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.
