My friend is about to have her second baby, and some friends and I threw her a little shower the other night. I say little, because with the second baby, people have mixed feelings about showers, since the mom already has most of what she needs from the first time around. So this party was meant to not only celebrate the new baby, but to pamper the mama as well, who’s about to do plenty of pampering, but won’t get any for quite some time.

The toughest part of organizing was coming up with the gift. After a friend suggested a gift certificate to the mama-to-be’s favorite spa, we had to solicit donations (there was a lot of back and forth involved, because of different budgets). When it came to picking up the gift certificate from the salon though, my friend completely freaked. Understandably, she didn’t want to put a pricey charge on her card and then be stood up by a couple of people who “forgot” to give her the money on the night of the event. I had total faith in the people coming, but she was the one putting her credit on the line, and she just couldn’t afford to charge more than she could pay back. But there was no way around that risk.

I write this because literally the day of the shower (and too late to do anything about it) I was preparing a holiday story, and discovered an online service tailor made for this situation. Edivvy.com lets a group go in on a gift without the hassle and financial stress of doing the transaction in person. It works this way — one person picks the gift (or several) from a list of  major retailers (there are just thirty, but they’re good — Amazon, Apple, REI, Sur la Table, Macy’s the Guitar Center, Target…) , then chooses a nicely designed invite to a list of “invitees,” who each pledge the amount that they want, and sign a virtual card. When the goal is reached, the gift and card are sent directly to the recipient.The organizer can email and nudge people, but her financial well-being isn’t on the line. If for some reason the goal isn’t reached, the recipient still receives a visa gift card and a card letting her know who contributed. No more worrying about whether you’ll get reimbursed or the hassle of shlepping to the store.  By the way, my friend did make her goal, but only after I remembered the next day that I forgot to pay her, and sent her a check!