My favorite part of baby showers was always the little finger sandwiches - and those are great and all, but there’s so much more to plan and enjoy when throwing a baby shower or a gender reveal party.
Gender Reveal Celebrations
While some gender reveal gimmicks can be a little too intense (let’s not start any fires or explosions, maybe) - there’s nothing quite like the surprise of finding out just a little about the new arrival before they’re even out of the womb. You can surprise the parents, the guests, or both - and then see everyone’s reactions to the news!
There are also great virtual ways to do a gender reveal! Perhaps you want to include family and friends from far away, or those who can’t attend the party for whatever reason. Or maybe you just want to hold onto the memory as a keepsake in a video. Either way, we have you covered!
Online Gender Reveals
To make the most of your Gender Reveal party, get the guests (whether they’re attending in person, or virtually) to participate in a little guessing game! Make a group video to play during the party, and keep a tally of how many guesses for each gender. Before the big reveal, add a video clip with the final tally, to let everyone know which gender is in the lead!
The final video clip (preceded by a drum-roll, if you please!) can be the official gender reveal video and then everyone at the party (and everyone watching at home) can find out who was right and who was wrong!
Group Video of Gender Reveal Reactions
If it’s people’s reactions that you want to capture, a truly fun and unique idea is to create a montage of individual reactions.
One group video organizer had the brilliant idea to mail gender reveal cards through the post office. With the cards came instructions for the recipient to make a video clip of themselves as they opened the envelope that contained the information about whether the baby was a boy or a girl. She then made those clips into a group video - so that everyone could see how each person reacted to the happy news - from shock and surprise to tears of joy!
You can do the letter reveal in fun ways as well. There’s nothing quite like opening a glitter bomb letter on video (though your friends may not be quite as excited about that one!)
Virtual Baby Showers
Baby showers are all about preparing the parents for the new arrival - whether that’s through ridiculous games, useful gifts, jokes about how little sleep they’re going to get, or through heartfelt advice.
Words of Wisdom
At my sister’s baby shower, we passed around a nicely bound blank book and pens, and had each guest write some parenting tips or words of support. It was a great keepsake for my sister to take away with her after the shower - along with all the diaper cloths and cute little onesies that she received.
Writing in a book was great for an in-person party, but even then it was a hard thing to keep track of. Also - depending on how fast each guest could write, their attention was taken away from the games and socializing for a period of time!
The updated version of the book is a “Words of Wisdom” group video. Organized in advance, it gives guests the chance to record a video clip of parenting tips, advice, supportive messages, and offers to babysit (hopefully!), on their own time and in a video format. You get the benefit of their emotion, their tone of voice, and the smiles they have as they share their messages! With Memento, you can choose to play the video at the party, or just keep it as your own private keepsake - perhaps to play for baby when they get older.
Virtual Baby Shower Games
Playing little baby shower games is a great way to entertain guests and half a laugh, while keeping the party on theme and focused on the big event.
Before the Baby is Born:
- Leave a video clip congratulating the soon to be parents, but the catch is you can’t say ‘baby’ or ‘parent’! You can think of other keywords too, unique to the expecting couple or family.
- Instead of just guessing the gender, have everyone guess how much the baby will weigh at birth and the date they’ll arrive! If the parents are still deciding on names, you could make a video poll on some options, or leave room for suggestions!
After the Baby is Born:
- Have everyone sing their favorite lullaby. It can be a little treasure trove of calming songs - and you can also play it for the baby, so that they learn the voices of their family!
- Read the baby a goodnight story! Make a little compilation of short 1-3 minute stories, that you can play at bedtime, or the parents can pick their favorite from.
Video Booth
Sometimes, depending on the party, it’s hard to make sure you say everything you’d like to say to the person of the hour. At baby showers especially, they’re often (gratefully) sitting in a chair and having people come to them to mingle, rather than being able to tour the room with ease and comfort.
A fun way to make sure that everyone has a chance to pass on their congratulations and support is to set up a little video booth. You can either designate a particular mobile phone to pass around, or set-up a small camera in a particular spot, or pass out a Record & Upload invite link from Memento beforehand, so that everyone can upload their videos themselves when it suits them best.
The biggest benefit of a Video Booth - or Digital Guest Book - is that, even if you have friends and family who live far away or are unable to attend your Baby Shower in person, they can still play an integral part in your celebration!
It will be a great keepsake and reminder of how excited everyone was for the baby - and you can even play it for the baby when they’re old enough, so that they can see how much everyone was looking forward to meeting them.
More Ideas?
If you have fun ideas or stories about incorporating videos and virtual reveals/games into your baby shower or gender reveal party, let us now on social media! We love hearing about the different ways people have used Memento to make memories at special occasions and events!
