Baby Shower/Sprinkle :: World Theme

Get ready world! My nephew Hutch is on his way! To celebrate, Crafty Jan & I threw my sister Ellie a wordly sprinkle.I’ve been wanting to do something with globes for the longest time, and since Ellie is doing a mapped up nursery, this theme fit the occasion perfectly.My mom found an enormous atlas at a used book store for $12 and we cut it up (which actually kind of pained me a bit!) to use as envelopes and as a backing to the invitation (and much more as you’ll see throughout the party.) I love how those envelopes looked. As for the invites, I printed the “Hutch” banner separately, then sewed it onto each with my sewing machine so that there would be a little bit of a 3D pop. So let’s welcome this little one into the world.We had the shower at 7pm on a Thursday night with Ellie’s local friends to try to keep it on the low key side. We also decided that we wouldn’t focus on anything actually good for you to eat and went straight to desserts. The invite said it was a “cupcakes & cocktails” party but we had a few more sugary items to choose from!Cupcakes, marshmallow pops, chocolate covered strawberries, macaroons, whoopie pies, mini ice creams, popcorn, and “Oreo worlds” filled our tummies.In case you’re wondering where those beautiful cookies came from (ha, ha!) I proudly admit that they are another failed attempt at confection perfection by yours truly. In my head they were so much cuter but you get the idea! I dipped Oreos in candy coating, waited until they were dry, then took a stencil I made with cardstock and an x-acto knife and spray painted them to look like worlds with edible spray paint. Honestly, why I keep trying to make it work in the kitchen is beyond me. I’m telling myself that they were made with extra love. Moving on!We used burlap through the party… which is a nice, inexpensive way to add some texture.I bought 12″ paper mache letters from Jo-Ann’s, covered them with pages from the atlas and strung them from the ceiling using fishing line and jute twine. It was probably my favorite thing about the party… and I was even happier that Ellie liked it so much that she’s planning on hanging these in Hutch’s room.
Ripping more pages out of that fabulous atlas, we made bunting by sewing them together with seambinding. I think I am addicted to this atlas!On the mantle and in other parts of the house, I cut smaller strips of the atlas in varied sizes and strung them together over the jute twine. They are super small and cute. I think I am going to keep them up forever. Okay, at least until the next party.The atlas even worked heart-shaped.Aren’t they cute?My mom has a pretty big vintage globe collection which made decorating a breeze. I added in the couple I had as well and we were all set.I’ve collected blue bottles for years so we pulled those out and put fresh white tulips in them. Simple, simple.In case you’re wondering, that white thing above is the ice cream holder… which is really an old art marker holder that we spray painted white. I took these photos before the party began which is why it’s ice creamless. My mom gussy upped the signs with rope and rosettes made from the atlas pages.Water was cute, but wine was much more fun!Instead of having guests bring gifts, we noted on the invitation that no gifts were necessary, but if they were so inclined, we’d have a “Double Stroller Donation Jar” they could contribute to. Though Ellie is having a different gender this time, she’s got all the clothes she could possibly need since this little nephew of mine has 3 older boy cousins’ hand-me-downs. What she really could use was a double stroller.It worked out great. No presents were opened at the party, and she will definitely be able to get her double stroller now… which is probably the most necessary item a mom of two needs.Most people brought their donation in cards, but if they just brought some bills, I had business card sized papers they could write on and slip their moola through.Ellie had my brother-in-law Elliott (yes… Ellie married Elliott!) come by to sneak a peak before the party. Aren’t they the cutest? We had a full house of fabulous friends to celebrate this little munchkin… and it seemed like half of them were pregnant too! Lots more baby parties in our future, methinks!For favors, we repackaged lip glosses. We were well aware that lip gloss and worlds go together like… well lip gloss and worlds… but we try to give favors that people may actually take and use. We were actually looking for those cute chocolate globe candies but couldn’t find them in time.The last of the guests didn’t leave until nearly midnight… which in pregnancy terms is like partying until sunrise. We pregos felt super hungover the next day even though all we drank was Pellegrino! We had the best time on EARTH, the biggest blast on the PLANET, and we love little Hutch more than anything in the WORLD.
**PS… I’m thisclose to getting 1,000 likes on Facebook! Wanna help? Okay, thanks! Like away!**

Baby Shower :: Birds & Bees Tea

Last March I got to meet my adorable niece but before her big debut, we got to celebrate her mom-to-be. My sister has the family nickname of “Bee” so a “Birds & Bees Tea” was a given when it came to choosing a theme.Us hosts (my mom, my sister-in-law Kelly, and I) knew we wanted to decorate with tons of birds, bees, and pennant flags so I incorporated all of those elements into the design of the invite.We wanted it to feel like you walked into Gramercy Tavern in New York (they always have the most amazing flowers) from the moment you walked through the door. The whole walkway (not pictured) up to the door was littered with potted tulips, azaleas, ranunculus, and other spring flowers. This was one of the biggest costs of the party but the great thing about buying potted plants as opposed to cut flowers is that you can plant them in your garden as soon as the party is over. Win win!We sewed birds & bees out of felt, whip-stitched them, put wire in their wings and hung them from fishing line both outside and throughout the house. The wreath was on sale after Easter years ago but it suited the theme perfect with those blue robin’s eggs. We set up the bar in the entry way and served blueberry, orange, and pomegranate mimosas, wine, lemonade, iced tea, and sparkling water. You can’t really tell but we put sheet moss all over the table so it looked like you were picking your drinks up from a grassy field. We hung more birds, bees, and pennant flags that my mom made with scraps of fabric throughout the house.The Bee (my sister Ellie) walked through the door and my mom threw a nest on her head. She owned it! Could she look any cuter? I do not think so!We hung more pennant flags throughout the house……and decorated every nook of the house with eggs, beehives, nests, birdhouses, and more flowers and moss.You may be thinking, “where the heck did they find all these things?” Well… first of all, whenever you can, repurpose things you already have. My mom had a ton of these decorations from her Easter displays over the years. She found the bee skeps at Tuesday Morning randomly but she had collected the birdhouses and Easter egg things over the years. Pretty much everything you’ll see on this blog is either from Home Goods, Tuesday Morning, or Marshalls and sometimes Cost Plus, Michael’s and JoAnn’s (but only if we have a coupon.) Also, borrow, borrow, borrow! Everyone likes to help a friend out so if you know someone who loves birdhouses, ask if you can borrow a few.The swirly branches on the mantle is just an unwound wreath from Michael’s. (This is also a great trick for a wine-tasting party. Just add fake grapes and you have a grape-vine.) The font used on the banner was purchased for $2.99 from TwoPeasInABucket. They have lots of cutesy fonts… pretty perfect when it comes to girly showers.My grandma was cleaning out her house and had two really old beat up brown bird cages that she didn’t want. We’ll take them! We spray-painted one green and one pink and put flowers inside. Easy.More from the shower…We played two ‘games’ that weren’t really games. (You’ll see recreations of these two games at just about every baby shower we throw.) The first one was an idea from the girls at lilSugar. I used to work for Sugar Inc. and the lil girls had me design PDFs for baby showers. I loved this idea of theirs so much that I keep recreating it. It’s a “Wishes for Baby” sheet and gives you prompts like “I hope you love ________.” and “I hope you learn__________.” Everyone fills one out for the baby-to-be and afterwards we bind it into a book for the mom to keep. It’s so sweet to see what the guests come up with and becomes a keepsake long after the shower is over.We also “diaper doodled” where you write messages on newborn diapers so that the mom will have something to laugh at at 2am when she’s changing diapers. I’ll post an example of this at a later date.
As far as food went, well this time we totally lucked out because my sister-in-law is pretty much a gourmet chef! She handled all of it and not only was everything delish, it was also so cute!It was an afternoon shower so the fare was light but totally yummy! Grape & goat cheese crostinis, deviled eggs, endive, blue cheese and walnut appetizers… plus loads of sweet things as well.I loved these bird nest cupcakes with jelly bean eggs and gum ball bird heads. I can take NO credit for anything on this table. It was adorable.And my mom, the cookie queen strikes again…She’s insane.A look out to the patio, clothesline strung & bird cage in place!Vintage tea cups that my mom has collected over the years were our vessels of choice. You can recreate this by borrowing mismatched tea cups from friends or scouring thrift shops. (I’ll say though, that the mimosa bar got a little more play than these pretty cups did!) As favors, we made white chocolate covered pretzels with colorful sprinkles and put them into cellophane bags.We capped the bags with the names of the guest. Underneath their name, we wrote what their name meant. I never knew my name meant “Frickin’ Awesome” so that was a nice surprise for me. (I kid. I kid.)More details…It was a beautiful shower for a beautiful girl. And as a quick aside, THANK YOU to all of you lovely, lovely people who are already following this blog. I am so excited about it and I am even more excited to have such insane support and love right out of the gates. This is going to be a fun ride and that’s thanks to you! More tomorrow!