Hosting an online baby shower?
February 15, 2014 4:30 PM Subscribe
Some friends are giving our friend a little baby shower...online. She recently moved cross country, and her friends and family are scattered around the country. I am planning to set up a group Skype so people can see her open the presents we send. I am thinking she can take us on a tour of the new house/baby's room, but is there anything...showery we can do? I could send her some decorations, maybe order for cupcakes to be delivered? Some easy little games like guess how big around she is (do pregnant moms not like that one?) We aren't expecting a real party, but seems like something more than opening presents would be nice.
Is there a better group video service than Skype? I heard Skype isn't so good with more than 5 connections, but I don't know that any other service is any better. We may not have more than 5 anyhow, but my experience with video chat is that it's always awkward because it's hard not to talk over people.
What games could we play? I don't really like games at showers, but it seems in this case like 5 or 10 minutes of a game could liven things up, given how hard actual conversation might be.
Is there a better group video service than Skype? I heard Skype isn't so good with more than 5 connections, but I don't know that any other service is any better. We may not have more than 5 anyhow, but my experience with video chat is that it's always awkward because it's hard not to talk over people.
What games could we play? I don't really like games at showers, but it seems in this case like 5 or 10 minutes of a game could liven things up, given how hard actual conversation might be.
Whether or not the size guessing game will be appropriate is highly dependent on the pregnant woman involved. I didn't care at all, but I know people who are very sensitive about their increasing size during pregnancy. If you don't know, err on the side of caution and skip it.
posted by chiababe at 4:34 PM on February 15, 2014
posted by chiababe at 4:34 PM on February 15, 2014
You can totally play Baby Shower Bingo online! Email everyone a blank bingo card they can fill out before the shower. First person to get a horizontal, vertical or diagonal row yells BINGO and wins... something. (I'd do a $10 or $20 giftcard easily redeemed online, like Etsy or something really generic like Yankee Candle.)
You can also do Wishes for Baby and have each person read theirs out over Skype. You can then gather everyone's by email at the end, and print them out or even put them in a print on demand book with a baby photo after the baby is born as a nice shower momento.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:52 PM on February 15, 2014
You can also do Wishes for Baby and have each person read theirs out over Skype. You can then gather everyone's by email at the end, and print them out or even put them in a print on demand book with a baby photo after the baby is born as a nice shower momento.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:52 PM on February 15, 2014
There are a lot of baby shower word games you could do, like,
*Using all the letters in mom's and dad's full legal names, how many baby names can you come up with? Whoever comes up with the largest number of names that nobody else comes up with in 2 minutes wins. (That is, you only get to count a point for names you come up with that nobody else comes up with. If two people say "Bob" nobody gets a point, if one person says "Rob," that person gets a point.)
*Name that song, either by playing snippets of a song or providing lyrics, all songs to include the word "Baby" in the title
*Baby-related (specific-to-your-friend) Mad Libs are fun for baby showers and easy to play over the internet. "When Brad first met Janet at [place you would go if you were a vampire hooker], he knew it was love at first sight by the way she [thing a monkey might do]. Four years later, they're at last going to have a baby [animate being], who, psychics say, is expected to attend [college Brad hates most]."
In general I'm of the opinion that games your friends actually like to play, given a clever twist to make them baby-centric, are far more fun at baby showers than "baby shower" games, which are always deadly dull.
Depending on how big the shower is -- one of my friends decorated their baby's room in a "space" theme so we got shiney cut-out stars at a party decor store and at the shower everyone wrote a wish for the baby on their star (Ranging from "Many good naps!" to "All God's blessings" to "A lifetime of learning"), and mom and dad hung them from the ceiling and turned some into a mobile. You could easily do something similar with flat objects matching the decor to be a) hung from the ceiling; b) stuck on the wall; c) made into a mobile; d) framed as a collage. Mail them to all the participants in advance with a SASE in each one; they write on them during the appointed time during the skype shower and drop them in the mail ... then mom can line up all the baby ducks with good wishes on them on the baby's wall or whatever.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:58 PM on February 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
*Using all the letters in mom's and dad's full legal names, how many baby names can you come up with? Whoever comes up with the largest number of names that nobody else comes up with in 2 minutes wins. (That is, you only get to count a point for names you come up with that nobody else comes up with. If two people say "Bob" nobody gets a point, if one person says "Rob," that person gets a point.)
*Name that song, either by playing snippets of a song or providing lyrics, all songs to include the word "Baby" in the title
*Baby-related (specific-to-your-friend) Mad Libs are fun for baby showers and easy to play over the internet. "When Brad first met Janet at [place you would go if you were a vampire hooker], he knew it was love at first sight by the way she [thing a monkey might do]. Four years later, they're at last going to have a baby [animate being], who, psychics say, is expected to attend [college Brad hates most]."
In general I'm of the opinion that games your friends actually like to play, given a clever twist to make them baby-centric, are far more fun at baby showers than "baby shower" games, which are always deadly dull.
Depending on how big the shower is -- one of my friends decorated their baby's room in a "space" theme so we got shiney cut-out stars at a party decor store and at the shower everyone wrote a wish for the baby on their star (Ranging from "Many good naps!" to "All God's blessings" to "A lifetime of learning"), and mom and dad hung them from the ceiling and turned some into a mobile. You could easily do something similar with flat objects matching the decor to be a) hung from the ceiling; b) stuck on the wall; c) made into a mobile; d) framed as a collage. Mail them to all the participants in advance with a SASE in each one; they write on them during the appointed time during the skype shower and drop them in the mail ... then mom can line up all the baby ducks with good wishes on them on the baby's wall or whatever.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:58 PM on February 15, 2014 [1 favorite]
I've done this via Google Hangout for an international coworker. Everyone in a different work site decorated the space behind them with similar/same decor (we didn't tell the mom to be, but sent a box of the decor). We sent packages to their house and had balloons and cupcakes delivered to the mom (and told everyone so they could pick up a cupcake if they chose). We had very different time zones, so there was wine/beer with the folks who were up late and our Chinese coworker was in PJs. We had a great time doing it.
posted by Gucky at 5:06 PM on February 15, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Gucky at 5:06 PM on February 15, 2014 [3 favorites]
I've never heard of the guess-the-mom's-size game and cannot imagine a situation where it would be appreciated. Ugh. That's worse than that disgusting thing with the candy bars and the diapers.
As long as you guys will be online anyway, I think a round of sharing If They Mated photo-melds of the parents might be hilarious.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:31 PM on February 15, 2014
As long as you guys will be online anyway, I think a round of sharing If They Mated photo-melds of the parents might be hilarious.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:31 PM on February 15, 2014
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posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:34 PM on February 15, 2014 [1 favorite]