How to Host A Memorable Virtual Baby Shower with Ideas & Tips

Thanks to Covid-19, so much is different in our world right now. Over the past few months, you may have mastered working from home, helping your children navigate virtual school, and gotten used to a much more distanced social life. If someone special in your life will be having a baby soon, you might now be looking for ways to make a virtual baby shower incredibly special despite it being different from most showers you’ve attended or hosted in the past. If you’re wondering how to have a virtual baby shower that still feels fun, celebratory, and communal, you’re in the right place.

By Anna Keller, curiouser & curiouser

True, it won’t be the same as an in-person event, but there are actually some great things about having a baby shower online that might surprise both you and the guest of honor. (Oh, and pssst…we’ve got you covered if you also need an amazing gift for the virtual baby shower! Check out our baby gear, toys, and nursery essentials here.)

How to host a virtual baby shower

First, here are some of those perks I mentioned. Because a virtual baby shower isn’t location specific, it really broadens who’s able to be included. By moving the baby shower online, you’ll be able to invite relatives or close friends of the mama- and daddy-to-be who might live several states away without them having to coordinate travel to be part of the celebration. To help the virtual baby shower from feeling too large – even if you end up with lots of attendees – it’s helpful to assign a few key leaders of the online event. As host, you’ll be one, and if you’re hosting alone it could be really helpful to identify a few others to assist with “crowd control,”

be there to let people into the virtual baby shower from the waiting room if you’re using Zoom, watch the chat box and help troubleshoot as needed, and more.

Also, virtual baby showers often help guests overcome scheduling conflicts. They may not have been able to dedicate the travel time necessary for an in-person shower, but even if they have other things going on that day, they might be able to tune in to the virtual baby shower from another location or for a portion of the event.

And because a virtual baby shower doesn’t require a central physical space for the event to take place, you can make it as big as you’d like it to be! There’s nothing to coordinate (or potentially budget for) when it comes to an event space, so that means you don’t have to worry about how many guests will fit into a given location. See? Hosting a baby shower online can really open up some neat possibilities!

As with any event, you can have fun with the invitations for your virtual baby shower. Even if you send out printed invitations via snail mail, plan to follow up with clear and detailed instructions via email so guests have the online baby shower details – the link to the event, any password information, etc. – at their fingertips. Consider using a platform like AddEvent.com that allows you to create an event link so guests can easily add the event to their online calendar with a couple of clicks, too. (This means, of course, that you’ll definitely want email addresses for all invitees from the guest of honor!)

Be sure to share registry information in the invitation as well and encourage guests to send their gifts to the mama-to-be prior to the virtual baby shower so guests can enjoy watching their gifts be opened during the baby shower online.

Make sure you have an agenda for the virtual baby shower

This is even MORE important with a virtual baby shower than it is an in-person one, because you’ve removed the element of mingling that happens when people are together in a single physical space. Yes, there will definitely be chatting and catching up during a virtual baby shower, but it won’t be the same since people can’t have one-on-one or small group chats as part of an online event.

It may feel like you’re overdoing it or being too Type A with a rigidly scheduled virtual baby shower, but believe me when I say your planning will pay off:

Start by sharing a brief welcome as the virtual baby shower host, and then let the mama-to-be say a few words thanking everyone in attendance.
Then, either have the guests go around one by one and introduce themselves, sharing how they know the guest of honor, OR have the mama-to-be introduce all her guests.
Later on, you can have her open her gifts, too, so the virtual baby shower attendees can share in the fun.
With a baby shower online, I think one main game or group activity is plenty, and you can gather a bit of information or share details to make it more successful:
For example, you could ask guests to submit a favorite easy recipe for the parents-to-be to have on hand when the little one arrives, and then everyone could briefly share about their recipe (any fun stories behind it, tips they have, etc.).
Another activity at a virtual baby shower could be for each guest to submit a sweet piece of parenting advice/something to look forward to as a parent.
Something that’s easy for most guests but really meaningful for the mama-to-be is a collection of short, pre-recorded messages from attendees. You can either have all guests record a video to play as part of the online baby shower’s agenda or use this as a way to include people who aren’t able to attend the virtual baby shower. They can share their congratulations, making the video sweet and sentimental or a little funny.

With any of those ideas, the guests could email you their recipe, piece of advice, or video in advance of the virtual baby shower and you could compile them into a book to share with the guest of honor after the event.

There are other ways to incorporate the guest of honor’s personality into the virtual baby shower which can be pretty simple and fun, and which can also help “decorate” for the event (since you won’t be personalizing an actual space). Some examples of that could be:

Everyone dressing in the mama-to-be’s favorite color
Sharing a quote from her favorite movie in the chat as they join the event
Changing their virtual backgrounds to align with her favorite vacation spot

Here are two final tips as you prepare to host an online baby shower:

1) Offer to help guests practice prior to the event so they feel comfortable using the technology for the baby shower online once the day of the event rolls around. This can be especially helpful for older guests who might feel less than confident when it comes to using a platform like Zoom. You might even consider creating a brief how-to guide to send to all guests just to try to minimize any tech issues. That can come as part of the broader virtual baby shower invitation, also including any notes around themes, items to submit before the online baby shower, and more.

2) Record the event so that the guest of honor can have all of her virtual baby shower saved for prosperity. This is another plus of having an online baby shower! (Want bonus host points? Take top moments from the recorded event after the virtual baby shower

and create a highlight reel, which can include screenshots of favorite moments as well as video clips. Talk about a fun keepsake for the guest of honor – and it gives her pieces she can easily share on social media if she’d like to!)

Hopefully, these tips have left you feeling excited and empowered about hosting a virtual baby shower, knowing it can be just as special as – if not a bit different than – an in-person event would be. You’ve got this!!

Anna Keller

Creator of Curiouser and Curiouser, Anna Keller blogs about parenting, pregnancy, health & wellness, fashion, and more. Her compelling content can be read by those who love brands such as Beyond Yoga and the blog Triad Moms on Main.

Anna’s priority in all that she does – whether it’s with her family and friends, through her writing, during her work as a Pure Barre teacher, or as a Beautycounter consultant – is connection. After all, from connection comes understanding, purpose, and joy.