Elements of a Baby Shower

Yes, I understand that it is Christmastime and I should be sharing my Christmas decorating right about now but, a few weekends ago there was a special event in my life and the life of my family and I am hoping you will indulge me this little distraction while I share it with you.

  I, along with my daughter, Amanda, and daughter-in-law, Jessica, hosted a baby shower for my other daughter, Brittany, who is expecting her first child in January.  The preparations had been several months in the making.  Finding the venue, deciding on date, time and menu, ordering and sending out invitations and making decorations were all a part of the process.  There is so much I could share about the process but it is Christmastime, after all, so I am simply going to share some of the highlights of the event.  Perhaps, I will be able to share other details early next year when things slow down a bit :).  (Slow down...right!!)  Until then, here are some of the neat things we made or purchased to make the shower fun for Brittany and her guests.

The theme for the party was Noah's Ark but, we mainly focused on animals and mostly safari animals, to be exact.  Since Brittany doesn't know whether she is having a boy or a girl, the colors we decided on for the shower were mint, cream, white, gray and a touch of gold.

On a suggestion from my hairdresser, who was also pregnant at the time, I went with a rustic/vintage type of baby shower, not the old-fashioned kind made up of blue and pink decorations.  I have learned that those are somewhat out of style, even though I still think they are very cute :).

Early on I started thinking about the flowers and the direction I would take with them.  I went with mason jars painted with chalk paint to give that rustic feel. 

I filled the painted vases with white hydrangeas, white carnations, seeded and baby blue eucalyptus and  gray brunia.  I made ten centerpieces, two larger ones and eight smaller ones; like the ones shown below.

I also made two rag banners to use around the venue.  I purchased tons of burlap to cover the side tables which were going to be used for the various  displays and also for the gift table. The rag banners were supposed to dress up the burlap a bit.  I know burlap is getting somewhat overused but, it seemed to be just perfect for the Noah's Ark theme so, I decided to go with it anyway~

Also to go along with the animal theme, we filled small mason jars with animal crackers, spray painted the lids mint and gold, glued plastic animals to the lids and tied a "thank you" tag on the jars.  Aren't they cute!  

For another decoration, I stenciled G-I-F-T-S onto burlap banner pennant "squares", hot glued a few mint fabric flowers onto the pennants and strung some cream ribbon through the holes of the individual squares to create this GIFTS banner.

I took most of these photo at my home because I knew it would be crazy the day of the shower and taking good pictures would be almost impossible.  What I did not realize was how dark the room of the restaurant would turn out to be.  I am glad I had taken the time to take some of the photos early.

Daughter, Amanda, made this precious diaper cake with an adorable elephant sitting on top.  She got the colors so perfect, which was amazing since all of our corporate planning was done only through texts and/or phone calls.  We never did get together to discuss things as a group.  I'm glad everything turned out so well :).

These signs greeted the guests as they entered the private room of the venue.

As I have already mentioned, the venue space was very, very dark; something I had not expected at 11:00 in the morning.  I guess the restaurant likes that kind of ambiance :).  Anyway, I will share the few photos I was able to use from the day.  All the others were too dark to correctly edit.

I had visited a consignment store to find some vintage pieces like the window pane in the pictures above and below.  Here is the rag banner I made in the shower colors.  The configuration of the tables was not exactly as I had imagined but, we made it work anyway.

We put all of our decorations in place as fast as we could with the hour allotted to us by the restaurant.  In the end, an hour wasn't enough time to set it all up.  I met the guests in jeans.  Gasp!!  They are all friends and were very understanding.  I quickly changed in the restroom and all was well as we waited for the mommy-to-be to arrive.

Amanda was in charge of ordering the cake.  Very cute and very delicious!

Here are all the animal favors ready to be taken home.  Aren't they fun?

We also had some interactive displays for our guests.  Guests could leave a nice message for the mother-to-be or cast a vote for the sex of the baby or guess the date of the birth along with the weight of the baby.  My daughter-in-law, Jessica, was in charge of the Price is Right Game where we all guessed the prices of miscellaneous baby items.  The winner received a prize and Brittany took home the basket of items.  Jess did a great job with all of that!  The game was a lot of fun.

I loved all the decorations on this table and Brittany was able to use them in her nursery after the shower.

And here are all the ladies in my life, my immediate family anyway.  Here are my daughters, daughter-in-law, granddaughters, me and the babies to come.  Yes, I did say "babies" to come.  What I haven't told you is that daughter, Amanda, is expecting also and due just ten days after her sister, Brittany!!  Our family is doubly blessed!!  Amanda already has other children so, we will probably have a small intimate family "shower" for her quickly The Scoopafter the holidays.  Don't you worry.  This little one will be celebrated too!

 ~Thanks for dropping by and joining in on our special event ~

Sharing at these Link Parties:

Share Your Style ~ Feathered Nest Friday ~ Snickerdoodle Create Bake Make

Sundays at Home ~ Silver Pennies Sundays ~ 

Create, Bake, Grow & Gather ~ Inspiration Monday  

Dishing It & Digging It ~ The Scoop ~ Wow Us Wednesdays