My littlest sister and littlest sister-in-law are both due in November (YAY!). We had dates set to host a baby shower here at my home, but with a rising number of COVID cases in our area, we decided it wasn’t the safest thing for all of us to meet in person.
We quickly began brainstorming the next best option to try and make this event as special as we could for these first-time moms. After scanning Pinterest, I stumbled upon a post from This Crafty Home who had written about hosting a virtual baby shower via Facebook. After talking to the other aunts and moms-to-be, we decided to go for it!
Planning the Shower
We first began by choosing our dates. We decided to make it an event that would last Monday through Friday so that we could engage with event participants and also so that the moms-to-be could post pictures of their gifts as they arrived. Etsy had a ton of invitations to choose from, and we decided to go with themes that matched the new nurseries that were being created.
The Mintie Paperie Shop on Etsy had so many adorable options, and if you buy three items you get 60% off! For Brayby (Baby Brayton) we chose this animal invitation:
For Baby Kreber, we went with this invitation:
Finally, both moms were hoping to expand their picture book collection, so we requested books instead of cards:
The thing I loved most about buying from Minty Paperie (after her beautiful designs) was that each item you purchased was customizable using Templett. This is a website you are directed to after downloading your items. For the book request, we changed the writing to this:
A small request we hope won't be hard, Please send a book instead of a card. Mommy will write your name To remember who it's from And baby will enjoy it For many years to come.
We then asked the moms-to-be to add some picture books they wanted to their registries to make it easier for guests to shop.
The Facebook Event
We decided the easiest way to create the event was to have the moms do it on their Facebook account and make us (aunts) the admins. This way most guests were already friends with the moms, alleviating friend requests from people guests may not know.
When it came time for the event, here are the posts we did to get guests involved and make the event more personalized for the moms:
- Ask the mom-to-be what her favorite drink is that she likes to enjoy when she’s not pregnant. If guests enjoy this drink throughout the week, they post a picture.
- Guests share their favorite memory or what they like best about the mom-to-be.
- Poll:
- Will baby be due on their due date?
- Will baby be a boy or girl?
- What features will baby most likely have?
- What advice do you have for the new mom?
- What are your best mom hacks?
In addition to us aunts adding these posts, the moms also posted pictures of gifts they received throughout the week.
Wrapping It Up
Overall, the virtual shower went really well. Event guests were great participants and had a lot of fun things to share. My sister-in-law had the great idea to create a Shutterfly book for Mom, so I took screenshots of all the posts and comments and the aunts were able to gift this to her. As much as we would have loved to all meet in person, the words shared by everyone will be great treasures. Now, here’s hoping to a Meet-and-Greet in 2021!
twss,
Kelsey