Showers

I have had this post ready for about 6 weeks. I finally got all of the pictures I needed from my sis! Here are some party ideas from showers I have helped throw. I cannot take credit for all of the ideas! However, it can be really easy to adapt ideas from stuff that you see. 

Bridal Shower

Fellow bridesmaids and I hosted a shower for our friend, Evan, when she got married. We kept the colors in line with Evan's wedding colors (green, black, and white) to make it feel more personal. We had the shower at my mom's house because none of us had a home big enough for the group. We invited about 45 people. A good rule of thumb is that half of the invited guests will be able to come. 

The pictures below show a couple of different things:

1. We asked Evan to bring pictures of her and Blake so we could set them around the house. She brought some from each part of their relationship: dating, vacations, engagement, etc.

2. We went to Central Market for the flowers. I had been to a shower before that had used Central Market and they were beautiful. We were so happy! I had 3 square vases and 1 tall cylindrical vase already. You can use vases you already have to avoid the extra cost. We told them what colors we wanted (green and white) and our budget. We gave them free reign and they chose what type of flowers to use. Except Baby's Breath. I despise Baby's Breath. 

3. Personalized cupcakes. We had a cupcake bakery, Crave, make 3 dozen cupcakes with colored wedding cake fondant toppers. I did this at another shower, scroll to the second picture.

We also did a Build-Your-Own mimosa bar. Like I put in my Birthday Brunch post, I love to get people involved at a party. It gets people moving and talking. For the mimosa bar, we put:

1. Champagne glasses

2. Ribbon in the theme color, small hole-punched pieces of paper, and a pen so everyone could make their own drink tag

3. Champagne

4. Grand Marnier 

5. Sugar rim in 3 different colors. We put the sugar in small ramekins (be sure to put an additional dish with a water-soaked paper towel to wet the rim of the champagne glass)

6. Pitchers of OJ and Peach Cocktail mix (with slices oranges and peaches to top, respectively)

7. A frame with a "how-to" in print

We bought the Williams-Sonoma Bride and Groom Cookbook to use as a sign-in. Everyone left sweet messages. I stole this idea from another shower: at the other shower, the bride's reception site was featured in a hardback about Texas. You could use this for a baby shower as well and get a mommy/baby hardback. It is a great keepsake! Note the framed invite in the background. In the foreground is another picture of Evan and Blake.

For drinks, we did white and red wine, tea, and water. To add to the decor, you can always put fresh, cut fruit in the mix. In the tea, we put sliced peaches and limes. In the water, we put limes to add color. 

Food! This is the taller vase of flowers from Central Market. For the meal, we made nearly everything. We did a copy of Evan's favorite La Madeline salad, chicken salad sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit, dips and crackers. Making your own stuff can be fun and easy.

Along with our moms, we all chipped in to get her the mixer she registered for. We are expecting homemade bread and cakes from scratch any day!

Baby Showers:

I helped host a baby shower for a girl at work. The girls at work are shower-pros! We are on a large unit staffed, mostly, by women. That means lots of weddings and lots of babies. I cannot take credit for these ideas! However, they are great and need to be used again!

Infant clothes line: All of the hostesses bought onesies and/or bibs for the baby-to-be. The girl whose house it was placed temporary hooks and hung a cloth rope in between. Clothes pins can be bought at a crafts store. 

Place a framed picture of the invitation near the front door to add more personalization. 

Nerd Alert: the girls at work (including me) love to scrapbook. We go on Scrapbook Retreats, don't ask. Anywho, 2 girls made scrapbook pages (mommy and me, bath time, nap time, etc.) as a gift to the mommy-to-be. They were put on display at the shower so they could be part of the decor as well. 

The honoree is one of the scrapbookers! She was going to use a 12x12 scrapbook as her baby book. There was a 12x12 piece of paper so the guests could write messages and sign their name. A copy of the invite was glued to the middle as a keepsake. 

More Baby Shower ideas...

My mom's family is huge. Her mom was one of 8 kids and their kids, their kids' kids, and their kids' kids' kids (did you get all of that?) still keep in touch. We all get together several times a year: Christmas, 4th of July, weddings,  showers, etc. My sister Brooke, my cousin Mary, and I all threw a shower for our other cousin Catherine. FYI: when I say "cousin," I'm using that term loosely. Those people are actually my second cousins. Let's just stick to "cousin" for sanity's sake. 

Brooke had the idea to have the shower in the party room of a cupcake boutique called Sugarbaby's in Houston. It was precious! The decor in the room is beautiful and easy to work with. With the black and white color theme, you can easily add your own blue or pink decorations. Here is a shot of the "chandeliers" in the room 

We created a gift table by using blue cloth (the baby was going to be a boy, obvi) to add some pizazz. This cloth was borrowed from one of the aforementioned shower pros. 

On each table, we put a mini vase of flowers. I found small blue plastic pacifiers, bottles, and clothes pins at a party supply store to decorate the tables. I will def be saving these for another shower! For party favors, I found these bags at a party supply store and stuffed them with blue candies. The pic doesn't make the tables look that cute, but they were. Promise!

We bought finger foods so people could snack while chatting. The finger foods were perfect for the 2:00-4:00 time slot. My mom has chafing dishes that we borrowed to keep the food warm. Thanks Momma!

Sugarbaby's has tons of creative cupcake flavors to choose from. This created a dilemma: should we just order a bunch of flavors? I was worried people would get stuck with something they didn't want. I decided to let people choose in advance. When everyone RSVPed, I asked what flavor they wanted. This worked out really well! Before the gifts were opened, we went around and asked what people ordered and served them their chosen cupcake. 

We always have a great time getting together. Especially when gifts are involved!