Long Distance Baby Shower

My family was all over the US when i was Pregnant so we had an on-line shower. I have a webcam and an IM account. We did a group chat and they all watched on the webcam. They didn't get any sound but they got to watch. When we were done with the gifts I got on and we chatted about them. It wasn't ideal but it worked.

You could do a conference phone call where everyone calls in and you can all sit and chat for an hour. (Check with your landline phone company. I did a conference call years ago with a landline. I got instructions from the phone company.)

If you are "clustered" throughout the U.S., each cluster could get together with others nearby and have a party on the same day. (Could combine with a conference call.)

As far as sending gifts, even that would get expensive, especially with bigger items. If you are buying from a chain (like Toys R Us or Target), why not call the one in her area, purchase the gift over the phone, and have them hold it for her? You could simply tell her that there is a gift waiting for her at Target. She would still be surprised and you would save on shipping. Or, you could all get together and chip in and get her one really big gift car.

Good luck!

my mom did this for my aunt when she had a surprise #4 several years after she thought she was done having kids. My mom got my uncle involved and had the "guests" send the gifts to a location of my uncle's choosing and he was able to pick them up later while she was gone and had the house set up with the gifts for her to open when she came home from her errands. She was blown away! Good Luck!

WEll witht he wonders of electronics why don't you all send her gifts and pick a date and time for her to open them. Then do a converence on Web cams on someplace like Yahoo soeveryone can see her open the gifts and you can all chat back and forth like you were all there. It seems so much more fun than having her open them alone and video tapping them. Have fun!!

Maybe plan something and be creative about how you send presents. If she got a package a week or a package every other day that would be pretty neat and exciting.

some friends of mine from california sent me a baby shower in a box. they included confetti and ribbons and the like, all in a nice box! :D everything was individually wrapped inside the box. itw as fantastic!

only advice i can give is when my daughter got married we had a get together for friends in and around town to meet for a bridal shower. they had to bring their gift unwrapped but with the wrapping paper and card etc we then started the shower by videotaping it from the start eating and playing games (during the game playing we had enclosed the items for the game and she could play along)when it came time for the gifts one person started she showed her gift so everyone could see it then she went and wrapped it put her card either inside or on the top and the gift was numbered 1 etc in order this continued till the end. when done we sent the tape to my daughter and she got to watch the video play the game and open the gifts in order she even got to see the people who came. everyone was happy with this. if people are split everywhere maybe little groups can be run and video taped. hope this helps

I don't know if this would work or not, I am not chat room savy, but could you all get into the same chat room and have it be private baby shower only. It would be great if you had webcams that way you could watch her open her gifts and share her joy. I know it's not the same but at least you can share her day long distance.

a book shower might be a nice part of a distance shower. we specifically asked people who couldn't come to the shower to pick a favorite childhood book or two and write a note to the baby in the book.

A fun thing is to have everyone video tape themselves with their best wishes, memories, advice, etc and compile it onto a dvd. Also could include a slide show of the family's baby pictures and guess which features the baby will inherit. Whomever could attend the shower would enjoy watching it and those who can't attend could still participate. There are lots of companies online who do this sort of thing if you don't have the software to do this yourself.

I lived in California and all of my husband's family lived in Wisconsin, so my mother-inlaw and sister-inlaw had a baby shower at their home and everybody brought a gift, wrapped it and then put all the gifts in one huge box and sent it to me. It's worth a try. Good luck.

I've done one before. We called it a Mail Baby Shower. I sent out EVITES, just like you would do for a regular baby shower. But instead you ask people to visit the registeries online and have their gift sent via mail. I gave them a timeline to have it completed. This worked great for my friend. She could invite more people to participate as well. She said it was fun to come home almost every day for that month and there'd be a gift for them. It worked out really good. Plus it worked out really well for eveyone else too. With everyone's busy schedule it can be hard to find a date that works. This way people didn't have to commit to a saturday afternoon or whatever. My friend loved it!

We did a long distance wedding shower once. We all meant at the home of a relative who hosted it. There are actually 2 ways to do it. one you get the items and unwrap them for the shower and video tape the whole affair, then mail it all to her. other idea is probably easier. everyone takes a picture of what they intend to give as gift and put it in a card along with gift card for the appropriate amount. that would be much easier to send off. either way you get to have aget together on her behalf and send the "goodies" to her!!!

K., I have actually participated in one of these. Ask everyone to write a letter to the mom to be with their best parental advice. Put them all into a scrap book to be enjoyed for years to come. Of course the letters can be of a different nature!

I had some friends who threw a virtual shower for me. Some of them were able to get together, so I called in to talk. Then they sent me gift cards for a store near me.

You might check out Skype. They have both a instant message and video conference calls that free from computer user to computer user (I think there is cost involved if anyone is on landlines). It might be worth consider if everyone can get on the computer the same time.

My wonderful sister in love (in law) did one for me. She bought gifts according to the "9 months of pregnancy", like the 12 months of Christmas. "In the first month of pregnancy my sister gave to me...a monitor to hear the baby. In the second month of pregnancy my sister gave to me...two massage coupons for the mommy." and so on. Sometimes she combined the postage and I was made to promise not to open up the other packages til the following month. Most of it was not high-end stuff (packs of receiving blankets, onesies, etc.) It was a delight! She sent me stuff for me and the baby.

So it's not just gifts, you could ask the friends and family to write out good advise on 3X5 cards that you have hole-punched and sent to them. They can then send it to the expecting mom . Then, when she receives them, she can put them into a booklet.

Perhaps you could organize that among her friends and family. Or, maybe that's more planning than you want to do. It was an amazing experience for me to receive these things.

I had a long distance wedding shower before I got married. I was several hundred miles away, going to school and working multiple jobs besides so could not get away, and also several of the women could not travel because of health or finances or schedules. The women all got together, brought their gifts and wrapped them together. They went around the group and showed what their gift was, told why they chose it or what it meant, and also gave a piece of advice or their well wishes. They video taped it all and sent me the tape along with the gifts. The video was also a bonus keepsake that was very special.