Recently, I hosted a baby shower for the oldest daughter of wonderful family friends. When we heard the great news in February, I offered to host the shower and promised it would be a wonderful memorable day and we would definitely have cake!! In April, the plans started to come together. The mother-to-be chose blues, grays and teals, elephants and giraffes;we shared a Pinterest board entitled baby; with my experience of hosting and planning events, I also wanted to add my personal touch, things she might not find with the latest trends. So I set out to create several designated and decorated areas in my home. The mantle would be transformed to a sea of blue vases, jars and candles, fitted with a banner of onesies, toys and ribbons and of course his sweet name, Logan.
Our breakfast room was "Bib making Central" complete with appliqués and baby photos of the soon-to-be parents. A beautiful DIY etched mirror was part of the centerpiece.
The Kitchen Island became a Taco Bar as per the request of the mother-to-be who really wanted queso (and a cake) fully decorated with gray whitewashed pallet crates, Mexican inspired gray dish towels, nacho trays, tissue paper flowers hanging form the pot rack and a children's book Dragons Love Tacos.
Our entry way greeted each guest with a sign in Giraffe canvas drawn by her youngest sister. The guests would use the ink pads to add their finger print creating the "spots" for the Giraffes;with a sharpie marker, they would add their name.
The dining room table was pure elegance. The centerpiece was a massive diaper cake by the soon to be grandmother, filled with diapers, onesies, stuffed animals and more. We brought out the glass punch bowl, cups and party plates. I have been collecting these glass party plates and cups for over 25 years and we use them on all celebrations. They bring such elegance!! Gracing the table were chicken salad tarts, orange marmalade tea sandwiches, frosted blue sugar cookies, blue dipped Oreos, strawberries with powdered sugar, crudities on glass trays and personalized chocolate kisses. Three children's books completed this table-If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Paddington and If Animals Kiss Goodnight. By using glass and silver serving pieces the table was elegant and festive.
Every family member from the aunts, great aunts, grandmothers and great grandmothers and momma to be received corsages starting small with the aunts having 3 small roses to the momma-to-be having 7 roses and a lot of ribbon. Our florist was amazing!! Each guest left with a little blue tulle bag filled with chocolate and wonderful memories of celebrating and anticipating the arrival of Baby Logan.
Whew....this was a grand event! My youngest has a saying "It doesn't cost anything to Pin an idea." In reality, celebrations do take time, money and most of all, LOVE! So with that in mind, here are a few suggestions if you are planning a celebration or if you are the one who is being celebrated.
*Begin planning early, so you can begin to gather the necessary items.
*If you use Pinterest as your idea board, keep in mind that you may not be able to do all of your ideas. Narrow your choice to your top 3 ideas.
*If you are the hostess, put your personal touch on the celebration as well.
*If you host celebrations often or want to start having serving pieces, Thrift stores and garage sales are great places to find serving pieces such as glass /silver platters, punch bowls and cups. **It is so worth the investment.
*If possible, invest in white tablecloths. They can be used at every party and celebration. Amazon has them at a great price.
*If there will be several "stations" in you home, begin to decorate those areas 1-2 days before the celebration.
*For the food, bake or make 1-2 of the recipes and then use the bakery of your local grocery store for the other recipes. Also, in the frozen section are wonderful appetizers and bite size desserts. Doing this will help the stress level.
*If this is a summer afternoon event, punch and water will be enough. No need for coffee and other offerings. Keep it Simple.
While this was a big undertaking, spreading out the planning, gathering and decorating over several months created a virtually stress free event!! Working closely with the momma-to-be and keeping some things secret till the Celebration, this was a fun and beautiful day! In Part 2 of the Baby Shower, I'll share the DIY's of the Day! including how to create the banner, the mantle, the etched mirror and and recipes for our Two Bar!
Until next time, Have a great time planning, pinning and dreaming of your next Celebration!
Chantal
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