Recently I became a proud Auntie to the most beautiful baby boy. I've said it before and I'll say it again: All newborns look like a potato - EXCEPT for baby E. At 3 weeks old this kid has more facial expressions than I ever will, and they are all adorable!
Sarah, my best friend from high school and maid of honor in my wedding, has been such a good friend to me, the LEAST I could do would be to throw her a kick-ass baby shower! So about two months ago, I attempted just that. Here are the results:
The Invitation
It all starts with an invitation right? Sarah's nursery theme is owls. So after viewing a LOT of owl themed invitations via pinterest and etsy, I came up with this design and made my own using Microsoft Publisher.
I had them printed up at staples (MUCH cheaper than kinkos, by the way). They were in post card format so the back side shows the same chevron pattern with the little owl next to my return address and some more instructions for the guests.
Menu
I had around 30 RSVP's for this shower so there was a lot of food involved! My menu consisted of:
- cheese and cracker plate
- caprese skewers
- fruit tray
- veggie tray
- cucumber sandwiches
- meat and cheese platter
I also had a mimosa bar. I offered some fruit purees as well as simple raspberries. For the 3 Mommas-to-be that attended, I had a non-alcoholic "champagne" option which I found here.
For dessert, keeping with the owl theme, I served owl shaped cupcakes which I found via pinterest here. My version didn't turn out quite as fabulous, but I'll take it.
Games
As cheesy as they can be, baby showers REQUIRE games to be played. I had three: Poopy Diaper, What's In The Bag, and The Yarn Game. While attempting to keep the owl them alive, I created printouts for the first two games with fun, fat owls on them.
Poopy Diaper
We had a good laugh with this game. My Momma-to-be brought me 10 extra diapers from her stash and I melted/crushed/crumbled 10 different chocolate-based candy bars into them. The guests then had to guess what candy bars they were.
What's In The Bag?
The next game was part of my gift to Sarah. An easy game, I bought several smaller, every day items off of her registry and put them into numbered, brown paper sacks. The sacks were then passed around and each guest had to guess what was inside based on touch alone.
My third and final game was the simple Yarn Game. I took a ball of yarn around to each guest and had them guess the circumference of the mother-to-be's pregnant belly. Each guest cut off a piece of yarn to represent her guess for the girth of the belly. The person with the closest guess is the winner. I must warn future baby shower planners: be careful with this game. My Momma-to-be had no qualms about how much weight she had gained, but for more sensitive momma's a bad guess can ruin the party!
Prizes
My prizes consisted of potted herb plants. Who doesn't need some fresh herbs right? And if they die, it's not the end of the world. I gussied them up a bit so that they fit in with the owl theme.
Other Stuff
While I didn't get a picture of it, I was inspired by the banner at this shower. I created my banner with the help of this website and I was pretty pleased with the results. I just added our friendly little cartoon owls in between each word for a splash of color.
Presents! In addition to her everyday items, I made a couple of decor items for baby E's room. The first was SUPER easy to make, I just framed the free printable found here. I printed it in several colors so Sarah could easily match it to baby E's nursery.
I also made a similar version of this.
Found here. If I ever get the time I'll post a tutorial of that project, but it was muuuuuch more difficult than I thought it would be.
Presents! In addition to her everyday items, I made a couple of decor items for baby E's room. The first was SUPER easy to make, I just framed the free printable found here. I printed it in several colors so Sarah could easily match it to baby E's nursery.
I also made a similar version of this.
Last, but not least, Sarah called me a few days after the shower to thank me - and yell at me. "The shower colors were so nicely coordinated, all my thank you note options look like s***!" (I suppose that's a compliment, right?!) So I threw this little thank you postcard together and sent her the PDF.
Now that E has arrived, the shower seems like a distant memory. How did we ever live without this face?