Baby Shower Decor

There are only so many ways one can decorate for a baby shower - the unique *new* way is to create a diaper cake for the 'center piece' of the shower. That was done for mine and I loved it! You get diapers, toys, and a lot of other fun stuff in the mix that way and it makes for a stylish design. But it's been done, I didn't want to do it again. Also been done is the 'Bath Cake' I came up with this idea for a friend's shower that was contemplating cloth diapering (I think that's why I did it... maybe I just wanted to steer away from the diaper cake then too... I digress) but I'd already done that, so I was on the hunt once again for something NEW and DIFFERENT! And thanks to Pinterest once again I came across this idea: a diaper wreath. What fun! There were multiple places I could hang one or two of these and so I gathered supplies upon reaching California and got to work.

I bought 2 straw wreaths (they were the cheapest, but they also are quite bulky so size 1 diapers were a bit tight on them, but I made it work) and left the plastic wrap on them, no need to get straw in perfectly usable diapers! I opened the diapers up, wrapped them around the wreath and then tied them on using tulle. A few of the diapers I attached a toy directly to them and on one I attached the multiple-monkey bib before I attached it to the wreath. All the other toys, bibs, etc I simply added and attached to the tulle and diapers in various places. I used standard wreath hangers to put them on the door and wala a little something different to decorate part of the room for the baby shower. :)

Mommy and Daddy both have decided that while 'jungle' is the theme they really like the monkeys best and so I set out over these last few weeks to find all sorts of monkey clothes in green - mostly consignment and for great prices! One package of cloths pins and a roll of ribbon later and you have some excellent decor and additional gifts for baby to wear later!


On the mantel where gifts would be placed below, I placed the pennant, a picture that I had taken at Becky and Dave's maternity shoot I did for them, a $2.50 wood letter 'B' that I got from Target and some every popular these days 'subway art' with all things 'boy' related.


Becky also wanted to have birthday cards for baby Ben for each of the first 18 years of his life signed by all of those that attended his shower. No not every person signed every one, but some did. ;) But what a cute idea - plus it made for additional cute decor.


Food is also a must at a baby shower and while it can be done in elaborate set up and design, and I left that department to Becky's mom to be as creative or practical as she felt led to be. However, a punch bowl really should be festive at a baby shower - so with Becky's mom gathering supplies to make the punch, I bought two 'hot' ducks (the kind that tell you whether water is too warm for baby to be in the bath tub) and a bathtub punch was made, using this recipe.


Finally I decided to give balloon animal making a go! I saw them on Prudent Baby for a birthday party where she used them as decor and I thought they were super cute. I figured 'they can't be that hard' ... they're not, but they do take patience. I made Loving Husband read the book and then I simply followed his verbal/visual instructions rather than reading them from the book. There were plenty of duds, pops, and no bananas actually made it to the decorations ;-) but I thought they added a fun whimsical note to the party... even if most people thought they looked like puppies. Siigh ;-)

I had a lot of fun coming up with less traditional, but still very baby-esque decorations. Momma-to-be was very happy with everything and she had a LOT of loot that made for it's own element of decoration before she tore through it all! Congrats to the newest addition, Becca!