BaByQ Shower

I've thrown a few baby showers in my day, but never a co-ed one! A good family friend of mine, Nikki, requested the men be included in the special day. I figured the best way to get the men to not only want to come, but to (maybe?!) even enjoy themselves, would be to include beer and man-food! Thus, the idea behind the "BaByQ."

The invitations were done with black & red - "bun in the oven, burger on the grill" style. I also included an insert with a new idea where guests bring & sign a book instead of a card. I adore this idea because usually you look at a card once or twice and it gets thrown away. Books are great for children & what better way to start your collection than with ones picked out by your friends & family!?

 

 

Of course, a cute invitation can't be lost in an ugly envelope. I went for red envelopes with white lettering. It is around Christmas, and they looked very "Christmas-y" to me which I didn't love but black wouldn't have been very baby-ish... maybe future Christmas card idea ... we'll see.

 

 

 

One of the BEST things about planning this shin-dig in particular ... catering! It took off so much pressure not to have to cook any food. On the menu: all things barbecue! Mac 'n cheese, pulled pork sliders, cornbread, baked beans, and salad. YUM.

 

 

The soon-to-be daddy's sister had this picnic style cake made! How cute.

 

 

Dessert! I made some red velvet cupcakes with a white cream cheese frosting (& I'll be honest, that recipe was straight from a box) & mini apple pies (which I will never attempt again - ONE large pie would have been so much easier than the multiple mini ones!).

 

 

 

For the cupcakes, I used some white, red, and blue gingham & polka dot cupcake papers. I also used some thick toothpicks and leftover scraps from my pinwheels to make little flags for each cupcake. I'm all about the details.

 

 

 

& speaking of pinwheels! These were probably my favorite detail of the party and SO easy to make! I glued different red & blue papers back to back, cut in squares of varying sizes, cut from each point to the center, gather the corners, hot glue, and add some bling in the center. Wah-lah!

 

 

"It's a boy" banner - made with dark & light blue card stock with blue gingham place holders between words. Strung with red ribbon & finished off with pinwheels on either side. 

 

I added in a little crepe paper - red & white - around the chandelier. I really wanted it all to look baby boy-ish & not 4th of July-ish. Mission may or may not have been accomplished.

 

 

 

Game time - the one game I decided to do for the shower was the "naughtiest thing you've done as a child" game. It's very simple! Each guest gets a piece of paper & writes down the worst thing they remember doing as a child. Without writing their names on the paper, the mom-to-be then has to guess who did what! It actually ended up being very entertaining with both genders present! There are some naughty girls out there! :)

 

I'm so bummed that I didn't take more pictures. Everything looked quite a bit different after we set out the beer bucket, mason jars with red/white paper straws, and of course the catering showed up with the food! Heck, I don't even have a picture of the guests of honor - mom & dad!

 

Nikki & Jason, it was such a pleasure to help you celebrate & "shower" you before the little man comes! We can't wait. If he grows up to be anything like his mommy & daddy, he will be one awesome dude! Hugs.

Baby Cormac

I recently helped throw a baby shower for a good friend of mine, Rachel. Her sister & I played around with some ideas and ended up deciding upon a "Little Golden Book" theme for Baby Cormac.

We wanted the party to have a combination of both modern & vintage. The bright 'boy' colors (blue, green, yellow, orange, and red) were accented with gingham & chevron patterns.

I have to admit that nothing turned out quite like I had planned! I always get these ideas in my head but when it comes to the execution ... well, you'll see! (I took all the pictures on my phone so none of them turned out very well ...)




I made the infamous "Baby Cormac" party banner on my computer. I downloaded a font (I can't remember which one now!) off of my favorite website - dafont.com - & used a yellow chevron clipart as the background. I printed one letter per sheet on standard printer paper & then cut them into triangles. I folded the tops of each one down & stapled them onto a thin rope. Colorful balloons hung on either side & wah-lah!

 

 

 

 

 

The table! I used a green plastic table cloth & layered it with a red table cloth (that I cut into a square). I didn't want it to look 'Christmas-y' so I used the scraps from the banner to break up the 'red-and-green-ness.' Rachel's sister found some childrens books that worked great for decorations & helped to pull our theme together.

 

 

 

Who doesn't love a vintage mason jar!? or a paper straw!

 

 

 

I created these "Wishes for Cormac John" (totally snagged the idea off Pinterest!). I did these for a different baby shower & collected them at the end of the party. I put them together in a scrapbook with pictures of the women that attended the shower or visited the baby shortly after she was born. I'm kicking myself for not doing that for this shower.

 

 

 

Here is where things got tricky! I really wanted to make one of those adorable caterpillars you have seen made out of cake pops. I bought a "cake pop kit" which didn't have nearly enough of the cake mix or candies. I should have practiced ahead of time and would have had much more success than you can see.

 

 

 

I wanted to make cookies decorated as the "ABC Dr. Seuss" book as take-home favors for the guests. I made "thank you for coming & celebrating Baby Cormac" labels with the coordinating font and chevron print. They worked great the last time I tried them. This time ... not so much. The recipe for the royal frosting didn't have time to dry & they just melted down into the plastic bags. I had better intentions of the colors turning out more-red-than-pink, etc. I was super disappointed but ended up taking the cookies and laying them flat on a tray instead.

 

 

 

 

(I also had a flat tire the morning of the shower! What a day!)

 

Rachel, I hope you enjoyed being 'showered' by your friends and family. I wouldn't hate if we could have do-overs and fix all the things that didn't go according to plan but I hope the day was special for you nonetheless!

I love you dearly and can't wait to meet your baby boy!!

Welcoming a Little Cowgirl

A couple weeks ago I helped throw a baby shower for a little cowgirl we will soon be welcoming into the world! It was the first one I've ever helped plan before ... & we all know baby showers can be hit or miss! So, here is a recap of the planning, decor, and baby shower fun! I used browns, cow print, and burlap mixed with both light & bright pinks to go for a girly-western look.

I wish I could take credit for this sign because it's oh-so-cute! but, it was borrowed from Elizabeth's sister-in-law.

I ordered these invitations off Etsy. They say "Yee Haw! A little cowgirl is on her way. Let's shower her mommy before the big day!" I used brown paper bag colored envelopes but wanted to give them more of a girly look so I glued a white doiley on the top of each one. The doiley was folded so that it showed half on the front & half on the back.

I found these old frames at thrift stores. I painted them with some leftover craft paint & glossed over them with Mod Podge after the paint was dry.

Then I had Elizabeth send me some pictures of her ultra sounds & baby bump to put in the frames.

I also found these horseshoes & stars at the thrift store. I painted them with the matching paint as well.



Elizabeth was given this sign but it said "LIL BUCKAROO" ... I told her that wasn't quite fit for a girl & painted "LIL DARLIN" on the opposite side of it. That way if she has a boy down the road she can just flip it over!







I wanted the guests to have something to take with them after the shower, so I made some sugar cookies in the shapes of cowboy boots, hats, and horseshoes. I liked the way the boots turned out the best so a majority of the goodie bags just had the boot. I made the frosting using a recipe that included Karo syrup so that it dried hard & slightly glossy. I put some silver sprinkles on the spur & did the details with a white tube of frosting.

I used one of my favorite websites (dafont.com) & downloaded some western fonts to use for the gift tags. I printed them on light pink paper, mounted them to brown paper bags & ripped the edges. I used different patterns of ribbon paired with a piece of jute twine to tie the tags onto the clear bags.

One of the games we did was guess how many chocolates in the Mason jar. I used burlap & pink ribbon to cover the jar (& ended up doing a similar bow on the silverware jar). There were two other activities. One was a balloon relay where you had to waddle with a balloon between your legs and pass it off to your teammate. The other was a "Wishes for Baby Olson" survey where each guest filled out a card with their wishes for the new little one. I stole that idea off Pinterest. 

 Sweet tea & pink lemonade refreshments.

We used a burlap & cow print fabric on top for the table runners. 

We had light snacks of pink lemonade cupcakes, cookies, brownies, & cheesecake filled strawberries!

& of course some veggies and a pasta salad

We used a few card tables covered with a pink plastic table cloth, & added a piece of cow print fabric & some of the horseshoes & picture frames.

CONGRATS Elizabeth! It was so fun celebrating your new little cowgirl with you!!

Thank you for letting me be a part of all the baby shower fun!