Hosting a baby shower for an expectant mother who’s close to your heart is one of the best gifts you can give as she prepares for her little tot. A baby shower isn’t typically paid for by her, so you and your friends might have to divide the expense amongst yourselves. The best part, though, is the games, and of course, the gifts that you all give, often from her registry, to help her out in completing her baby essentials.

As a woman navigates through the ups and downs of pregnancy, a baby shower is definitely one of the ups. In keeping up with recent days, however, many parties have also turned to another platform: online. When physical parties and gatherings are still prohibited, virtual parties are the new normal, so friends can still gather, albeit separated by physical distance but connected through a screen.

Hosting a virtual baby shower, however, doesn’t have to be any less fun than how it would’ve been had the party been the usual physical gathering. It takes a lot of planning to make sure it ends up just as fun, so be guided by these tips:

1. Send Out Virtual Invites

Just because the baby shower isn’t the usual physical party that it is, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to skip out on the invitations. While you can leave a message through a chat messaging platform or through text, you can opt for a better way to go about it: an online invitation.

The baby shower you’re hosting is going to feel a lot more prepared and put together when you’ve got online invites that are coherent with your theme. Most importantly, it’ll increase the chances of having guests respond to the RSVP when this option is immediately available on the online invitation itself. 

When you send out your virtual invites, be sure that you’ve already finalized the day and time of the virtual baby shower with your friends who are organizing the party with you. Here are some very important things to consider when deciding on the time:

• If your guests are in multiple time zones, host the party at the hour that’ll be most comfortable for most of the guests, if not everyone, as you wouldn’t want a guest, for instance, to have to be up at the wee hours of the morning to attend.
• Put a time limit on the party, as you’ve got to be respectful of everyone else’s schedule—plus, with a virtual party, dragging it too long will only make it boring.

2. Select and Test Your Chosen Online Meeting Platform

Now that online meetings and gatherings have formed part of this ‘new normal,’ there are also so many online meeting platforms that are now available. Each of these has its respective strengths and weaknesses, so it’s up to you also to select the platform that’ll work best for you and the other attendees.

For instance, you’ve got a choice between Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, and Skype. These are all easy to use, even for the most non-techy guests that you might have in attendance.

Most importantly, no matter what your chosen online meeting platform is, do give it a trial run. By doing so, you can discover possible glitches early on and also learn your way towards its ins and outs for a smooth party on the day itself.

3. Create A Virtual Baby Shower Registry

You’re going to have to do this with the help of the expectant mother you’re hosting the party for. As soon as you send out the invites, it’ll also be great if you can attach a link to the virtual baby shower registry chosen by the mom herself. 

Remember that you’re not going to be giving the gifts personally. So, it’d be nice if these are ordered in advance, to make way for the delivery and shipping period. You can nicely ask the mom not to open the packages first once they arrive and wait until the virtual baby shower date. By doing so, the opening of the gifts can also be a part of the day that you’ve prepared for this expectant mother.

4. Don’t Forget the Decorations and the Food

Decorations on a virtual baby shower? Yes, that’s possible. But you can’t bring out decorations for each of the attendees, as that would also be quite a big preparation.

What you can do instead is to arrange for a party decorator to go to the expectant mother’s home and set up the decorations there. That would serve as her backdrop during the virtual party. Decorations can actually help set the mood of the party and put everything together, so this detail is a nice one to have, even if you’re only hosting a virtual party.

This is where having a theme comes in. Even if it’s a virtual party, you can still set everything together with a cohesive theme. You can also have this discussion with the expectant mother, as they have a dream theme based on their preferences, hobbies, and even the gender of their baby.

As to the food, you’ve got to be a tad bit more creative with your strategy. Because you’re all in different locations, the best way to go about with the food is to have food kits delivered right to the home of each attendee. By doing so, each of you has food to enjoy when it’s time to eat during the virtual party.

Conclusion

The pandemic may have canceled physical gatherings, but this doesn’t mean that your celebration for the expectant mother and her little one will have to be canceled as well. Technology has bridged what would’ve otherwise been the physical gap created by the pandemic. With a little creativity and the tips above, now you can be the queen of planning the best virtual baby shower for an expectant mom close to you.