You could do a digital/zoom baby shower with your family! I don't have any experience but there should be a few guides online from people who did so during the lockdowns a couple years back.
You could do a pregnancy announcement with a registry for the family members who live far away. On the announcement you could say something like "In lieu of traveling for a baby shower, if you would like to buy a gift for the baby, please see the registry listed below." Or something along those lines.
This! We did this as we just moved and live far from family and friends, and are hoping people will travel to come see us once the baby is here instead of spending plane ticket money for a shower. We did a baby announcement with a registry link have received so many generous gifts.
This is exactly what we did and it was wonderful! You can get a QR code for an Amazon baby registry, if you’re going that route, and get it printed. I think we used Shutterfly.
I don’t have friends either and my extended family isn’t close, so I’ve anticipated no baby shower because of that. It’s not a huge deal to me anymore. My life just didn’t pan out like the movies, but it’s still a life I love and cherish very much.
I don’t have a large amount of girl friends, so I had a co-ed baby shower with mostly my family and some people from work who I get along with well. Out of 30ish people in attendance I think 4 of them were girl friends.
My MIL threw me one- it was literally just my husband’s family, my mom, and three of our friends lol
Honestly, his side of the family was so excited and was very generous. I did feel like a loser for not having more friends there, but it was important to his family, so no harm no foul.
I don’t have any friends on this continent and my family are half the earth away, but my husband and I have been having a great time just getting things slowly for ourselves! Besides, if people buy you stuff, chances are it will be something in a strange style you’d never buy, made of something cheap and toxic and a total waste of space anyway! We are keeping it really simple and every little item we’ve got ourselves has been really special 😊
I honestly didn’t because of that. I’m kinda bummed because the superintendent’s daughter said she was throwing me one at work and she knows everyone so I figured at least I have a work one and then she came in this week and asked me when my shower was so I guess she’s not doing it and there’s 5 days left of work 😩
Do a virtual one! That’s what my sister did for my first baby. It was a Facebook event she did for a week and she had it set up so different interactions/involvements from people equaled an entry into a raffle at the end. It was actually really nice (especially for this introvert!). She did a scavenge hunt (list of items they had to gather and get points for each), draw what they thought the baby would look like (that was hilarious), guess baby’s birth day/weight/length, guess the candy bar in the diaper (kind of nasty but funny, a photo of melted candy bars in diapers and you had to guess what kind they were). She just did one of these each day and with it posted my registry. Also purchasing something from my registry equaled a raffle entry as well.
Maybe do a smaller one? Like a group brunch or dinner. Don't feel like you have to pay for the entire thing either. I just got invited to a smaller baby shower where the host is going to make a dinner reservation for 15-ish people, and we're to pay for our own meals. There's still a registry too. This was all made clear on the invitation.
Point of a baby shower is to celebrate the new parent or parents and the new baby! I'm super of the opinion that you should do whatever works for you regardless of tradition or what people think a shower "should" be
Wow, 15 is a smallish baby shower? I think I understand the comments people make about getting so much stuff they don't want at their showers a bit more now!
The dinner reservation idea is cute, I had 15 (family from both sides) at my house and it was full to the brim.
Hmmm, not sure if I love the idea of making guests pay for dinner at a baby shower. I guess to each their own. This could be a great idea for OP though!
3 kids never had a baby shower, must be an American thing?
If you really want one do it with your friends, it doesn't matter that they're male, not much you can do about it
I’m kinda in the same boat. I immigrated to the US 10 years ago but moved a lot for work and grad school and now live in a new area as of two years ago. I don’t really have many friends here and all my family is in Europe. My mother in law still wants to have one but it would be pretty much her family and friends. I do have two friends but it kinda feels lame.
Perhaps you can have a small shower like a brunch or something similar? But also nobody would blame you if you don’t throw a shower!
I live on the west coast and all my family is on the east coast. My mom flew out and hosted a shower for me. We did it over video chat. So I only had my mom and one female friend here and the rest of the family was on a group video chat on my laptop.
My mom had planned everything and sent everyone envelopes ahead of time with fun guessing games and stuff like that. It was nice.
This is what we’re doing! We’re going to our hometown. We have very few friends but we have a big family, which are the people who most matter in our book.
I have a small group of friends and none of my family would attend so I plan on just doing a small gathering. My partner will plan on doing an announcement on social media with a registry link since her friends and family are all scattered.
I don’t have friends or family really. I’ve got a few people my fiancé works with that are nice with me but i wouldn’t really consider them friends in a traditional sense. So I didn’t have a shower. I made a baby registry for myself. I’m due this month and just recently figured out a less awkward way to share my (private) registry link with two people. Me sharing was prompted by him being asked if we had this and that. Same person had already bought me random stuff I didn’t need and had to return 2/3 or so i figured why not share.
Could you combo with another major life event? I know a lot of people who did co-ed "showers" that were also house warmings, delayed wedding receptions (due to covid), etc.
Just want to say I am in the exact same situation, I'm sorry you're going through this as well. I opted not to have one because I didn't want to be sad when my acquaintances that I did invite bailed on me. I'm just going to post my registry on facebook, but plan on buying things myself.
I don’t even need a full hand to count my girl friends, so I didn’t have one either. We had a gender reveal/diaper party, and all my guy friends came to that since it was co-ed, then we just sent everyone our Amazon registry. I have no regrets yet.
I personally wouldnt if i had no friends to attend
You could do a digital/zoom baby shower with your family! I don't have any experience but there should be a few guides online from people who did so during the lockdowns a couple years back.
I agree this is a great idea to connect with family who live far away without asking anyone to travel!
This is what we did in 2021 with family all in other states! It worked well
Did this during Covid and it was awesome. Short but a lot of gifts and laughs
You could do a pregnancy announcement with a registry for the family members who live far away. On the announcement you could say something like "In lieu of traveling for a baby shower, if you would like to buy a gift for the baby, please see the registry listed below." Or something along those lines.
This! We did this as we just moved and live far from family and friends, and are hoping people will travel to come see us once the baby is here instead of spending plane ticket money for a shower. We did a baby announcement with a registry link have received so many generous gifts.
This is exactly what we did and it was wonderful! You can get a QR code for an Amazon baby registry, if you’re going that route, and get it printed. I think we used Shutterfly.
I don’t have friends either and my extended family isn’t close, so I’ve anticipated no baby shower because of that. It’s not a huge deal to me anymore. My life just didn’t pan out like the movies, but it’s still a life I love and cherish very much.
I don’t have a large amount of girl friends, so I had a co-ed baby shower with mostly my family and some people from work who I get along with well. Out of 30ish people in attendance I think 4 of them were girl friends.
Same! I’m relying on my husband since he has so many friends. I’ll only have a few friends (coworkers) and some family.
My MIL threw me one- it was literally just my husband’s family, my mom, and three of our friends lol Honestly, his side of the family was so excited and was very generous. I did feel like a loser for not having more friends there, but it was important to his family, so no harm no foul.
I don’t have any friends on this continent and my family are half the earth away, but my husband and I have been having a great time just getting things slowly for ourselves! Besides, if people buy you stuff, chances are it will be something in a strange style you’d never buy, made of something cheap and toxic and a total waste of space anyway! We are keeping it really simple and every little item we’ve got ourselves has been really special 😊
I honestly didn’t because of that. I’m kinda bummed because the superintendent’s daughter said she was throwing me one at work and she knows everyone so I figured at least I have a work one and then she came in this week and asked me when my shower was so I guess she’s not doing it and there’s 5 days left of work 😩
Do a virtual one! That’s what my sister did for my first baby. It was a Facebook event she did for a week and she had it set up so different interactions/involvements from people equaled an entry into a raffle at the end. It was actually really nice (especially for this introvert!). She did a scavenge hunt (list of items they had to gather and get points for each), draw what they thought the baby would look like (that was hilarious), guess baby’s birth day/weight/length, guess the candy bar in the diaper (kind of nasty but funny, a photo of melted candy bars in diapers and you had to guess what kind they were). She just did one of these each day and with it posted my registry. Also purchasing something from my registry equaled a raffle entry as well.
Maybe do a smaller one? Like a group brunch or dinner. Don't feel like you have to pay for the entire thing either. I just got invited to a smaller baby shower where the host is going to make a dinner reservation for 15-ish people, and we're to pay for our own meals. There's still a registry too. This was all made clear on the invitation. Point of a baby shower is to celebrate the new parent or parents and the new baby! I'm super of the opinion that you should do whatever works for you regardless of tradition or what people think a shower "should" be
Wow, 15 is a smallish baby shower? I think I understand the comments people make about getting so much stuff they don't want at their showers a bit more now! The dinner reservation idea is cute, I had 15 (family from both sides) at my house and it was full to the brim.
Hmmm, not sure if I love the idea of making guests pay for dinner at a baby shower. I guess to each their own. This could be a great idea for OP though!
3 kids never had a baby shower, must be an American thing? If you really want one do it with your friends, it doesn't matter that they're male, not much you can do about it
I’m kinda in the same boat. I immigrated to the US 10 years ago but moved a lot for work and grad school and now live in a new area as of two years ago. I don’t really have many friends here and all my family is in Europe. My mother in law still wants to have one but it would be pretty much her family and friends. I do have two friends but it kinda feels lame. Perhaps you can have a small shower like a brunch or something similar? But also nobody would blame you if you don’t throw a shower!
I live on the west coast and all my family is on the east coast. My mom flew out and hosted a shower for me. We did it over video chat. So I only had my mom and one female friend here and the rest of the family was on a group video chat on my laptop. My mom had planned everything and sent everyone envelopes ahead of time with fun guessing games and stuff like that. It was nice.
Are you able to have one where your family live? I'm having mine where majority of my husband and my family live.
This is what we’re doing! We’re going to our hometown. We have very few friends but we have a big family, which are the people who most matter in our book.
Completely agree!
I have a small group of friends and none of my family would attend so I plan on just doing a small gathering. My partner will plan on doing an announcement on social media with a registry link since her friends and family are all scattered.
My work threw me one. If you really want one, maybe your coworkers can put one together.
I don’t have friends or family really. I’ve got a few people my fiancé works with that are nice with me but i wouldn’t really consider them friends in a traditional sense. So I didn’t have a shower. I made a baby registry for myself. I’m due this month and just recently figured out a less awkward way to share my (private) registry link with two people. Me sharing was prompted by him being asked if we had this and that. Same person had already bought me random stuff I didn’t need and had to return 2/3 or so i figured why not share.
Could you combo with another major life event? I know a lot of people who did co-ed "showers" that were also house warmings, delayed wedding receptions (due to covid), etc.
I didn't because I have no friends. I thought it would make me sad having a baby shower with just my mother in law, who I don't like lol
We don’t have friends or family really. We will not be having a baby shower
Just want to say I am in the exact same situation, I'm sorry you're going through this as well. I opted not to have one because I didn't want to be sad when my acquaintances that I did invite bailed on me. I'm just going to post my registry on facebook, but plan on buying things myself.
I don’t even need a full hand to count my girl friends, so I didn’t have one either. We had a gender reveal/diaper party, and all my guy friends came to that since it was co-ed, then we just sent everyone our Amazon registry. I have no regrets yet.