read during late night diaper changes.

- i.e., "This One's For Daddy!" or "Warning! Toxic!"

(6) Parenting Advice Booklet Keepsake

- Have guests email in parenting advice - silly or sentimental.

- Put the advice in a booklet for the parents to keep.

Baby Shower Schedule Explained...

10AM: Jump on Zoom & Say Hello!

We had guests hop on Zoom early to say hello and for everyone to get situated.

10:15AM: Video

We prepared a video ahead of time that included photos of the expecting couple as babies and throughout childhood. Followed by videos guests sent in of their "well wishes" to the expecting couple. We played the video over Zoom for all guests to watch and emailed it to guests after the shower, along with photos taken at the shower.

10:30AM: Guess The Baby!

For a virtual baby shower game, we had guests submit baby photos of themselves to me ahead of the baby shower. I put together a simple PowerPoint slide show and we guessed each photo over the Zoom (i.e., 1st Slide: Baby Photo, 2nd Slide: Person's Name). We asked guests to wait a moment before shouting out guesses until we said "Go!".

10:45AM: Blindfolded Baby Food Game

After the video and virtual baby shower game, we turned to the expecting parents-to-be for a couple fun games. First up, a traditional baby shower game of "Blindfolded Guess The Baby Food". We gave the "better" tasting food to the expecting mother and the shall-I-say "trickier" food options to the expecting father. We showed what each food was to the Zoom guests before the expecting parents tried and guessed each food choice.

11AM: Diaper Change Race

Next up, we had our final game of the baby shower - a good old baby doll diaper change race. My sister had Marcello and I do this at our baby shower when pregnant with Lion. It's funny to think back to this moment because I had no idea how to change a baby's diaper and kept whispering to my mom friends for help. Needless to say, we were excited to watch a fresh pair of expecting parents take on the task. For the game, we used two of Lion's baby dolls and some newborn diapers and clothes. We started with the baby dolls sleeping and the parents were tasked with getting each baby up, out of their pajamas, diapers changed, fresh clothes on, swaddled, breastfed for 10 seconds on each side, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" sang to, and finally laid back down for a rest.

11:15AM: Open Gifts

After the video and games, the couple opened gifts. About a month in advance of the virtual shower, we emailed the guests the expecting couple's baby registry and our address to have gifts sent. We asked guests to have gifts arrive by a week before the shower to allow for gift wrapping and shipping delays. Side Note: Having the gifts sent ahead of time helped me with the guest gift list for the expecting parents - I noted the sender and their gifts on a piece of paper in advance of the shower and added any gifts to the list that the couple brought with them or that were sent pre-wrapped.

11:30AM: Farewell!

And finally we all said farewell. Tip: You could use this time to open it up for guests to say any last well wishes before officially tying up the Zoom party.

After The Baby Shower

After the virtual baby shower we emailed guests a quick thank you, a link to the Well Wishes Video, the Guess The Baby PowerPoint, and photos from the shower.

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Side Note: This "How To" is from the viewpoint that the Expecting Couple will join you in-person and guests will join the party via Zoom.

How To Throw a Virtual Baby Shower Explained...

(1) Gather Guest List + Email Addresses From Expecting Couple

- You'll need these for: Save The Dates, Invitations, Emailing Zoom link, Coordinating Entertainment Surprises with Guests, etc.

(2) Pick A Date + Time With Expecting Couple

- Tip: I like to do morning or early parties to allow guests to still have the remainder of the day to themselves.

(3) Email a Save The Date

- Allow enough time prior to shower

- Include Baby Registry with Host/Your Mailing Address

(4) Research Party Inspiration / Collaborate with Expecting Couple

- Pinterest is great for this!

(5) Plan Decor + Menu

- Consider: Balloons, Flowers, Candles, Paper Products (i.e., Plates, Cups, Utensils, Napkins), Wrapping Paper, Ribbon, Table Covers, etc.

- Tip: Set a deadline with guests for gifts to arrive to you, to allow for shipping delays and time for you to wrap gifts.

- Place any cake and food orders in advance.

- Tip: If you're making food yourself, consider logistics of if food needs to be served hot and timing of how long making the food will take. I created a menu around keeping cooking the morning-of the party to a minimum while still considering fresh, healthy, tasty, and filling food.

- Here are some of these items we ordered: XL 36" Balloons, Pink Satin Ribbon, Meri Meri Eco Plates, Helium Tank, Compostable Cutlery, Compostable Clear Cups, Pearl Wrapping Paper, Light Pink Velvet Ribbon, Heart Cut-Out Gift Tags, Google Chromecast,

(6) Plan Games / Prepared Entertainment

- There's tons of fun ideas on the internet/Pinterest.

- Tip: Consider logistics. i.e., Will there be a lot of guests on Zoom? Consider that interactive games may become confusing with things like not knowing who is shouting out an answer, or knowing if all guests are understanding the rules to a game, etc.

- Tip: Consider involving guests. Guests will be watching from their own homes and likely wanting to participate to feel included in the festivities.

- With these tips considered, I decided to do some preparations for the games and entertainment ahead of the party. This allowed me to stress less for the day-of the shower. I prepped a few things ahead of time with guests (via a "secret" email): I had guests email me the following: (1) Their own baby photo for a PowerPoint game of "Guess The Baby"; (2) Funny notes for me to write on "Late Night Diapers"; (3) Parenting Advice that we printed out and put in a keepsake booklet for the expecting couple; (4) Well Wishes videos from guests to the expecting couple; and (5) baby and childhood photos of the expecting couple.

(7) Email an Invitation with Zoom Link

- We decided to do invitations through email to keep things easy. Regardless if you do printed or email invites, make sure you email a link to your Zoom for guests.

- Tip: Set deadlines for guests (and assume they'll miss them!). We all wait until the last minute to complete tasks, order gifts, etc. Especially if you send early Save The Dates and Invitations, it is important to set deadlines for guests. For example, consider most gifts will arrive to you unwrapped, so you need to plan time for wrapping gifts. What you want to avoid is an influx of gifts and things emailed for entertainment coming in the night before the shower. Send email reminders to guests to help them along the way.

(8) Test Run Zoom

- I found when setting up my Zoom link for the shower that I only had the basic plan, which meant I could only set up a Zoom event for a maximum of 40 minutes for larger meeting groups. Luckily my husband has a business account we could use. Now we had to consider technical logistics such as videos, PowerPoints, etc. were created on my computer - a simple adding me as a host solved this problem for day-of the shower.

- Casting to TV: During our test run of Zoom the night before the shower, we worked out kinks with casting to our tv and sharing my computer screen. We also needed to purchase a plug-in for the tv for casting.

- Needless to say it's a good idea to create the Zoom link at least a week prior to the shower, and set up a test Zoom link to work out kinks.

(9) Create a Party Schedule

- I created a party schedule for the Zoom to give guests an idea of what to expect at home. I wanted guests to have an idea of how long the shower will last and what fun activities to expect.

- I emailed guests the party schedule, noting that it most likely wouldn't be an exact timing match.

- Tip: Allow for a "welcome" time: around 10 minutes or so of saying "hello" at the start of the Zoom while guests hop on the Zoom at various times.

(10) Email Zoom Link Again an Hour Prior to Party

- Emails can get lost, send out a reminder for the party with a Zoom link the morning-of the shower.