I Had A Baby…………..Shower

This past Saturday I hosted a baby shower for my sister Erica, who is having a baby girl. The family is excited because we only have the boys, Caleb & Joshua so far! Everyone keeps thinking I will try again for a girl, no thanks! I am happy Erica is bringing a Princess in the world, so everyone will leave me alone LOL! I wanted to share some of what I did with you all, in hopes of inspiring anyone planning a shower or party soon.

—Theme/Invitations: The first thing is to pick a theme, and the colors that coordinate with said theme. My theme was “Royal Princess”, and the colors were purple and gold. My sister made it clear she wanted purple to honor our Grandmother, it was her favorite color! The invites should depict your theme, and give the guests an idea of what’s to come at the shower!

 

 

—Decor: I am a sucker for centerpieces and fluff, and extra this and that. I scored these flower “pom-pom” centerpieces from Saveoncrafts.com. When I ordered them, I had no idea what I would do with them, but I knew I needed them in my design. I added the balloons from the middle for more height on the table.

The balloons are being held down with weights, the tissue paper is so full on these that it’s doing a good job of masking that in the middle. The vases and candles on the other tables are from the same website, it’s a one stop shop kind of site, and I love that. There were eight tables in total, four with balloons, and four with vases and candles. It gives the eye more to look at!

To really take the “royal” theme to the next level I wanted to have two majestic throne chairs for the parents to be, I was not about the typical baby shower wicker chair. However, I could not find a vendor in PA that carried it within a distance close to us. The delivery was costing us upwards of $200 when I did find them in purple and gold, plus the rental of the chair itself, $200. That would be $400 on chairs, sorry I had a budget here, and I needed to stick to it. So I scoured the vintage and thrift stores around me and found this bench.

It was tagged at $80, we negotiated to $50. It was rusty and discolored, but I knew I could transform it with some WD-40, sandpaper, and metallic spray paint. Hello, DIY Queen! A few coats later, we ended up with:

My sister wanted to be involved, so she decorated it with the tulle and bows, we added throw pillows, and a body pillow for her to sit on because, pregnant and comfort! Thinking outside the box and getting crafty can save you some major coin! I also painted the sticks in the vase centerpieces gold for added flair. I purchased the sticks from A.C. Moore and off the streets of NYC. It’s all about what you let your creative eye see.

Sticking with creativity, we did not want your typical guest sign in book. So we came up with having guests sign this cast we made of her bump. She will save this in the baby’s nursery after as a keepsake! I had the guests sign in purple and gold Sharpies, to keep in line with the colors of the shower. Alongside the bump, we displayed the favors.

—Favors: They were mason jars filled with purple rum punch, and the tops spray printed gold. Everything must coordinate. These were made by the Father To Be’s family! They also made these great boxes, displaying the baby’s name:

These will also be displayed in the baby’s nursery!

—Treat table! I always love the look of a treat table, at any event. It adds a little special something to the atmosphere. We had two cakes, two cupcake stands, lollipops, gummy bears, gold chocolate pearls, and cookies. I purchased the containers and ingredients for everything from Party city, Save On Crafts, and Oriental Trading. The cakes and cupcakes were made by Merry’s Custom Cakes here in PA.

Food, food food. Please make sure you have enough food for the crowd that you have invited. There’s nothing worse that going to an event, and having them run out of food and drinks. It looks bad on the hosts. If you can have the event catered even better, however, my mother and I cooked all the food. We had everything from roti to oxtail, baked ziti to salad, and everything in between.

I forgot to mention earlier, Venue. It’s important that you find a place that will be accommodating to the crowd you are expecting. Making sure there are enough seats for everyone, and parking on site is always a bonus. We found this hall in the Poconos, that is run by the Volunteer Fire Company of Pocono Summit. It was huge, had a kitchen on site, and all the tables and chairs were provided by the venue. (I wanted to get chair covers as well, but the vendor screwed me up at the last minute, and I had to move on.)

How about that mood lighting with the Christmas lights? After all the games and festivities were over, we dimmed the lights, cranked the music up, and had a good ole time!

Being chic is my lifestyle, it translates in everything I do! Thanks for reading and stay chic!