Beat Covid with a Virtual Baby Shower

We have been hit hard by the pandemic in Australia, with travel restrictions and lockdowns that have seriously impacted all aspects of our lives. Yet life must go on and if you are expecting a baby in the near future and are under lockdown, there is a solution, which comes in the form of a virtual baby shower using the Zoom application.

Baby Gifts

As travel is restricted, you can buy wood & silicone baby teething rings from the online baby gift supplier and send the guests a link to the e-commerce website and they can have the gifts sent to you. The best idea is to leave the gifts wrapped until the day of the virtual party, then you can open them in the virtual presence of all your guests.

Sending out the Invitations

You should first create a list of people you want to invite and remember you don’t have to feed the guests, as they are remotely located, although it is worth noting that the more people, the more complicated it will be. Try to allow two weeks’ notice because people have busy schedules and include information about the gift website and also include a link to the Zoom download page and ask each guest to download the app and install it on their device. If you are planning to play games, then this might require some preparation by the guests; having a felt marker and some paper, for example, so do make things clear in the email invitation, to avoid any confusion.

Things to Do

You need to have a list of games and activities to keep everyone engaged and there are lots of free resources online. You could have an online quiz, where you ask questions and the first guest to Google the answer wins, and another great game involves asking all guests to send you a photo of them as a baby, then you show the images, one by one and ask the guests to guess the identity. You might also like to sing a few songs (include the lyrics in the invitation email) and ask guests to prepare a few baby jokes. If you are looking for things to do during the lockdown, click here.

Become Familiar with Zoom

This is the first step and with a free download, install Zoom on your computer and follow the instructions, then you can call a few friends and learn about the many features that Zoom has. You can, for example, share files and there is a whiteboard, which is great for party games and by using the app a few times, you will be able to host the virtual baby shower on the big day. Choose a few good friends and invite them to a Zoom meeting and you can familiarise yourself with the procedure, which will pay dividends on the day of the party.

While it isn’t the same as being together in the same room, arranging a virtual baby shower is the best you can hope for, at least until things get back to normal.