Virtual Baby Shower Etiquette – The Practical Guide for 2024

Virtual baby showers might be new to you—they are a more recent development! You might be wondering what the guidelines are. If so, you can feel confident hosting a memorable event with some planning and easy virtual baby shower etiquette advice.

This article will help guide you in hosting an awesome virtual baby shower.

WebBabyShower has hosted thousands of successful baby showers, and you can join in on the fun! It’s a great opportunity to bring the whole family and all your friends together, no matter where they live.

Baby Shower Etiquette Cheat Sheet

1. The Host — Yes! It’s okay to host your own virtual baby shower, and it can help to invite co-hosts.

2. Setting Everything Up — Just like an IRL party, get your website, themes, and info set before invites. Get grandma familiarized with the video call platform before the call, and use WebBabyShower to create your own custom baby shower website.

3. Inviting Guests — Send out digital baby shower invites via text or email, combined with RSVPs to keep a headcount of who will attend to make planning easier.

4. The Call Agenda — Share the video call agenda with guests, including how long the baby shower will be, games, and other activities.

5. Length of the Baby Shower — The shorter the better! In fact, hosting a separate event for each social group is highly recommended.

6. Overcoming Video Call Fatigue — Play games that get people up and active, that are suited to your guests, and keep things interesting!

7. Decorating — Choose a theme, decorate a bit behind where you’ll be sitting for the call, and select a matching theme for your custom website.

8. Opening Gifts — Usually best to skip on a video call, remember later to thank everyone individually when you can focus on it.

9. Prizes and Favors — Party favors aren’t expected for a virtual event, but they can be fun to send through the mail. And the same goes for game prizes!

10. Other Things to Remember — Keep the video call small. The more guests you have the more complicated things will be, limiting you from visiting with everyone. Plus, if your groups fall into friends vs older family, this lets you adjust the games to fit the group.

Virtual Baby Shower Etiquette

We’ll check out how simple it is to set up an online baby shower, as well as sending out invites and knowing what to do on the day of the baby shower. But that’s the easy part.

Etiquette includes the call. Hosting an online party while observing good etiquette means setting up the online event, getting familiarized with the video calls to avoid technical difficulties, making sure guests have fun, and planning plenty of activities to do. It’s about creating a positive atmosphere, and helping guests connect with each other and the new parents.

However, don’t let baby shower etiquette and preconceived expectations keep you from having fun with your guests! That is the most important thing, after all.

Who Will Host? (or MC)

In many cases, it’s pretty standard for a close friend or family member to be the host for a baby shower—someone like a sister or a friend. But modern etiquette is changing things.

It’s now common to throw your own baby shower! In fact, the numbers show that 60% of WebBabyShower’s customers throw their own baby shower.

However, on a video call, you might pick a person to ‘MC’ the call who can keep things snappy and lite so it doesn’t fall to mom to juggle everyone. This doesn’t have to be the organizer.

Why might someone choose to host their own event? For one, it gives you more control of your party—more than half of our expecting moms decided that they want to have the final say on decorations, activities, and guest lists, and you can too!

However, no matter who it is you decide on for a host, they can always get assistance by inviting co-hosts to help set up the virtual baby shower. The more hosts, the faster the work gets done, too!

The Right Way to Set Up an Online Shower

An online baby shower has a ton of benefits—hosts send out information that reaches guests fast, and communication between guests is easy. You can also easily add videos and pictures to the website.

WebBabyShower is an all-in-one solution to have the best virtual baby shower website. The host can easily create invitations that have the date of the party and the Zoom call, as well as other vital details. Plus, your invites can be customized to match the website/baby shower theme.

Our platform also helps people to virtually sign the guest book, share private video messages, and help the host to post updates and announcements before and after the baby shower.

Everything is super easy to set up—just watch our 60-second video here.

How Do I Invite Guests?

Begin by sending out digital invites to your guests. When they RSVP, send them to the baby shower website, and include a link so they can easily find it anytime.

It’s essential to send out invitations at the right time—about six weeks out will give your guests plenty of time to respond and save a date.

Once you check your digital RSVPs, you can see how many people will attend the event. From there, you’ll be able to decide how many video calls to schedule. This can include a larger event—which we don’t recommend (too complicated, and won’t allow for any one-on-one visiting time)—or a smaller event for each social group.

You can also combine your save the dates with your RSVPs.

Not sure what to say? We have some great invitation wording ideas that will help you get started!

Share an Agenda

When you send out your digital invites, you can include the agenda or schedule for the party. This way, your guests can have some idea of what to expect and the activities you’ll do. If you are curious what this looks like, read how a DJ did this for her sister.

You can include information on things like how long the video call will be, and the order of events planned.

This can really help out guests who don’t do many video calls or know much about online baby shower etiquette. Also, be sure to remind them of any virtual baby shower games they can play on your custom website before the actual event!

How Long Should an Online Baby Shower Be?

Ideally, you don’t want a virtual event to drag on. Instead, keep things moving and schedule the party to be an hour to an hour and a half long.

However, you can host multiple video calls for various groups—such as mom’s family, dad’s family, and co-workers—so your day as the host may be a bit longer. Plus, having different groups and more than one video call can help guests feel comfortable and keep things informal.

Using WebBabyShower, you as the host have access to a lot of extras to make the day even more fun. Your guests can play games, sign the guest book, and communicate with you leading up to the event.

They can also leave messages for the parents on the website to say hello before the party. Regardless of the time zone they’re in, everyone can participate!

How to Overcome Zoom Fatigue and Make Your Shower Fun

Zoom fatigue can happen quickly, as it’s pretty tiresome to be on a video call for an extended amount of time.

To prevent exhaustion, remember these research backed tips from our Zoom fatigue article. A few are surprising!

Play games that allow guests to get up and walk around instead of just sitting there staring at the screen, and kindly ask your guests to avoid using self-view. That way, they don’t become distracted as quickly.

How Do I Decorate a Virtual Baby Shower?

Decorating doesn’t have to be complicated! Just pick a theme that suits your event and the mom-to-be’s wishes, and set up some decor behind where you’ll be when you have your video calls. This can include things as simple as balloons and streamers, to things more involved like stuffed animals and backdrops.

And, to keep things extra simple as well as save yourself time, use one of our many Zoom backgrounds for your virtual baby shower. There are tons of options available to match your vision—from teddy bears to trains.

Since WebBabyShower has more than 80 themes to choose from, you should have no problem decorating. And, if you were thinking about skipping the decorating, think again—babylist Instagram research states that 87% of those that answered think that decorations are a must for a virtual event.

Opening Gifts During a Zoom Baby Shower

Opening gifts during a virtual baby shower isn’t a necessity, and the parents-to-be shouldn’t feel obligated. But, if you do decide to open presents, remember these ideas:

Nursery Tour: This is a great option for your virtual baby shower guests. Let them see the new nursery with all of the unwrapped gifts already in place. It’s a simple way to show appreciation.

Slow Boat: The more traditional way of opening presents is one at a time, and allows for the parents to spend time thanking each gift giver. However, this is a giant time killer! We don’t suggest this unless the group is very small.

No Nursery Tour: If things aren;t completely set up yet, unwrap all the presents before the party. Then, the parents-to-be can thank the guests and show off what gifts you got while saving a lot of time.

Skip It: People can still send gifts, but you don’t need to worry about making it part of the party. Instead, focus on sending out personalized and individual thanks—this will mean more!

Virtual Baby Shower Prizes and Favors

When you host a virtual baby shower, people do not expect it to be exactly the same as an in-person party. Party favors are probably not expected by guests, and you do not have to have them.

However, they are fun and can be an excellent way to thank your virtual baby shower guests for joining you. A great way to accomplish this is by mailing them out ahead of time so they make it to everyone’s homes by the day of the party!

If you want to play games during the event—and you should, to keep things fun and interesting—you can give out prizes to the winners instead of having party favors. You can ship out the prizes to the virtual shower game-winners after the event.

Things like blankets, candles, fake plants, or picture frames work well, but another great idea is digital gift cards.

As a last suggestion for party favors, consider waiting until the baby is born. Then, ask the parents to take a picture of the new baby with each guest’s present and send that as a thank you/party favor.

Specific Things to Remember

When you use Zoom to celebrate a baby shower, there are some easy dos and don’ts.

First, don’t have too many guests on one video call. Too many people make it challenging to participate, and not everyone will have the chance to talk and visit.

Instead, host multiple baby showers for different social groups—including co-workers, close family, friends, and so on. Stick with people that know each other and that will feel comfortable talking with one another to encourage levity and lots of laughter.

Using WebBabyShower will help you easily send out invites for as many events as you want while also letting you communicate with everyone effectively.

FAQS

Q: Can I host virtual baby showers for a second and third baby?

You absolutely can! Baby showers for a second or third child may be more casual, but they are still totally appropriate. Here’s a guide for how to host a baby sprinkle.

Q: Can I combine an in-person and virtual baby shower?

Yes! This is called a “hybrid event”, and it’s one of the best ways to host a baby shower. It allows you to include people in person as well as those that live far away or that can only attend virtually. Hybrid events are very common and easy to set up—you’ll still have all the fun of an in-person party, but with some guests that will be part of the event virtually.

Q: Should I dress up for a virtual baby shower?

The parents-to-be should wear whatever is most comfortable. Pregnant mothers can easily rent a maternity dress for the occasion if they want to. If you are the host, you should dress up according to the theme and how formal the event is—this can be anything from matching T-shirts for the guests, to cocktail attire. Use your judgment!

Virtual Baby Shower Etiquette is Casual and Easy

When you’re planning a virtual party, it’s important to keep things casual. In fact, informality is one of the major benefits for this type of event—you can still play games, give out prizes, and guests can spend time with the mom-to-be!