Baby Shower

I was so excited that my daughter allowed me the honor to host her baby shower.  She has a number of friends who would have been happy to do it.  So....I wanted to make it very special.

She does not have a theme for her baby room and I had trouble coming up with a theme for her shower.  She picked out these cute invitations and I decided to use them for inspiration.

 

So began the hunt for decorations that were blue and white, checked and polka and elephants.  I was so stumped.  I was in a party store and I actually wished for decorations that were blue, white and elephants in a theme, so I wouldn't have to create anything.  I turned a corner, and lo and behold, there they were.  

Blue, elephants, they had plates and napkins, plus all sorts of decorations.  Anything I could possibly want.  And, guess what?  I didn't want them.  All I could think was that they were kind of cheesy.  And, they just didn't seem personal.  So, I went back to coming up with ideas to make the party special and personal.  Unique.  Not a party in a bag kind of party.  

I knew that I wanted to put balloons out front.  And, I saw some pretty banners on Pinterest that I wanted to copy.  I searched for paper to cut and make my banners out of.  I found some that would do, but not perfect.  And then.....my neighbor, Kelli (who is also one of my daughter's best friends) stopped by to tell me that she had an idea for making banners.  Wow.  We had the same idea.  She came over and we made these pretty banners.  She made the paper herself with photoshop and cut them into triangles.  We punched holes on each side and threaded some ribbon through.  I found some baby diaper pins to hang them up on my umbrellas.  

I loved this shower.  I couldn't have done it without help.  Kelli helped me make the decorations and on the morning of the shower, Meghan showed up early and put them all up!  

Meghan also took charge of the games and prizes.  How lucky am I?  I told her that I really don't like some of the games that they play at showers and she agreed.  The games she came up with were fun!  We all guessed with a piece of yarn what size my daughter's belly was.  Mine was about double what it should have been!  We also played a memory game with a BIG baby bottle filled with baby essentials.  And the gifts were terrific.  Woo Hoo!

That's Kelly in the Stripes and Meghan in the solid blue.  

For the shower, we had a brunch.  I made two casseroles, one was bacon, eggs and hash browns.  The other was french toast.  Mmmmm, brunch is my favorite meal. I set up the food in the tent.

 Kelli brought the "fruit baby", which was a huge hit!

Jesi made the most wonderful and beautiful cupcakes.

I put them on the cart.

I set up the bar with mimosa punch (non alcoholic in honor of the mommy to be).

  The punch was yummy with orange juice and ginger ale.  I froze some orange juice in cup cake tins to make huge ice cubes that wouldn't dilute the punch as it melted.

I also made big cubes with lemon slices for the water.  And, clear ones for the apple juice.

For dishes, I thought about getting paper plates, but then I found clear glass at the thrift store for only fifty cents each and I found a clear mug at the dollar store.  Somehow these just seemed the perfect fit.

We just visited and played a few games.  Kristen found this vintage shower game that I just love!

Stork Bingo!!

One BIG surprise was that her friend, Terry, from her work came all the way from the bay area.  I knew that she was coming, but I left it for a fun little surprise for dear daughter.

My daughter's friend Stephanie, had a baby just a couple of months ago.  Here is Meghan holding him.

 

My daughter was wearing "our" shoes.  We "co" bought these a while back.  I haven't worn them yet.  Aren't they cute!

 

I had three kids myself and never once had a shower.  I don't think I ever even went to one either.  Did we do this kind of thing back then?  I never know what to buy people, so I love the idea of a gift registry.   My daughter used Babies R Us.  I made her promise to NOT look at the registry so that she would be surprised. 

 

I set up a table with a vintage table cloth for the gifts and we sat on the deck for the unveiling.

My girl was like a kid at Christmas.  How fun!!  Her friends and family were beyond generous.  I can't wait to see the nursery all set up.  

I had the doggies on the deck all morning and they were dying to get close to the people.  When we came down to the deck, they shied away.

I took this picture of the girls and when I posted it on Facebook, they noticed little Pookie under the couch, posing for the pic!

A princess needs a crown.  I found this perfect little tiara for her.  

We packed her up.

And filled up Terry's truck and off she went to get hubby started on putting things together.  Lucky guy.

When it was all over, I didn't want to take down the decorations.....ever!

It was a great time.  Now let's have that baby!!