Hailee Steinfeld Celebrates Upcoming Baby With Backyard Shower for 30 Guests

Hailee Steinfeld spent a recent sunny Saturday in her Los Angeles backyard surrounded by about 30 women, celebrating the imminent arrival of her first child with husband Josh Allen. The 29-year-old actress and singer shared an intimate account of the gathering through her Beau Society newsletter on March 17, revealing that every detail of the afternoon was orchestrated by her mother, Cheri Steinfeld.

"On a sunny Saturday in LA, my mom and about 30 women I love so much gathered in my most comfortable place — my backyard — for a baby shower," Steinfeld wrote. "My mom planned the entire gorgeous thing."

The decor grew out of a folder Hailee had quietly been building for years. "I sent her a few photos from my 'Saving this for if I ever have a baby shower' folder," she wrote. "From a 'Mother Goose' reference and a swatch of gingham, she pieced it all together." The result was gingham applied to nearly every surface: furniture fabric, tablecloths, and decorative ribbons. Steinfeld described herself as "obsessed" with the pattern. There was "no baby shower theme, per se, but a subtle nursery-rhyme thread was woven throughout the decor," she wrote, with nursery books scattered "everywhere."

Every guest arrived with a book in hand. "This baby is building quite the little library," Steinfeld noted. Beyond the books, Cheri set up a knitting station where guests could contribute squares to a baby blanket — a detail that carried specific family weight. Steinfeld recounted that her mother took up knitting during the production of her first film, sitting in a trailer between takes. "It was Sudoku or knitting, and she chose the latter," Hailee wrote. "Our family would joke that she was going to knit the red carpet because she didn't stop." Cheri eventually taught her daughter the craft, and at the shower Hailee knitted her own square. "I can't really cast on or off, but I was able to knit a square to put on this baby's blanket," she wrote. "I feel like I reopened a fun hobby."

The reflective tone of Steinfeld's newsletter extended well beyond the decor. "The most profound and grounding part of getting ready for this baby has been the introspective side of it and the quiet conversations I'm having with myself almost every day," she wrote. "Sometimes I find myself asking big, lofty questions ('What am I going to be like as a mom?') or having vivid daydreams of what our life is about to look like when the three of us are cuddled up in the nursery together." She added: "We're getting ready to meet someone we already love so much. I've racked my brain for words to describe that feeling, and I don't have them yet. Maybe that's the point. For now, I'm blessed to be settling into the feeling."

For the occasion, Steinfeld wore a cream Stella McCartney midi dress paired with dark brown boots, a choice she described as instinctive. "The minute I put it on, it felt like something I'd wear pregnant or not," she wrote, adding that her approach to dressing during pregnancy has been to wear what she would normally reach for. Photos from the event were shot by photographer and creative director Katia Temkin.