Julie & Andy’s Drive by Baby Shower Celebration

Welcome to Julie & Andy’s Drive by Baby Shower Celebration!

In 2020, celebrating anything in the way we used to has been a challenge. The events industry has come to a sudden and stifling halt leaving creative entrepreneurs in a unique and obviously challenging position of pivoting how we conduct even the simplest of celebrations, safely.

Photos by Aurelia D’Amore Photography

One of the most special times in a couple’s lives is the welcoming of a bundle of joy. 2020 turned everyone and everything upside down and brought the world a bundle of chaos instead! With a global pandemic and the restrictions of any group gatherings, we need to rethink how to make this soon to be mommy and daddy feel the love of friends and family while maintaining a safe, social distance.

So, in lieu of the traditional baby shower with a room of ladies eating cucumber finger sandwiches and giggling about outdated baby advice, we opted for a non-traditional, co-ed, drive-by baby shower full of vegan chocolate chip cookies, La Croix, tropical florals, Lizzo, and lots of silliness to welcome the soon to be Baby Girl Shuford into this (chaotic) world!

Hostess(es) with the Mostest(es)!

As long time friends, self-proclaimed #workwivesforlife, and fellow Los Angeles event planners, Renee Dalo of Moxie Bright Events and I teamed up and put our minds together and bring some baby joy to our dear friends, Julie and Andy! I mean, leave it up to two, (by choice) child-free businesswomen to pull off a colorful, upbeat, and contactless drive-by baby shower with the help of an incredible vendor partner team in just a couple of weeks! Here is what we did and what we learned!

Vendors & Safety

Above ALL else, safety was our #1 priority and considered throughout the planning process. Keeping the vendor team small, physically distanced, and with staggered arrival and departures, times were key elements! Masks were required for every member of the vendor team from start to finish. While it may be hard to tell, we are all smiling under them!

Holly of Anything But Gray Events
Lee of Hey Mister DJ
Renee of Moxie Bright Events
Tabitha of Winston & Main

Design & Rentals

We used Julie and Andy’s home as the backdrop for this drive by baby shower celebration. With it being Summer and over 95 degrees outside, we leaned into the tropical vibes and palm print with this colorful seating set for the couple to lounge on while they greeted their drive-by guests. With rentals by Papillon Rentals adorned with bright and bold florals from Winston & Main this mini set up screamed ‘Summer Time‘! Having the couple be able to be fully seen but still appropriately distanced from guests in cars driving by was important. Even though this baby shower ended up being smaller than we originally had planned before COVID-19, we still wanted it to have a big impact.

Mommy & Daddy Shuf!

Welcoming Guests

In order to keep the celebration as safe, staggered, and organized as possible, guests were emailed step by step instructions. Complete with a map, driving directions to enter the line of waiting for cars from a certain street, and as a specific time frame to arrive ensured guests could find their way easily. This helped keep the flow of cars under control while still giving the couple a few minutes to social distance interact with each guest as they drove up safely. All guests were required to wear a mask without question. No Karens allowed! Celebratory signage, car adornments, glitter bombs, and any form of mobile cheer was highly and happily welcomed! We even got to see some furry friends and car dance moves too!

Surprise!

A surprise to the couple, each guest was asked to prepare and bring a specific-aged birthday card for baby girl Shuford to open on her birthday as she grows up. These birthday cards were filled with well wishes, advice, and love! Cute idea, right?

No Lick! No Rona!

And remember, as Julie likes to say, when it comes to envelopes, “No Lick! No Rona”. Please use tape or glue for wrapping all gifts and cards.

As guests said their goodbyes, happy car honks of good wishes echoed through the neighborhood!

MC & Music

Playing music and having an MC like Lee Dyson of Hey Mister DJ was a must. Having upbeat music for guests to groove to as they were waiting in the car line and directions over the microphone kept this drive-by baby shower celebration high energy and flowing nicely. The groovy tunes even brought some of the neighbors out to take photos and dance on their porches!

Gifts and Favors

Masked and gloved, Renee and I collected gifts from the guest’s cars as well as distributed vegan chocolate chip cookie favor boxes and personalized chilled bottled water as a thank you for attending.

From beginning to end, safety was our priority for this Drive-By Baby Shower Celebration! Our advice to anyone planning a COVID-pivot celebration is to plan more time than you think you need to make sure all safety precautions are handled appropriately. Slow down and think ten steps ahead to keep everyone safe!

In honor of Baby Girl Shuford, Renee wore her new Ms. Bossy Pants Keds. Teach them to be self-starters and free-thinkers!

Julie & Andy

After all the guests and vendors had left, Aurelia D’Amore Photography treated Julie and Andy to a socially distanced photoshoot with a long lens camera. This was the only time during the shower that the couple took their masks off. Don’t they have great smiles?

6 feet part yet so much love between us! Thank you to an incredible team effort in making Julie and Andy’s drive-by baby shower celebration a success!