Jamie and I are extremely fortunate to have so many wonderful people in our lives who showered us with love and gifts in anticipation of our baby boy – we were completely overwhelmed with how generous our friends and family were to us. We ended up having four different baby showers, each one unique and special (and safe!) in its own way.
Although we all have high hopes for the vaccines getting COVID-19 under control this year, we also know that it won’t be immediate, and it will be some time before social-distancing is no longer needed. I thought it might be fun to post on four different ways of hosting a baby shower, social-distanced style, in case they give you ideas for any upcoming showers or events that you might be hosting.
- The first baby shower that was thrown for us was actually a mail shower, hosted by Jamie’s mom in South Dakota. This was a perfect option for his large family who lives far away – it was difficult to get together because of the pandemic, and because there are so many aunts, uncles, and cousins on Jamie’s side, it is hard to get everyone together even when there’s not a pandemic going on. In this case, a mail shower is a sweet and simple way for people to show support without having to commit a lot of time, especially since I was one of several family members having a baby this year! My mother-in-law sent out this adorable invitation via text message, and it was wonderful to be able to get so many fun packages and open up many lovely gifts from Jamie’s family.
- Another great option for a not-in-person baby shower is a virtual shower, like the one my department at work hosted for Jamie and me. They had planned on an in-person shower at the office, but before the Thanksgiving holiday, we went back to working from home/quarantining due to the increase of COVID cases. It ended up being such a blessing, because Jamie was able to join in (our office wasn’t allowing any visitors into the office during the pandemic, so he wouldn’t have been able to come to an in-person one), and because more people got to safely participate in the shower at one time than we could have had in the office.
My coworkers planned out so many fun details and games – the morning of the shower, one of them brought over flowers, a teddy bear, a balloon, candy, and an edible arrangement, so that we could eat treats and have some cute decorations to display in the background of our shower. It was great to see everyone at work (since we had been quarantining for the last several weeks) – we played a word unscrambling game and another game where we had to try to guess what phrases a series of emojis represent, both of which were perfect to play virtually. Another coworker had put together a sweet video of well wishes from coworkers, which we watched on the call, and then we opened our gifts. There were so many from our group – I couldn’t believe it! I really have the best coworkers. It was such a wonderful event, and Jamie and I had a great time. 
(I wish I would have gotten a screenshot of the whole group as the shower was going on, but unfortunately I forgot, so Jamie and I took a photo afterward.) - Then there are a few ways to do in-person baby showers while social-distancing, and one of them is a drive-through baby shower, which our sweet church friends threw for us. Our friend India set up a cute travel-themed table with snacks and pineapple orange juice, and they had adorable lawn signs that said “Oh the Places You’ll Go.”
Our church group is fairly small, and since it was only them and my parents and grandma, everyone did get out of their cars and we socialized a bit outside with masks, but the nice thing is that people could do that as they felt comfortable and stay as long or short of a time as they desired. We had a lovely time and appreciated getting to see everyone while still feeling safe. We are so fortunate to have found such amazing group of people to do life with! 
(I love those cute little thank you tags!)
- Another way to do an in-person baby shower is to do an outdoor come-and-go shower over a longer period of time so that not everyone is together at one time. There is obviously still some level of risk associated, as there are with any in-person events during COVID, but if you keep the event small, wear masks, and plan enough space where people can spread out outside (and have plenty of hand sanitizer available!), you can keep it fairly safe, and thankfully we were able to do so. My mom and a few of our family friends hosted the shower on my parents’ porch/in their backyard, and they really went all out to make it very special. It was travel-themed and rainbow-themed, and every detail was perfect!
(My mom made this fabric backdrop – isn’t it beautiful?) 
(This adorable diaper cake was made by one of our family friends who helped host the shower.)
(…And this beautiful rainbow, which is now wall decor in our baby boy’s room, was made by a talented friend of ours in Denver. Check out her Etsy shop for ALL the cute crafts.) 
(And this cute balloon arch was made by another sweet friend!)
(I was obsessed with these cookies that my mom’s friend made!) 
(Jamie and I made this mobile for the baby’s room, and we thought it made great decor for the party too!) 
(This beautiful old cradle is my grandma’s – she slept in it when she was a baby, as did each of her children, including my mom.) 
I’m sure there are other ways to have a safe, social-distanced baby shower, and if you are throwing such an event, I’d encourage you to get creative and think outside the box. These four showers turned out so well for us, and they were each so sweet in their own way. We felt so loved, and it helped me realize that despite the woes of the pandemic, it doesn’t have to stop us from enjoying this special season of pregnancy, and it certainly didn’t stop our family and friends from celebrating us and making us feel so special. We are so grateful for that. I’d love to hear any ideas that you have for hosting safe and fun events during COVID in the comments!
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