Virtual baby shower ideas
When you live miles apart from family and friends, it can be lonely, especially when you are anticipating a new baby’s arrival. Celebrating a precious new life is part of the fun, when it comes to being a new parent. The distance seems like a barrier, but with technology you can create an intimate baby shower that makes the honoree feel loved and celebrated!
I just hosted my first virtual baby shower, and it turned out to be a really fun way to host a baby shower. I put together my best tips for helping you create your own virtual baby shower to shower your friend, sister, or family member with all the love. It takes a tribe to raise a baby…how amazing is it that we can still be that tribe for the ones we love, no matter the distance!
Looking for baby shower gift for mom-to-be? Check out my favorite baby shower gifts for mom, not baby!
Hosting a Virtual Baby Shower
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Before you can send out invitations, choose a place to host the virtual baby shower. We chose to host my sister’s baby shower on a Facebook Group. This was the best option for us because most of her friends and family are already on Facebook and we could leave the baby shower open for a week to play games, share videos of her opening gifts, and connecting with friends just like she would at a regular baby shower.
Make sure to personalize the group with photos, digital images of the invitation, etc. Think of setting up the Facebook Group just like you would decorate for an actual baby shower! You want people to have fun and be engaged in the group so try to create that atmosphere before the party gets started.
We went with the “Adventure Awaits” theme for her baby boy virtual shower. I found this free SVG file from Dawn Nicole Designs and used it to create the hard copy invitations and the Welcome announcement on the Facebook Page.
Facebook Baby Shower Ideas
When you are hosting a long distance baby shower on Facebook, one of the most important aspects is creating a space that feels like you are connecting in a very real way. These are some of the ideas we came up with for making the honoree (my sister) and her guests feel connected on an online platform.
Virtual Baby Shower Invitations
The baby shower invitations were an important part of the virtual baby shower. We decided to send out real invitations because we wanted friends and family to feel connected the party.
The invite included a note card that guests filled out with encouraging words or best parenting advice, a self-addressed stamped envelope, and directions on how to join the party. And most importantly, her baby registry at Target and Shop Amazon – Create an Amazon Baby Registry
!
Virtual baby shower wording can be a little tricky, especially if you’re inviting people who don’t use technology very often (like my grandma!). In the place of location on our virtual baby shower invitations, we gave the link to our Facebook group. We also included clear instructions for how to join Facebook and how to join the Facebook group.
I opted out of an online baby shower service, because I felt like we could control more through the Facebook group and most of our friends and family are already members and familiar with how to use Facebook.
Virtual Baby Shower Games
Baby shower games can be a little tricky when you’re hosting a long distance baby shower, but we came up with some fun ideas! We sent out $5 Starbucks gift cards as virtual baby shower prizes to the winners.
Modern Baby Shower Games to Play Online
Guess Mommy’s Belly Measurements
Post a picture of mom-to-be’s profile and have guests make a guess of the belly measurement.
Price is Right, Baby!
Play a little game of the Price is Right with baby products. We created this image with diaper cream, baby powder, baby bib, diapers, wipes, teething ring, and a baby bottle. Everyone made a guess on how much all the products cost. Then I sent all the items as a gift to mom-to-be!
Mom-to-Be Quiz
This one is always fun to play and it’s easy to change it to an online baby shower game! Ask mom-to-be the answer to a few questions and then have guests guess the answers.
Question Ideas:
- What was her biggest pregnancy craving?
- When you told him you were pregnant what did he do?
- What is her biggest fear about having a baby?
Baby Scattegories
This is a great game for a remote baby shower. It’s just like playing the original Scattegories game, but with baby as the subject.
Here’s how it works…
Choose a few categories like baby name, baby food, something in a diaper bag, baby toy, item from baby’s room…have fun with it!
Then choose a word like BABY, BOY, GIRL…
Each person has to come up with a word for each letter from your word (BABY, BOY, GIRL…) in each category. Give a point to anyone who has an original and real word. No using google to help you out, and we used the honor system.
TIP: I made a new post for each category!
Baby Shower Decor
I sent my sister a few baby shower decorations that she could use to hang up as the background for opening gifts. We plan on using the same decorations for her Sip and See when she gets to come back home with the baby.
I bought this “Adventures Await” sign from Amazon and spray painted it black to match the baby shower invitations.
Then I added this cute mountain banner.
Online Baby Shower Food?! Oh, yeah!
I would have loved to sent a baby shower cupcake or cookie to every one of our online baby shower guests, but the budget was getting a little tight. So instead I had my brother-in-law head out to their favorite local bakery and pick up cupcakes for them to celebrate.
It was such a fun surprise for my sister!
Day of the Virtual Baby Shower
I planned the baby shower to last for a week. That way people could check in when they wanted to through out the week. My sister posted videos of her opening gifts, took us on a tour of baby’s new room, and of course pics of her sweet baby bump. I posted the virtual baby shower games through out the week, so people had a chance to play when they could pop into the group.
The last day of the baby shower we posted the winners to all the games, my sister and her husband posted videos of them with their cupcakes and thanking everyone for sharing all the love.
Tip: It was helpful to have the week long baby shower so that she could get most of her gifts in that time frame, since shipping can take longer than expected sometimes.
If you’re looking for a unique way to shower a mom-to-be who lives far away, I think this is probably the best option for an intimate baby shower even though there is a long distance apart.
What do you think? Will you throw a virtual baby shower?
What is the difference between a Facebook Group page and a Facebook Event? Can you host either way?
I’ve never used a Facebook event. But from what I can tell (after looking it up) a Facebook Event seems like it’s more of an invitation. You can include a map, you can’t adjust the privacy settings after you publish the event, and I’m not sure how much you can share through the event page. I used a Facebook group because I have a couple other Facebook groups that I’ve run before so I thought it would be easy to use. I liked that other people could post messages or videos to share in the party. I kept the party open for about a week so that my sister and her husband could post videos as they were getting presents. Hope that helps! 🙂
Thanks for all your ideas! These are great these times!!!
Planning a virtual baby shower for a Friend!
Thanks a lot!
My niece had her baby 10 weeks early (due to developing preeclampsia) and baby Samara is still in the NICU. Because of the emergency delivery, everything halted. I (and my sister, Grandma) want to host a virtual baby shower and these are great tips and ideas! Thank you so much!
Can you tell me if you did a live video at all? I am planning a virtual baby shower for my niece and thought a live video the first day would be great and then post video’s throughout the week of them opening the gifts that come in after the first day. If you did a live feed the first day, how did you do that?
Thank you for this blog- it has really helped me plan.
Thank you for your enthusiastic post of hosting a virtual baby shower.
I am the aunt of the mom-to-be, planning to host a virtual baby shower using your great ideas.
What did you give for “prizes” for the winners of the games? This has me a bit baffled because most of the attendees are out-of-state. I welcome your suggestions.
I plan to give Amazon gift certificates to winners of the games. The mom to be likes that idea.
Amazon gift cards, Starbucks $5.00 gift cards…after the shower, send a gift in the mail to the winners.
So to clarify, you are never actually live? I am a little confused. With the post being open a week, people log on and answer game questions when they can?
Thanks so much for this helpful post! I plan to use many of your ideas.
Hi. Great ideas!
I am doing an in person & virtual via Zoom at the same time per mommy to be. Any suggestions on timing to keep the virtual attendees included during eating etc?