With my younger daughter expecting to deliver in March and living far enough away that we can’t see her very often, I have been quite concerned about whether she’s got friends enough up there in Yankee-land to throw her the proper showers and make sure she’s got everything she needs in the way of ‘stuff’ and sage mom advice about things that only moms can know. I’ve been stressing about how I was going to get up there both for at least one shower as well as for when the baby comes, so I can help out and get them started on the least stressful (I know, that’s a relative assessment) schedule for all baby all the time…

Her best friend lives here, where she went to high school. I’ve spoken with her about the whole shower thing and how this is to be managed with everybody living so far apart. Then, this past week my daughter’s best friend surprised and delighted me with the most wonderful idea!

I got an invitation in my email to join my daughter’s “Virtual Baby Shower!” You, like me, may be wondering what the heck a virtual baby shower is, but the moment you get it, it makes tremendous sense for this modern world and the distance between people. It’s a nice, pink-themed (daughter loves pink and the baby’s a girl) site with links to the gift registry she’s signed up for, a guestbook, a whole ‘Names’ section (including one for names she’ll reject, such as CoolAssMojo and GuitarGreg), some puzzles, a page with a list of gifts already bought or given (and who from), and a message board with topics like “Mom Advice” and greetings, and ongoing conversation and even several cool games all us participants get to play while we’re at the Shower!

And the best thing of all is that it isn’t a party with a specific time and place, we all have to provide our own food, drinks and favors, and we can keep it going for weeks or months – follow the whole pregnancy and keep in touch every day. Now, why didn’t I think of this? If you can input the data to get a basic web page going you too can host a Virtual Baby Shower. This one’s on Freewebs.com, though I’m sure such a site could be hosted by any of a number of online web-hosting sites.

So if you have a friend or relative who is having a baby and lives far away from all the people who should definitely get in on the shower action, this seems the perfect way of doing it, and coordinating the gifts at the same time so she doesn’t end up with 4 strollers, 3 car seats, 2 play pens and no high chair!

Links:

Strollerderby Playdate: The Virtual Baby Shower Edition

Web Baby Shower

Long Distance Baby Shower