Hosting a Virtual Baby Shower

Weddings, showers, birthdays, and even funerals…they all look a lot different now don't they? It is so hard to know what to do – right? Do you have a wedding or a baby shower at home and wear masks? Social distance? But then what happens when you want to eat…or have a drink. Mask off and germs spread. Sheesh!

This all hit home for my family in August when my youngest daughter, Nicole, told us she is pregnant with her 1st baby (cue the happy dance)! Shortly after we found out, the subject of a baby shower came up. Since we found out in August we thought for SURE that an in person shower would be the way to go with the baby due 8 months later. Little did we know that Covid would still be hanging around. So…we decided to host a virtual baby shower. Because every new mom and dad NEEDS baby gear right?

Virtual Baby Shower Ideas

We scoured the internet for virtual baby shower ideas. What should we do? Should we use Zoom or Google Meets? Who do we invite? How long should it be? And the list of questions began….

We thought that everyone would be pretty bored watching Nicole and Zach open presents for an hour. I know I would have been bored! We looked for ideas. And then Nicole spoke to a friend who attended a virtual shower and they played a game! OMG! What a great idea! Who doesn't love a fun game.

So, this is what we did:

• Went to Paperless Post and created the invitation. Nicole is a minimalist so it was pretty simple.
• Created our guest list. The beauty of a virtual shower is that anyone can come – it does not matter how far away they live. So, we invited a bunch of people, who know and love, the parents-to-be.
• Thought it would be fun to send out ‘party favor packages' to everyone who RSVP'd yes. That way they could feel part of an event. (We assumed a no response, after a few reminders, was a no).
• Decided on our color scheme. This was decided by Nicole going into my craft room and choosing a piece of cardstock that she liked.
• Figured out what party favors we could either make/order and then send to our guests. I had a bunch of boxes that worked perfectly (they fit into a Priority Mail box) so we were limited by size and weight. (Spending $20 a box for mailing was NOT in the budget).
• Decided to have a ‘Baby Burns Trivia' game during the shower and have 2 gifts for the winners. The person who knew the most…and the person who knew the least. They are both winners because they both receive a prize!

Nicole and I spent a Saturday making prototypes and figuring out what to order. We then placed the orders and started a few of the favors and tags. We ordered candles in little tins. They came with a custom label. And are so dang cute.

A few weeks later, Nicole, Karin (Zach's mom and co-host) and I spent a Saturday afternoon finishing it all up. And man oh man, did everything come out so cute. All of those virtual baby shower ideas that we researched paid off PLUS all of the ideas we came up with ourselves!

The little bag on the left has crinkle paper shred and Hershey Nuggets wrapped in pattern paper inside (the paper was cut to 1″ x 3″). 6 nuggets fit perfectly. We needed 20 bags of shred for 35 boxes and 35 favors (the ones we mailed had more shred than the hand delivered ones). I buy my shred from Nashville Wraps.

The candles came from My Wedding Favors and we just love them! They smell awesome.

We designed, and had printed, the ‘Baby Burns Trivia' sheets. We also had pencils made (I don't have a picture) so the guests could fill out their trivia sheets. Those trivia sheets are in the envelope with the stork on it. I designed them in Canva (which I love).

Nicole ordered the cookies from a local person. She made them extra thick because we were mailing them.

The supplies I used for this cute bag are:

• Favor Bag – Mama Elephant Favor Bag
• Rabbit stamp and die set – Mama Elephant Page Huggers Stamp Set and Die Set
• Small Tag – Mama Elephant Mini Tag Die (any small tag die would work here)
• Welcome Little One – Simon Says Stamp Oh, Baby
• String – Lawn Fawn Lawn Trimmings

We put crinkle paper shred on the bottom of the box, added the gifts and then finished with shred. (I actually put shred between the favors and the cookie and then more shred on top. To protect the cookie).

We then added silver stars on top…just so it would make a mess when the guests opened the box 🙂 PLUS it looked super cute. All about the cute!

We made the cutest ‘bun in the oven' tags. Don't you agree?

We used:

• Tag – Simon Says Stamp Stitched Dress Up Tag
• Oven and sentiment – Lawn Fawn Plus One
• I colored with Copic Markers

Packed them all up in Priority Mail boxes and mailed 10 days before the shower. We hand delivered anyone who was local.

Everyone was told to NOT open the boxes until the baby shower begins. Nicole even put a sticker on the box in case someone forgot.

Now, for me, half the fun of any party is unwrapping the gifts. Since it was a virtual shower all of the gifts were sent to me. I offered to wrap them, add a ribbon/bow and create a tag.

I packed all of the gifts into my elevator. They were ready to descend when the big day arrived.

We created a separate video for each person and then Nicole emailed them out to them. Almost like being there, right?

Here are some photos from the shower, including a few hand made
goodies by Grandma!

The favor boxes where a HUGE hit. Everyone loved the game. Don't let social distancing ruin your baby shower fun!