Bingo, Baby!
A Virtual Baby Shower
And just like that, it’s Fall! I think we can agree that this year has been as eventful as it has been uneventful. Quarantines, limited gatherings and safety concerns galore have pushed celebrations of all kinds to the wayside. We have all had to alter our understanding and level of acceptance for the permanency of these strange times. However, I finally had to draw the line on my party hiatus when it came to having a baby shower this summer. I wanted to connect with my loved ones over an otherwise under the radar pregnancy and, of course, insisted on personalized, tangible detail to soften the inevitable virtual nature of our party!
Drawing from our Mary Blair’s It’s a Small World nursery theme, I crafted a mid-century atomic design with assets from Creative Market that unified the invitations, interactive “Bingo, Baby!” game and “guest book” card that were sent out to guests ahead of the logistical Zoom invites.
Above: “Bingo, Baby!” game card with personalized questions on backside. In preparation of our party, guests filled in their answers in the empty squares on the front.
Above: To optimize intimacy we divided our party into multiple Zoom calls (yes, it was quite the marathon!).
As guests trickled in, each call began with a small welcome video loop featuring photos of Julien and myself as babies as well as some sonogram photos of the little one on the way. We then moved along to “Bingo, Baby!”, enjoying some laughs over answers to silly questions like “What kind of pasta sauce will the baby prefer?” and “What would you name the baby if you had a chance?” and awarded prizes to our first two Bingo winners on each call. And lastly we played “Name that artist” music trivia where we played excerpts from a “Baby” songs playlist. Keeping things short and sweet, we wrapped up the occasion with a tour of our nursery.
Above: Though it was just us in our apartment, as the hosts I felt it was important for our “Zoom stage” to include elements of a real party. Top Left: Mini cupcakes featuring baby song title cupcake toppers / Top Right: A simple floral arrangement and the Baby Shower Guest Book that would later hold the returned guest book cards / Bottom Left: Utilizing a tripod and our camera’s timer function, we managed to get a party photo / Bottom Right: Close-up of banner—letter cards strung together with yarn
Above Left: A wonderful and tangible keepsake to commemorate our virtual occasion. This Baby Shower Guest Book to hold all our guest’s returned cards with parenting and life wisdom. Above Right: Onesie prize for “Bingo, Baby!” winners to be worn by the little one!
Below: Onesie prize modeled by an extremely cute and cuddly baby
Though it required a lot of work and coordination, we were so happy to have the chance to be with our friends and family and celebrate! This really proved to me that it is possible to make very real moments out of digital experiences. We can’t allow these circumstances to keep us from spending meaningful and memorable time together. My heart goes out to all the fellow Covid pregnancy families—you don’t have to let these times spoil your essential celebration!