HELP Baby Shower by Mail???? Ideas Anyone. Thanks

When you think about it, a lot of the gifts you send, you could almost buy 2 of everything when you factor in shipping costs. I had NO people here in Texas when I was pregnant, but I registered at Babies R Us. My family pulled the registry up when they went to the store in their cities and shopped for what they'd like to send and then bought a giftcard and wrote what they were buying. Especially my mom, since this was her first grandchild but we just couldn't get together at that time (we both worked crazy hours). She went to her local BRU with the registry and sat in our glider, had a salesman help her with the travelsystem we'd chosen, etc. So when I opened up her card, there would be the giftcard with "stroller and carseat" on it. Then we picked one big shopping day to get all those things. It's not the same as having a bunch of people together fussing over you, but it was nice, all the same. I do like the earlier mention of mylar balloons floating out to make it festive though. Maybe if everyone that "would be" at the shower if it was local could get together and take some pictures and put their giftcards in cards with messages in a box with balloons and confetti in it, it would be more fun.

I haven't done this before, but it might be nice to pick a theme... like have everyone send their gift in a certain color box or envelope. Maybe make it a gift card shower to a local baby store (or even WalMart or Target) - everyone could send their gift cards to you and you could mail them in a clever way. Or have all her friends over to your house and really "have" the shower - take tons of photos with everyone holding up signs that can be read in the photos. Put them all in a beautiful baby book that everyone will sign - including their email and snail mail addresses. Just some thoughts.

My Mom did one and in one of the boxes she had a virtual babysitter it was one of the mylar balloons with arms and leg. It had a little outfit on and when her friend open the box the babysitter floated out. Her friend loved it.

I have done this before--but it was quite a while ago....my sister was the recipient and she had friends all over the country. I made a theme of something like "bed and bath time" (which encompasses almost everything a newborn needs) and I just had all of her friends send their wrapped gifts to me with a card. I encouraged everybody to write either an encouraging Bible verse, a favorite encouraging quote or just some wisdom from the more experienced moms. I packed the gifts in two LARGE boxes--and used some blankets and diapers as padding, and even put a helium filled balloon in one. Then I mailed them off. It was actually a surprise. She and I and one of her friends were all on a three-way call as she opened the gifts. If you have webcams--that would be fun to have a group of people at your house while she opens gifts--my mail shower was before computers were quite so common. Anyway, my sister was surprised and touched by everyone's effort to make it happen. Good luck to you.

Just a thought here. Do you both have webcams? If so, you could be connected on webcams via some IM service or the like such as yahoo IM during the shower. That way you would sort of be there, only virtual instead of real life. You'd be able to watch her open presents, see her reaction, etc.

As far as gifts and such, everyone else had really good ideas and I can't think of anything to add in that respect.