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Her “sperm cake” is on the menu — and the internet is eating it up.
Emily Webb’s got baby fever. But without a husband or serious boyfriend, the singleton is vetting sperm donors for help. And she’s injected a splash of fun into her spunk-hunt with an outlandishly over-the-top “sperm shower.”
“There really isn’t anything fun about IVF so [I] decided to take the opportunity to enjoy this part,” Webb, 36, captioned a viral clip of her baby daddy bash. “There are banks all over the country so it was hard to narrow down my choices! I settled on 12 and invited my friends over to vote and narrow down the choices.”
“I decorated, had weird themed foods, and presented the choices with coordinating music and all,” the blond gushed. “So extra, but it was pretty fun. Ultimately, everybody had the same favorites, so I would consider it a success!
Webb is one in the growing army of Single Mothers By Choice (SMBC), a rising mob of wannabe mommies opting for solo parenthood rather than waiting around for Mr. Right. Women across social media have banded and bonded together under the trending hashtag #SMBC — amassing over 288,000 posts on Instagram and a budding 24,600 on TikTok — creating a virtual community of love and support.
It’s a worthy effort, as a staggering 40% of all babies in the US are born to unmarried mothers, per recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 2025 report found that the number of single moms over age 30, such as Webb, welcoming newborns has skyrocketed by 140% in the last three decades.
While some women are scrambling to get pregnant by any means necessary before the end of their childbearing years, others are utilizing well-sourced sperm and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to fulfill their lifelong dreams of motherhood.
Webb is in that number.
“This whole process is so stressful and not fun,” she told People of her conception journey.
The millennial, an RN IBCLC (Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant), began the process at age 35, freezing her eggs upon realizing that her window of opportunity for pregnancy was narrowing.
“[I] didn’t see my dating life going anywhere and became more worried about my biological clock,” said Webb. “I live in a small town, and while I did date, nothing has ever felt quite right.”
“My timeline to have a husband doesn’t necessarily have a deadline (certainly becomes more complicated), but my biological clock does,” added the blond. “I couldn’t picture life without motherhood, and I was worried I would miss my opportunity waiting for Mr. Right — so I went for it. “
But going it alone hasn’t been a cakewalk.
“For my egg retrieval, I had to take stim injections, which weren’t so awful, but then I had to travel 1.5 hours to get my bloodwork done every other day, and then a half hour out of the way for my ultrasounds, all before 10 or 11 a.m. for a period of about two weeks,” said Webb, who lives miles away from the nearest clinic.
“I didn’t realize before this process that no local labs ran same-day hormone results, and I am about to have to do it again!” she groaned.
“I drove seven hours for the procedure itself and was able to freeze 15 eggs at age 35,” Webb added, noting, however, that she’s “in insurance limbo a bit now before being able to create embryos.”
“I will fertilize some of the eggs and try to do an embryo transfer if that goes well,” she explained. “I’m doing all of this with a sperm donor from a sperm bank — which is where all of this got so crazy.”
After cherry-picking 12 dad candidates, Webb invited roughly 20 pals to participate in a “donor draft” during her one-of-a-kind sperm shower — a kooky mix between a bachelorette and baby shower.
“I invited my local friends, one drove six hours to come, many friends from work, some from my previous job, and my best friend’s mom even came and surprised me with a sperm cake, which was so funny and sweet,” said the mommy-to-be.
And much to her delight, the shindig was a hit.
“People were into it! They all filled out comment cards/score cards, and it took a lot longer than I anticipated because they wanted to return to certain donors multiple times. They took it seriously, which I appreciated,” said Webb.
She, too, received an outpouring of praise online from fans of the fun, saying, “I would pay to attend this party,” and “10-out-of-10 theming and making the absolute best out of hard decisions.”
Partygoers and social media viewers alike got a kick out of sperm-inspired treats, such as the squiggly-shaped cake, “cream pie” snacks and cheekily-named soda pop.
Webb’s ejaculate-themed jamboree also featured a “nacho daddy” bar, as well as a specialized slideshow and scorecards for the draft.
“I created a presentation on Canva with descriptions of each donor and coordinating music that reminded me of each one,” she said. “Once I’d given everyone all short descriptions, I had people request which ones we should look further at, and that’s when we went into their health history, family history, we heard some of their voices, read letters they wrote, etc. Depending on the bank, the profiles go pretty deep.”
“One bank had SAT scores, birth weight, GPA, and personality type!”
But Webb and her friends narrowed it down to two top contenders.
“Some things I loved about my top two were impeccable personal and family health history — some of the others I had to eliminate for health reasons,” she said. “They were well spoken and well written and educated, on the taller side, active, close with family, the same blood type as me, and seemed to have a similar personality to myself. Also cute as children.”
The prospective single parent ultimately found her ideal father-to-be.
“The donor I chose wrote a really heartfelt and emotionally intelligent letter, was in the holistic wellness industry, and overall just had a calm and thoughtful vibe to him,” Webb raved. “While my friends also chose, they know me pretty well, so I think I would have ended up with the same choices had they not helped, but I enjoyed their input!”
She plans to begin to create embryos in the coming months.
“If I’m fortunate enough to have at least one that is healthy, I will do an embryo transfer and hopefully become pregnant,” said Webb. “I know it doesn’t always go smoothly, and there are no guarantees, but I would like to at least try.”
Webb looks forward to bringing up her baby with a similar sense of fun-loving pizzazz she brought to her sperm shower.
“I feel really supported by my community and prepared to become a mother. If I’m blessed with a son or daughter, they will be so loved,” she said.
“Caring for babies and children has always come naturally for me, so if anybody can do this alone, it’s me!”
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