Phillip's Baby Shower: 1 Year Later

Good morning friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine went by too fast as usual. I drove up to the foothills Saturday morning for a hair appointment and to spend time with my sister and nephew. 

My sister and I were talking, and realized that one year ago, we spent the day celebrating her baby shower! I can't believe a year has already flown by since Phillip's baby shower. And here she is, planning his 1st birthday party already. 

Way back in May, when I participated in the Blog Everyday In May challenge with Jenni at Story of My Life, I did a post about throwing my sister's baby shower. Back then, I think I had maybe 10 blog readers, so many of you might not have seen it. So, I thought it would be fun to bring it out of the archives and back to life. 

It is one of my favorite posts to date. My excitement for becoming an aunt combined with my love for crafts, made hosting the baby shower for my sister so much fun. My Mom, Aunt and I worked so hard to make sure it was a perfect day for her, and she knew just how excited everyone was to meet her little peanut! 

Hopefully you enjoy this glimpse into my early blogging days, and maybe it will provide some inspiration for hosting a baby or bridal shower in the future!

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Originally posted May 2, 2013

Somehow, almost  7 weeks have already passed since my little nephew, Phillip was born. It seems like just yesterday that we were hanging out in the hospital, waiting for him to make his debut.

But let's back up a little bit. Way back in January, I threw a baby shower for my sister. It's something I have been meaning to post about, since it was in my pre-blogging days. When I first read that the prompt for day 2 would be "Educate us on something you know a lot about or are good at" I wasn't sure what I should write about. But after giving it some thought, I decided writing about my attention to detail, creativity and planning abilities would be appropriate.

I would say I am a creative person. I love doing crafts, DIY projects, painting, planning events, you name it. I enjoy thinking about the details, the small things that will be meaningful to someone; whether it's a homemade gift, handwritten letter, or the small elements that personalize an event.

I think those little things can make the most impact. The baby shower I threw for my sister was no exception. All of the little things, when put together, made for a lovely baby shower to celebrate my sister and her first born.  

For the shower, I drew a ton of inspiration from Pinterest. It was fun trying to decide on a theme. Since my sister didn't know the sex of the baby, we knew it would have a gender neutral color scheme. We decided to go with a vintage motif, not necessarily a particular theme.

I used Etsy to create the invitations. I worked with Katie and we ended up with a really cute design that my sister loved. I definitely recommend Katiedid Designs if you're looking to order invitations. She was really nice, easy to work, with and fast! 

There were so many elements that I wanted to incorporate, but my main feature would be the popcorn table. This was a twist on the popular candy table that is often found at weddings and showers as a favor for guests. I was so excited with how this turned out, exactly as I pictured in my head.

Popcorn Table:

* Popcorn Flavors: Cake Batter, Cookies n' Cream, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. I modified the recipes slightly, but you can find the recipes on my Party's and Events Pinterest board. It was A LOT of popcorn! We used an air popper but I think it was at least 3 hours of popping time.

* See my tutorial for making a torn fabric banner here

* Glass Jars to store popcorn with handmade labels for each flavor

* Favor Bags and Baby M sticker labels (I ordered the bags here)

* Scrabble Tile "Ready to Pop!"

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At baby showers, guests are often asked to bring a package of diapers to be entered into a special drawings. For Christine, we decided it would be fun to instead ask guests to bring a book to start Baby M's library. Almost everyone participated, needless to say Phillip now has an extensive library!

Start Baby M's Library:

* I used a vintage suitcase to display the books that everyone bought

* My cousin helped me with a chalkboard sign that we placed next to the suitcase and gift table.

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Since the gender of the baby would be a surprise, I wanted to play on that at the shower. I created a chalkboard ballot for guests to "Cast Their Vote." Another element was "Blue or Pink, what do you think?" I ordered half pink and half blue for the plates, napkins and straws. I asked people to stick with a color for the day, based on if they thought Baby M was a boy or a girl. (For the record, I knew she was having a boy all along)!

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Cast Your Vote:

* Chalkboard sign for guests to cast their vote

* "Blue or Pink, what do you think" using paper straws,  plates and napkins (straws ordered here).

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We wanted the table decoration to be simple and continue the vintage theme so we used Ball jars for vases and burlap as a table runner. I got an great tip from Katie Bower to use paint drop clothes as inexpensive table cloths. And we also borrowed white linen table clothes from my cousin for the popcorn, cake and food tables. There was a TV in the corner of the space we rented, so we hung a clothes line with onsies to distract the eye. We also borrowed tissue paper puffs from another friend and hung those in opposite corners of the room.

Flowers/ Decoration:

* My mom did the flowers, and used yellow and white carnations with greenery from her yard.

* I decorated the Ball jars with torn white fabric and burlap, and secured it with a cloth diaper pin.

* My cousin made an adorable diaper cake

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What's a party without food and drinks? My mom was in charge of the menu for the shower and she did not disappoint. Everyone was requesting recipes for the salads she served. Maybe she'll send me a copy and I can share them with you soon!

Cake/Food/Beverage:

* We served mimosas, wine, water and coffee

* The cake was purchased at a local bakery. I made the topper from BBQ skewers wrapped in jute twine, then I used leftover scraps from my fabric banner project to make a little cake topper!

* We served fruit salad, mini chicken salad croissant sandwiches, quinoa salad, green salad, and a cabbage salad.

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I know some people hate playing silly games and bridal and baby showers. But we wanted to do at least one or two while people ate their lunch. I think everyone had a great time, and no one had to smell melted candy in a diaper!

I made these using some cute scrapbook paper I had and printed them on card stock. 

Games:

* We played an attribute game I had recently played at another shower and thought was a fun change from Bingo. And we also played the Nursery Rhyme game at my sisters request.

* I had made wishes for baby cards for people to fill out as well. My sister said she loved reading those and wished everyone had filled one out. They are a special addition to Phillips Baby Book.

* For a prize, we gave away orchids in nice ceramic pots that we got at Trader Joes. Who doesn't love fresh flowers?

Whew! That was a long post! Anyone still reading?

Overall it was a great shower. I had such a fun time organizing everything and planning different ways to make it a special day for my sister. Everyone said they had a great time and loved the decorations. It was a lot of work, but so worth it! I think all of my attention to detail paid off, my sister had a wonderful day and baby Phillip was showered with so much love!

Maybe in another life I'll be an event planner. I can't imagine the time an energy it takes to plan big events on a regular basis, and juggling more than one event at a time! 

Do you have any tips for party planning?