a baby shower

we found out my sister was having a baby this winter, and we were all excited for her and her family.  they have such cute kiddos and i knew this one would be just as cute.  baby robles was to be due may 4. i asked my sister when her baby shower would be and she said that the person who was going to plan it got too busy and so it wasn't going to happen.  i talked with my mom and we decided that we would be the ones to throw her one. typically you have a baby shower for your first child, and for your second if it is a different gender, and on a third if there has been a long span of time between children.  but regardless of rules or faux pas everyone should celebrate a new addition to any family! a baby brings joy and happiness to all!

sissy and aaliyah

i got started with planning right away, because frankly we were running out of time.  but i had faith in myself and planning abilities that it would be absolutely perfect.  the key to any party is to have a plan, and a vision.  i knew the exact theme i wanted to use, and it was all a matter of pulling all of my ideas together into one place.  i must say that i did plan my entire wedding and though i do believe it was beautiful and simple yet elegant, it was not my most favorite event to plan.  i like small gatherings, where details can shine.  so back to the theme.  i love bees and since we weren't finding out the gender, i needed a gender neutral theme that would suit a boy or a girl.  i just find pink and blue to be overdone and boring so i didn't choose them, but that's just me.  so along with bees i liked the b theme, baby, bee, etc.  so there we have it!

hanging on my front door

menu to let guests know what was to eat

with a theme and colors picked out, i could really dive deeper into the thoughts in my head!  i was thinking centerpieces, food, decor, crafts, the list goes on!  with a bee theme, i could really incorporate flowers and the country into my decor.  i chose to have a random selection of vases for the centerpieces with sunflowers and various other flowers in them.  i also love pinwheels and since we were playing with an outdoor theme, i thought they would look great in the centerpieces and around the house.  i love the idea of stations at any party.  it really helps people to identify the flow of things and adds a little element of sophistication.  when guest's arrived there was a gift station, for them to place their gift and then they moved on to the guest book (more on that later) and then a picture station (more on this later as well).  in the kitchen i had a food and drink station and finally a onesie station.  i did find though since people were arriving at different times and some people were really late that some might have gotten over looked and i wasn't really able to explain all at once to everyone how it would work, but it all worked out in the end.  i made adorable signs for each station and those were a hit!  everything had a label, all coordinating back to the theme.

drink station

food station, yum!

centerpieces

centerpieces on another table

next, i made tissue paper flowers in coordinating colors to hang from my ceiling over the fireplace and outside near the front door.  i prefer these to balloons. very cute and easy to make. i had a ton of ribbon left over from my wedding that i was able to recycle and reuse.  they looked so cute hanging up there i didn't want to take them down.

so adorable!

 food.  i love food.  and coming up with a menu for a baby shower is pretty tricky, especially when it is at two in the afternoon.  i decided to go with mini croissant sandwiches (chicken salad and egg salad), a fancy salad, fruit salad with a delicious orange creamsicle dip, jalapeno artichoke dip with ripped french bread, kettle chips and bundtlets from nothing bundt cakes in various flavors for dessert.  the menu was a hit and the food was amazing! i made everything. thank you pinterest for your wonderful ideas.  for drinks we bought mason jars that we took the tops off of and i purchased cute striped paper straws in a gold and white color.  we then had homemade lemonade and sun tea with lemon slices as decoration.

after everyone was done eating i had everyone take a picture with my sister in front of the fireplace and this is what would make up her book that i will give her as a gift.  i purchased from michael's a mini scrapbook and cute pages to put in it. i also found amazing stamps and stickers.  each person after they took their picture would write a note to my sister and her family.  they would then decorate their page.  i 'm having andrew's company the photo touch print out the pictures of each guest and put on one side and the other side would be decorated and the note would be attached.  the book once assembled will be adorable! (pics later)

and last but not least, the final thing we had the guests do was the onesie station.  i had an ironing board out and iron.  we purchased several onesies in different sizes and also found cute baby decals to adhere to the onesie.  each guest could make a onesie for baby robles.  they all turned out fantastic!  i loved the idea of having interactive activities for the guest as opposed to games. it allows each guest to be creative (even if they aren't) and give something back to the mom-to-be.  most baby showers i've been to had games and no one really wants to participate, so i forced people to! haha

 

as the party was nearing the end, my sister opened gifts and then the guests were on their way.  but not before they took their parting gift with them.  i homemade perfect sugar cookies and individually wrapped each one in cellophane and tied it up with the raffia and wrote a thank you for coming note on the outside.

overall everyone enjoyed themselves and it was cute and fun!  if you know of anyone who would like to hire me to plan their baby shower, i would love them to contact me!