How do these words even fit into our speech? They don’t make sense…….drive throughs are for fast food and liquor stores! Drive Through Baby Shower? I know a few junior high boys that would be more inclined to take a shower if they could drive their Dad’s jeep through and get cleaned up! During COVID -19 we have all become more creative in our need to gather socially and still keep our distance, so, we hosted a drive through baby shower at the Farmhouse. Here is a little glimpse of the adventure!
Our son and his wife birthed a sweet baby girl during COVID . As the grandparents we took the two older boys into our care when we got the phone call that it was time to go to the hospital. Then unlike any of the other 8 grandkids birth experiences, we hugged Jacob and Jenna and off they went to the hospital, never to be seen again until they appeared several days later with baby girl Elle. Now that was a little hard on us as the grandparents, but as the parents of two toddlers who were safe and secure with Nani and Pop, I think the new parents might have quite enjoyed their little mini vacation at the hospital.
Needless to say we were all thrilled to have baby Elle join our family. Just as COVID Sheltering In hit we had planned a shower for Jenna. It was canceled as were so many events for so many people. We felt bad that we could not do something fun for baby Elle and were missing all our friendships. We had seen some others doing drive by birthday parties, graduation parties and zoom baby and bridal showers. But I have to say we just hadn’t embraced the new ways of doing life during a pandemic. Call me old fashioned, but I sure like making delicious food, decorating the house and sitting around chatting with all the ladies for a sweet and memorable baby shower. But the truth is that just couldn’t happen now during this time in history. So we did nothing……then we just couldn’t stand it anymore and jumped on the bandwagon for a Drive Through Baby Shower!
A new life is always worth celebrating, no matter what the celebration looks like.
Sweet Flower Home
I’ll share with you some of the logostics of the new way to plan a shower! We started off with a simple invitation on Facebook that stated it was for the family and you would be staying in your car. This helps right up front for your guests to know what the expectations are. These days all the old traditions are out the window so we need solid instructions as guests and hosts!
Then we got excited about our new shower planning adventure. Now a major hurdle was that we live in Arizona and June is very hot. So we decided on evening so that it might be a bit cooler as people drove up and the new parents and baby wouldn’t get heat stroke as they visited their guests. We also made sure we had plenty of cold water bottles on hand to distribute to the cars of guests. The little brothers and cousins enjoyed handing those out to the families.
We wanted our guests to stay hydrated as well as have a treat for the families in the car. So all the cute ideas of a shower favors were not going to work here. What we decided on was a bakery box of homemade baked goods! The boxes were pink for our baby girl and making one batch of each item made enough for 15 boxes. It gave a variety for the adults and kids to pick from and munch on in the car!
On the outside of the boxes we made our own stickers with a similar image as the invitation that said Thank You to all our guests!
What and how to decorate was a bit tricky! We had the guests drive through past the front door to the Farmhouse. So really the only logical place to decorate was around the front door. We set a cute gift table. We actually took the gift from the guest and placed it on the table. All the gifts were sanitized then opened later in the evening.
I also had a couple of big backdrops that I used for focal points as the guests drove through. This wood backdrop had the baby quilt I made for Elle. I used Jacob’s old shirts for the flowers on the quilt!
The other frame backdrop held the chalkboard “Welcome Baby Elle” sign! And let me say friends…..a little rag swag goes a LONG way in any decorating situation!
It was so much fun for the new parents to get to show off baby at a safe distance and the rest of us to visit with guests in the line of cars! As another car would drive in some of us would head outside! Meanwhile, the rest of the family stayed inside where it was cool and spent much needed time to visit. We couldn’t share this beautiful cake with the drive through guests but we thought the new parents should definitely have cake! Let The Girlas Bake did a beautiful job on this cake!
All our guests came within the first hour so we as a family had plenty of time to enjoy dinner and this delicious cake (we did have a few leftover baked goods too!). The new parents opened all the gifts from the very generous guests and all of us girls got to show the men of the family how much fun we have at baby showers!
The baby shower was one to remember for sure! It was unique and nothing like any shower we have hosted before. We were hesitant and unsure to begin with and then full heartedly embraced the challenge. The most important thing was that we didn’t let a pandemic stop us from celebrating our brand new baby girl!
Life is a gift and a miracle and we are so thankful to celebrate God’s blessings in our life.
Stay safe friends and many blessings to you!
Carrie
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