I just adore everything about parties, the food, decorations, people, dressing up, dancing...oh how the list goes on. As a little girl one of the things I looked forward to the most about becoming an adult was the fact that I would be able to throw my very own parties. I would visualize a royalty cibe to all my imaginary parties of course. Adult me realized quickly that I do not have a royal budget however I can still have parties and they will be amazing! So imagine my dismay when I realized we might not have a baby shower......I was hoping by the time we would have our baby shower this whole COVID thing would disapear. Yeah right, reality set in real quick.
Lucky for me my little sister, Felicia also loves throwing parties and "might" even have me beat with her 5 star decorating skills, I like to joke with her and say she learned it all from her big sis ;) As you would guess she quickly volunteered to throw our Baby Shower.....YAY!!! We just did not know how or if it would even be possible come September.
One day I stumbled upon a mutual friends social media post, she had a Drive By Shower! What a cool concept!!! I quickly searched on Pinterest because if any search engine was going to have images of these types of showers I know Pinterest was my best bet. I was flooded with such beautiful imagery of this alternative party choice! This could be the next best thing compared to having an actual party which was not safe for us to do at all. How exciting!
As we prepared for what I plan to be my LAST baby shower ever, many decisions had to be made. Here is a list of questions that helped us plan our first ever drive by party:
What is the time frame? Should we do time slots or just plan to have people arrive as they choose?
What is the theme?
Should we have a option for guests to get out of car? If so then what does that look like? Are masks required?
What type of party favors should we gift?
Can we do games?
Should we open gifts in person or virtually?
Will there be a virtual option?
Should there be food? Cake?
What is vision for decorations?
Who will be inside home?
How shall we handle family coming?
How many guests will be attending?
What will I wear??
We decided a time frame from 11:00am -1:00pm with a virtual opt in via zoom was best for accommodating our guests, this way they can come by when they wanted or tune in virtually if need be. We also created a facebook event page to communicate all things baby shower, this helped out a ton because we could do a poll on who was attending in person or virtual and I opened gifts as they came in on live video, my friends and family really enjoyed that! Plus it broke it up for when I was opening gifts the day of, it would of been a super long video of me opening gifts which I don't think many people would want to sit through.
We opted to do a option to get out car to say hello, take pictures (at a safe distance and or mask of briefly to snap a pic), participate in games (we did guess how many pumpkins in the jar, how big is mommy's tummy and a raffle for guest who brought diapers), gift drop off, and grab some refreshments.
To keep things sanitary we would plan to have extra masks for guests who forgot, hand sanitizer, and gloves for serving refreshments. We also made several announcments and reminders regarding social distancing expectations on facebook event page. The refreshments were to be passed out by the shower hostesses, we planned for a popcorn bar with a delicious variety from Trader Joes, custom cookies sealed in plastic wrapper, bottle waters, and Pumpkin Spiced Cider from trader joes.
The thank you gifts were so adorable and became a huge hit! They were small custom ceramic pumpkin pots with a succulent inside! They were made with love by my sister Felicia who is the founder of Loam House Ceramics .
I love the idea of a succulent because they are easy to maintain and to watch it grow with baby is really special. Plus who doesn't love a succulent?! I made sure to keep a couple for the baby nursery!
Cake or no cake, is that really even a quesion??? My lil sis knows how much I love sweets so she surprised me with the most stunning PUMPKIN spiced cake I have ever seen! This 2 layer cake had it going on! It was spiced pumpkin cake with lusious cream cheese frosting, white chocolate drip, and pumpkin cider doughnuts clustered about! OMG YES!!! Now, you are probally thinking who is eating this massive cake?? Well, my sister had a genious idea, she suggested freezing the top layer (like what you can do for weddings) and save for tthe baby's first birthday!! So smart! It did not go outside however due to the heat and I was a little sad about that. Our family had no problem enjoying that cake, it was so delicious. You can get more information about the cake and cookies here.
What to wear, what to wear.........after so much searching I found a stunning pink dress off Pink Blush, I have a few piecs from them and really like thier clothing. I ordered a large which fit perfect! The fabric was not thin or see through and I think looked better in person.
When things don't turn out the way you planned....
By now you can probably tell that my sister Felicia has put in tons of work into making this baby shower so amazing for us. So imagine how heart broken I was when she called just 2 days prior to shower day with the news of my little niece not feeling well....I was not only concered for my niece but also heart broken that she would not be making it to the baby shower!! Not mention that Felicia lives about 2 hours south of me which proposed several issues we had to solve asap. Talk about stress!
Now, if you have ever been pregnant then you are aware the hormones are insane. I was in serious denial, I was hoping by some miricle my neice had sesonal allergies and that they would all be able to make it by Saturday. Fat chance! Now, in my experience with helping other people cope with similar situations I knew how to work through this unforseen setback. However it is way easier said than done! I realized that before I could move to my phase of utilizing my visual control exercise to help me I really needed to release my feelings....so I did just that. I ugly cried for a good part of the day and allowed myself to work through all the feelings I had. It is important for my mental health to give space to my emotions, I mean we are human! I believe the key here is to know the difference between the things we can control and the things we can't......giving yourself space vs allowing negativity to mirror the overall outcome can change so much. It's okay to let yourself release, it's all part of working through our problems. I felt so much better the next day and could focus on what I can control, luckily my baby sister, Tia (not a baby anymore but will always have that title) and my mother live close to Felicia so they were able to pick up all the party things and were headed up to my house the day before the shower. That was a huge relief!!
"Are you kidding me??" Just when I was feeling better about the shower I recieved news that my sister in law and brother in law were unable to attend due to my brother in law being exposed by one of his students...(insert serious sad face). Then my in laws couldnt make it because my father in law was with my brother in law which made it so my mother in law could not come either! Sooooo yeah, it was a whole lot of dissapointment going on for us. I was left asking myself "what is the pupose of having this baby shower?", the purpose is to celebrate and prepare for the coming of our newest addition. With reminding myself of the purpose I was able to accept things as they were because it was all beyond my control.
Shower day
Tia and my mother arrived the night before with everything we needed for a successful shower, everything was neatly organized which made executing Felicia's vision pretty easy. With Felicia on facetime we assembled the big pink balloon garland, toasted drinks, and indulged in the yummy pumpkin treats she surprised me with.
In the morning we all hustled to set up the driveway, we placed a white canopy tent at end of driveway with 3 rectangle tables for games and refreshments. The photobooth was placed against the garage with balloon garland, chair for me to sit and table for gifts.
Everything looked stunning!! My husband walked around with virtual guests during most of the event, we used zoom and were able to record the virtual event which is a great option if you would want to watch it later. Our friends and family had a great time and it was a very successful shower. We ended the shower by opening gifts virtually via facebook live on event page.
Looking back on the day and how things unfolded makes me feel so loved and grateful, those feeling were not instantly there. It took me time to absorb and realize I needed to focus on the purpose rather than all the things that are beyond me. I am one lucky mama knowing our baby girl will be entering the world with so much love. We have a crazy pregnancy story to share with Charlotte one day, that is for sure.
If you are planning a special event during this crazy time then take advice this from me from my own experience:
Gift yourself grace and time to release your emotions.Don't overstay and allow any disappointments to carry over into your celebration. Download FREE Visual Exercise PDF to help you.
Focus on the PURPOSE
Enjoy the process
Allow others to help you
Lastly have fun and embrace the crazy
See more images from our drive by shower below :)
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