I live in Oregon, and my whole family lives in Michigan. I only moved out here a year ago and and not finiacially able to fly home, even for a weekend, especially with the impending cost of having a baby, even though I would really like to. My parents are also unable to fly me home for the event, but my family and friends back home want to throw a party in my honor any way. i know it might seem a little strange for the older or more traditional guests, but it's the best idea we have.
So, my real question is, have you ever been to a shower like this, and how did it work out? what kinds of activities could you suggest that can not only make the guests feel like i'm with them, but could make me feel like a real part of the action?
,
Elizabeth
Re: Skype baby shower.
For my wedding, my husband's aunt organized a mail-in shower where each guest sent a small kitchen gift and a recipe to share. She had mailed them each a special recipe card to write on so I would know that it was part of the shower. A few folks just sent recipes which was lovely by itself and of course got a personal thank you card. It's not traditional, but it was a really nice way to involve the distant, older relatives in his family that they didn't want to leave out.
I'm not sure how that would translate into a baby shower or not seem tacky if you really needed items. It's not necessarily about the presents, more about celebrating a family event by sharing a family item, in this case, a recipe. Maybe a smaller local shower would be better, like the PP said.
This!
Do you have plans of traveling to see family after LO is born? I sympathize with not being around family as my closest family member is 800+ miles away but I don't think a skype baby shower is really the best idea. However, I WOULD (and do) just regularly skype with my brothers/dad and will open some presents they send me via skype. But, it won't be a party and will be during our regularly scheduled skype sessions (and, we wont be skyping to open presents). I think the best thing to do is wait to see if you can travel to MI and have a small get together then even if it is after LO gets here.
If people want to send you gifts, they will. They don't need a shower to do this.
Beyond that, a part of the fun of a shower is to see the MTB and spend time w/ her. Being on a PC that people can walk up to and chat for a moment... it's just not quite the same thing.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
This! It would be diferent if you were on strict bedrest all of a sudden and your shower was this weekend or something. I would just wait to get together with everyone when you go home.
I will respectfully disagree with pps.
My baby was born in August. My H and I are both teachers, so our family won't meet our daughter until she is nearly 1.
I was perfectly happy not having a shower. THEY, being my baby-rabid aunts, would have none of it.
They got together at my moms and had a shower. They had two computers hooked up to a computer screen with me and my husband on skype. A few friends came to our house too, to make it more real. They played shower games and ate. They sent gifts and we piled them in the house until the day and I opened them on skype for them.
It was utterly perfect.
Would I invite a friend I hadn't seen in a year, the way I might have if I was there? No. It was family and bffs only. But I loved it and so did they.
I'm not a fan of the idea of skype showers. To me they sound awkward to say the least. As PPs mentioned if you suddenly went on bead rest a few days before your shower was planed for that would be one thing, but to plan it that way? To me it seems odd.
I also ask some of my friends and coworkers what they thought about gift opening while skyping (many of them are from other countries and most of their families still live there) and even they feel it's a bit odd. They either wait to give/receive gifts until they go home or, should they be sent here, open them when they come in and thank the sender at the next skype session.
That's why friends and coworkers were not invited. My family wanted the chance to watch me open the gifts. We wouldn't have had it any other way. It doesn't really bother me if its not people's "thing" but it wasn't tacky.