Have you ever heard of the concept of a drive-by baby shower?
Well, if you are here then you probably a mom-to-be (or bestie) and not really sure how to plan the perfect baby shower (and whether or not you are actually going to have one during COVID).
Trust me, you are not alone in this!
These are definitely strange times we’re living in.
Because of social distancing, we’ve had to get creative in how we can celebrate with our loved ones, and I personally think a Drive-by baby shower is one of the best positive things that resulted from this situation.
In this guide, I will try my best to give you the full info on how you can plan and execute the best, most unique social distant drive-by baby shower (which will actually be better than a traditional one)!
What’s In This Guide? – Quick Navigation
- What Is a Drive-By Baby Shower?
- Why Should I Have a Drive-By Baby Shower?
- How To Host The Best Drive-By Baby Shower?
- Ask for a Host
- Pick a Location
- Set Up a Tent
- Place Outdoor Portable Fans or Heaters
- Pick The Perfect Dress
- Assign a Photographer
- Invest in Backdrop, Photobooth and Props
- Prepare Car Signs
- Drive-By Baby Shower Invites
- Pick a Party Theme
- Drive-By Baby Shower Food Ideas
- Drive-By Baby Shower Favors
- Drive-By Baby Shower Ideas and Decorations
What Is a Drive-By Baby Shower?
A drive-by baby shower is an arising trend, becoming more popular due to the pandemic and socially distancing. Ultimately, it’s a socially distant take on the traditional baby showers.
A drive-by baby shower can be either a parade of cars or drop-ins, where guests stop, greet the mother-to-be, dropping-off presents, take pictures, have some food and drinks, and move along.
It has all of the important elements a “regular” baby shower has which are essentially celebrating the coming birth of a new baby, “shower” the mom with gifts, eating, and playing games.
Why Should I Have a Drive-By Baby Shower?
You certainly don’t have to have one, but it’s a good alternative to an indoor, “traditional” baby shower, and a great way to have a social distancing baby shower, to fit the health and safety precautions.
Social distancing is still a big concern, and so having a drive-by baby shower is a good alternative to still let mom-to-be celebrate the new arrival.
Even if it’s not the way you originally envisioned your baby shower, a drive-by baby shower can be a great, fun alternative and can actually be a huge success!
It’s a new concept, yes, but that’s what makes it even more special and memorable!
You are not having another one-of-many-traditional-good-old baby shower, we all have seen before. Make it one that everyone will remember!
An additional pro is that a drive by baby shower tends to be more cost-effective, compared to a traditional baby shower. Plus, you do not have to clean your home before or after the event lol!
Since it is a new trend, there are no traditions or rules here, which means you can get really creative, have lots of fun and basically go wild with your imagination (while making sure it fits the health and safety precautions, of course).
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How To Host The Best Drive-By Baby Shower?
1. Ask for a host
You can totally organize the baby shower yourself if you like, but you can also ask for a sister, mother-in-law, a good friend, or even your mom to host your party.
Simply because we are in such an unusual time, and not everyone is familiar with the concept of hosting a social distance drive by baby shower!
Your family and friends can also be really disappointed not to be able to throw you a baby shower, so you can let them know you would love to have one!
Related Read: Real Drive-By Baby Shower Ideas
2. Pick a Location
Well, since we are talking about a drive-by baby shower, it sort of should be nearby a road (you can also decide you prefer to celebrate a virtual baby shower via zoom or in an indoor intimate baby shower instead).
If you live in a house, then the front-drive is a good place to host your baby shower. You can decide if you like a parade or also give people the opportunity to park their cars and visit you (while keeping a safe distance).
If you live in an apartment or in case you don’t have a front-drive, a good alternative will be to host the event in a park, a local church, a school parking lot, or another outdoor location.
TIP: When choosing the location for your drive-by baby shower, keep in mind you will need to make sure the road is not super-busy with cars or kids playing.
You want to let people be able to stop by and greet you, grab some foods, and bring the gift.
You don’t want to disturb your neighbors so try to avoid busy streets.
3. Set Up a Tent
This one is totally optional, but I highly recommend you will either rent, buy or borrow some kind of a shade for your party.
Why?
Well, just imagine this: a pregnant woman standing for two hours in the hot sun or worse in the pouring rain.. Not a pretty sight ha?
Since it’s not going to be a large gathering or big groups, the tent does not have to be too big, and you can totally get by with this really affordable option (and reuse it later on when you go to the beach or camping):
This canopy tent has an easy setup feature, comes in a variety of colors, and can fit 6-8 persons (or just the gifts table lol).
You should also preferably set a table (for the foods, party favors, and of course THE GIFTS!) and a comfy chair or couch so the mommy-to-be will be able to rest.
Related Read: Real Drive-By Baby Shower Ideas
4. Place Outdoor Portable Fans or Heaters
Make sure to bring fans in case it’s hot or some heaters for colder days, to keep the mom-to-be (and also your guests) cozy and comfortable.
5. Pick The Perfect Dress
Take the time to pick something special to wear at your celebration. If you’re looking for some dress ideas, we’ve got you covered for every season. And the best part? They are all under $100!
Here are the best drive-by baby shower mom dress ideas:
Related Read: What Should I Wear to My Own Baby Shower? (Tips+Inspiration)
6. Assign a Photographer
Make sure you appoint someone to take lots and lots of photos, after all, It’s still a party, right?
I personally think that the best option is to hire a professional photographer, I always do when I’m having important events or parties. That way you are making sure you will have the best photos.
If you do not want to hire a photographer, make sure one of your family members or friends will be in charge of taking the photos. You would wanna be able to have beautiful memories from this big day.
Before taking photos, make sure the mom you are honoring and guests are all comfortable with it.
7. Invest in Backdrop, Photobooth and Props
Speaking of taking cute pictures, in order to make everything feel more normal, and add some fun and cute touch, you should get some accessories and even set up a backdrop!
This way mom-to-be can take tons of cute pictures with her loved ones.
Baby Shower Backdrops:
Baby Shower Photo Booth Frame and Accessories:
This cute photo frame prop can add a fun touch to your pictures:
You can even Get this pretty Polaroid camera, for instant photos and memorable gifts for your guests!
8. Prepare Car Signs
Let your guest know they are welcome to prepare in advance some car signs (or send them some templates so they can print out and hang on their car), to make the-mama-to-be extra happy!
Related Read: Real Drive-By Baby Shower Ideas
If you’d like, you can also let them know they can play a song while driving by, maybe even a special song, loved by the mom-to-be.
9. Drive-By Baby Shower Invites
There are no rules here, and you can definitely get by with sending a group message but can also get fancy and send paper invitations by mail.
There are countless templates of drive-by baby shower invitations you can download (or even create your own using Canva which is a totally free tool!).
There are some extra things you should include in the invite, so you and your guests will be on the same page (since we’re all new to this):
– Make sure that all guests know that in addition to social distancing, masks are required always, to keep them and the mom-to-be safe.
– Let them know if it’s a parade of cars or a drop-in, where guests stop and greet the mother-to-be.
If you are having a parade, you will want to set a specific start time, with a drop-in you can definitely set up a window of time.
-Set a relatively short time frame for the drive-by, preferable an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the number of guests. By having a shorter window, the honoree is not going to wait for hours outside, plus, it gives a more lively and dynamic feeling, of an actual party.
-Keep in mind you don’t want the time-frame to be too short, to avoid keeping your guests waiting in a big line or disturb your neighbors by having a huge slow line of cars around their home.
– You will also need to decide about the gifts. Should they be delivered in the mail (if so, you can ask guests to drop off wrapped presents — if possible, UNwrapping the presents is a really fun part and kind of a tradition!).
-Another option is to collect them at the drive-by. It’s completely up to you, I personally think that bringing the gifts to the event itself is much more fun, and is actually really cool to see how the gifts pile grows (Just like in a traditional baby shower)!
10. Pick a Party Theme
Just because you are not having a traditional baby shower, doesn’t mean you can’t choose a party theme! You can get super creative with picking your theme, with matching invites, foods, and decorations, the possibilities are endless!
This fox and raccoon theme made by lucaspartysupply is just so beautiful and sweet! The colors and design are perfect for a fall baby shower!
11. Drive-By Baby Shower Food Ideas
Again, it really depends if you are planning on a parade or drop-by, but you most definitely need individually wrapped food, finger food, or foods in containers or jars, so that guests can easily grab or can be passed to them through the window.
This includes mini-sandwiches, finger food, cupcakes, cookies, bruschettas, and more!
Top picks of Drive-By Baby Shower Food Ideas:
Related Read: Drive-By Baby Shower Feed Ideas (Plan the perfect menu!)
These Coconut Blue Raspberry Popsicles are made with blue raspberry martini mix, lite coconut milk, and frozen raspberries. They are not only fun but really easy to make and the perfect pink and blue popsicles for a baby shower summer treat!
Love sharks and love Oreos? You’ll fall in love with these super cute Oreo Sharks perfect for a Baby Shower.
These Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes are so delicious and easy to make! It’s a perfect cupcake for a girl baby shower!
Looking for appetizer ideas? Mini cornbread bites are perfect! They are made with sliced deli ham, Swiss cheese, and yellow mustard served in between mini cornbread muffins. These mini cornbread bites are great finger food for a baby shower. They’re also paired great with chili!
12. Drive-By Baby Shower Favors
It’s very common for guests to leave a baby shower with a small gift to show appreciation for attending the event, It’s a small way of saying thank you for coming, and a drive-by baby shower is no different.
You can go for a baby shower–themed mini hand sanitizers with personalized labels:
Another option is to go with a personalized face-mask:
And of course, beautiful personalized gift bags:
13. Drive-By Baby Shower Ideas and Decorations
We looked around (well, around the internet) for the best Drive-By Baby Shower Ideas, decorations to give you some inspiration when you start planning your own shower!
This beautiful pinkish-gold drive-by baby shower design is so cute and feminine, the perfect design when expecting a little princess!
Recreate Adriana’s drive-by baby shower design:
This Bohemian-earthy drive-by baby shower decor is simply gorgeous. Not only it’s gender-neutral (in case you are not a fan of blue and pink), but it’s also really modern and has an earthy vibe to it.
Recreate this drive-by baby shower design:
Hosting a Drive-By Baby Shower probably wasn’t how you pictured your celebration, but it’s a great way to overcome the circumstances.
After all, you will be surrounded by family and friends, and that is what really matters in life (oh, and the gifts).
This one is another minimalist and pretty design with a beautiful color palate. The comfy couch in the center sure is perfect for the mom-to-be to be able to relax and rest.
Recreate this drive-by baby shower design:
An outdoor baby shower is a perfect location for having camping with a bonfire and Teepee tents!
Recreate this drive-by baby shower design:
This beautiful safari baby shower theme made by Splash decor is super cute and fun, with beautiful vivid colors!
Recreate this drive-by baby shower Decor:
Recreate this drive-by baby shower Decor:
Recreate this drive-by baby shower Decor:
Recreate this sweet baby girl’s shower Decor:
Drive-By- Baby shower in a Farm theme, came to life with many cute details.
Recreate this Farm theme drive-by baby shower Decor:
Your furry friend can also take an active part in your baby shower, with this cool “soon to be big brother” bandana!
Hosting a Drive-By Baby Shower most likely wasn’t how you pictured your celebration, but it’s a great way to overcome the circumstances.
After all, you will be surrounded by family and friends, and that is what really matters in life (oh, and the gifts).
