What To Serve For A Baby Shower Brunch.

Brunch is the perfect menu for a baby shower as it keeps the menu simple and easy. Plus, don't you love throwing an earlier party to have the rest of your day to relax? We had the help of two other ladies that offered to make yogurt parfaits and a mimosa bar for the meal. The menu also included fresh fruit and mini muffins that were picked up from a grocery store on the morning of the party. 

Quiche is the perfect main course dish to add elegance to the table, especially when baked in a tart pan... there's just something about those fluted edges that look so beautiful. We were able to make the quiches ahead of time and serve them at room temperature for the actual event. This eliminated the need to time serving food and the arrival of guests perfectly. We served three different quiche options, using the base recipe of Entertaining With Beth. You can click on her foolproof quiche recipe {here}. Her site and YouTube channel is a wonderful source for meal planning! Guests were invited to try a crab and brie quiche, an asparagus quiche, and also Beth's tomato tart {here}.

We recycled glass yogurt jars for our yogurt parfait bar. They were the perfect vessel for holding each parfait and made assembly simple with their size. Yogurt on the bottom, followed by a layer of granola, and topped off with fresh blueberries and chopped strawberries made a pretty statement. The "momosa" bar was a festive touch where guests could choose from a variety of juices, top off with some champagne, and garnish their drink with fresh fruit. 

We served sugar cookies in place of cupcakes since cupcakes can sometimes get messy and we wanted a new spin on a dessert treat for our party. We were able to make the cookies well in advance of the actual shower date and freeze them in a container to keep them fresh until the party. This also alleviated extra stress that inevitably comes with throwing any kind of event. We hold fast to the mantra to make as much ahead as possible to be as prepared as possible. 

Dipped Sugar Cookies.

I have this friend that has taught me all I know about sugar cookies. (Shout out to Jenny!) And when I threw a baby shower this past weekend, I enlisted her help in showing me how to dip each cookie in white icing instead of piping the royal icing onto each cookie. This new technique was game-changing for the way we decorate cookies in the future. Dipping the cookies into royal icing speeds up the process considerably and is easier on your hands. 

The plain white background on each cookie provided the perfect backdrop to create whatever we wanted for the design of our baby shower. I added gold stars and then painted random gold stripes on half of the cookies. On the other half of the sugar cookies, I mimicked the invitation design in edible ink marker. 

Baby Shower Invitations For Twins.

We threw an intimate baby shower for our dear friend who was pregnant with not just one baby, but two! Oh, baby baby! Twins are on the way. For our shower invitations, we immediately went to Etsy in search of the perfect invite that would capture the essence of our event. We purchased these cute invitations from {My Confetti Printables}. We loved that not only the invite was part of the package, but also two card inserts to encourage guests to bring books and diapers to the shower. A thank you card in the same design was included as well for the mother to be to use to thank all of the guests who gave gifts. Sound like a big package? It didn't stop there. There was also printables for envelopes as well. Just wanted to give My Confetti Printables a huge shout out for providing such a beautiful package. Be sure to check out their other designs as well. 

Watermelon Cake Made Out Of Real Fruit.

As parents, we've been trying to make a conscious effort to eliminate sugar in our daughter's diet. With her birthday coming up, she requested a cake, but we decided to make a watermelon cake and decorate it with fruit. This all fruit cake was a big success. Not only was it healthy, it was delicious, and she never missed having a cake slathered with frosting and baked with sugar. We used fruit that was in season at our local grocery store. Sliced up strawberries, cantaloupe cut outs, and blueberries were the perfect accessory to the watermelon base.

Bring A Book Instead Of A Card.

I attended a baby shower where the guests were asked to bring a book instead of a card for the new mother and her baby. This is a great way to build up the new baby's library. As a mother myself, I love this idea. My kids are avid readers and we have an extensive library. There are so many great books out there. Classics. Books my husband and I read as children that are still being printed decades later. New books that we enjoy reading together for the first time. This is a fun way to receive meaningful and personal books from friends and family members that you will always cherish. Included in the baby shower invitation was this sweet sentiment. I'm not sure if it was an original poem or whether the hostess' got it from another source. It's too cute and I thought I'd share it with you too. 

Although cards are nice with their sentiment and prayer,

They're read once or twice and then tucked away with care

A book is a treasure, words and pictures unite

Read over and over to teach and delight

So instead of a card for {name of baby} and Mother

Please give a child's book with your thoughts in the cover. 

Boy Baby Shower - The Little Details.

Styling an event is all in the layers of details. Some of them that would go unnoticed by many a guest. Like I mentioned in a previous post, the mom to be asked for a "meatballs and wienies" baby shower. So to push the envelope a little further, I also incorporated two of our blue antique Ball jars into the design scheme as well.

We used our fun blue chalkboard to write a cute baby saying on it. Since the saying made reference to buttons we added a glass apothecary jar of buttons to the table as well.

Boy Baby Shower - The Food.

A favorite aspect to any get together is, of course, the food. The mom to be asked for a meatballs and wienies party. She was having a boy, after all. We used our chafing dish to serve the meat from, as well as serving a variety of fresh vegetables and chips with dip.

 

The family picked up boxes of prepared petite quiches, petite fours, lady fingers, and cream puffs from Costco, which cut down on some of the preparation. The brother in law of the mom to be made two delicious cheesecakes, and they ordered a cake from Cakes By The Sea.

Boy Baby Shower.

I would have to say that my favorite part about styling an event is simply seeing it all come together. You've all heard the old adage said before, "necessity is the mother of invention". And it truly is. This was a fun baby shower to style. The color scheme was blue and green and the design concept left pretty much up to us. Several years ago, I had purchased the blue, green, and brown polka dot gift wrap paper from a school fundraiser with the idea it would look great for a party. You all know the type of fundraiser I'm referring to. You've all probably purchased your own share of frozen cookie dough buckets and gift wrap paper as well.

My original intention was to use the gift wrap as the backdrop to the food table. However, after using it for the past several years, I didn't quite have enough. And that turned out to be such a great thing! I wrapped just one section of the backdrop and added pinwheels to the other side. The leftover gift wrap was used to make drink tags and another pinwheel for our baby onesie clothes line.

Party Tips - Greet Your Guests.

We are currently working on styling a baby shower for this coming weekend.  It has been so much fun working on all of the details for this shower. But as I work on this baby shower, it brings to mind a baby shower I attended as a guest earlier this year. I love just being a guest at an event. Having the opportunity to relax and enjoy the celebration without worrying about taking care of the specifics. For this particular shower I wasn't too familiar with anyone else who was attending and I didn't recognize any of the names on the invitation who were hosting. The day of the event I walked into the clubhouse, and just a casual glance around the room confirmed that I did indeed not know anyone, since the guest of honor (mom to be) had not arrived yet. There was a span of time where I debated which circle of women I should break into, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out who was a hostess. After choosing some women to introduce myself to, I proceeded to enjoy my time celebrating the new baby. All this to say, that in the span of two and a half hours, I never did meet any of the three women who were hosting the shower. I've talked extensively on the blog about the importance of hospitality. I cannot stress enough that it is just a common courtesy to greet your guests.

Superhero Snack Time.

 
We put together this "Superhero Snack Time" birthday party for my son who was turning 5. We kept the color scheme grey and green.

I cut out a giant number 5 from an old television box, painted it, and added a green border. Green balloons even got individual superhero masks.

We wrapped boxes with silver wrapping paper and turned them into little buildings. A friend of mine, Jenny Wilburn of Jenny Wilburn Designs (no website at the present) designed our party printables. She created a superhero that resembled my son which we used as our cupcake toppers. I made a little wooden peg person and painted it to resemble the printable image.

We served served Superhero Tootsie Pops as one of the snack items, using another printable for the cape. The children that attended the party each received their own superhero cape as well.

 

We picked the perfect superhero park in North Myrtle Beach to host our party. The jungle gym playground equipment just called out "Superhero" to us!

Pottery Barn's Party Planner Tips.

Several months ago, a friend of mine told me that our Pottery Barn here in Myrtle Beach, was holding a little FREE get together and giving out party planning tips. Pottery Barn was featuring their "Around-The-World Tasting Party". Specifically Mediterranean tapas. Here are some of the tips I walked away with when planning a party, and I wanted to share them with you:
 

• Decide who you're inviting
• Decide on your theme
• Preparation is the key to a successful party
• Candles (use unscented candles around food)
• Botanicals
• Music
• Plan your menu
• Get your guests involved
• Personalization
• Place cards
• Label the food
• Personal touches
• A good guest list size is 20 or less 

Spa Party.

What a fun idea for a party to host. What a great way to get friends together. Our client hosted a spa party for her guests. She hired a masseuse so guests could enjoy hour long massages as well as a nail technician so guests could receive manicures and pedicures. Wouldn't you like to be a guest at this party!

Spa Party - Beverage Station.

We matched tablecloths from Home Goods for our food table as well as our drink table. A board of white tissue paper pom-poms served as a backdrop for the drinks. Typical of spa's we served cucumber water as well as a fruity sangria.

Spa Party - The Decorations.

When designing this party, I tried to keep the idea of light and fresh in the back of my mind. Natural loofahs, scrubs, cotton balls, and face sponges were displayed in apothecary jars.