She's Glowing - Baby Shower Decor

It had been over a year since I planned out a festive and thematic baby shower (Ready to Pop) - and it was so fun that last time to deviate from a standard "nursery themed" shower to something more modern, chic, and festive that I knew that I wanted to do that again with my best friend's shower for her new baby girl!    I searched and searched and nothing really was striking my fancy until I came across a bridal idea involving neon and I was struck with the idea of "She's Glowing!" for a great shower theme to incorporate neon!   

Planning a baby shower from afar is tricky in some ways, but when you have good help it goes great!   I enlist the help of my dear friend Shell and found the perfect location at the Mommy-to-Be's SIL's place!  Who by wonderful luck is also a baker and volunteered to do all the desserts for the dessert only party!   With the major players, themes, and duties assigned the creative work began to unfold!

First up was the invites.  I decided that I wanted to make them myself this time and got to work in Photoshop and using Picasa designing them.  I bought washi tape (this and this) and Avery Postcards and envelopes from Amazon.  The washi tape was over priced certainly, but I had plenty for 45 cards/envelopes and I didn't have to haul my two kiddos around town looking for just the right design for my vision.   Well worth the extra cost.     The Post Office was also quite happy to indulge my thematic neon theme with some perfect 'Celebration' stamps.  Finish off the addressed envelope with a little highlighter and the invites were ready to be sent off.  I also created an insert that matched that said "It's a Girl!"  with the details of registry, nursery theme, and requested RSVP, but all that is a tad too personal, so just imagine it looks the same and just as awesome.  ;-)

After those were off and running the next part of was creating the theme with décor.  A big chunk of that was me heading to the paper store to the die-cut machines for 2+ hours and cutting out a ton of shapes, letters, and items for one of the activities.   Tedious, but I find it oddly satisfying.   After getting everything cut, I brought it home and sewed together the "She's Glowing" banners, the triangle garland, and plotted out the next steps!

New outfits were part of Bec's gift all thematically neon in color choice!

I made Baby Hannah her own name banner that acted as part of the décor for the party as well.

For the "Ready to Pop" shower I had a game where mommy-to-be popped a lot of balloons.  It worked out great and was a lot of fun.   So in trying to make sure that everyone "Glowed with the party"  we requested all the guests wear a little neon.  In addition to that we provided some hair accessories and glow bracelets to help punch up the theme. 

One of the guests ordered a diaper cake that fit perfectly with the theme (and nursery motif of jungle animals!)

Food and drinks are always a staple at a party and thematic coloring was essential again for this.  I found some neon plastic cups at the local party store (that survived a carry-on luggage jaunt on the plane, whew!) and some chevron thematically colored paper straws as well.   Shell made a pink lemonade punch, we had some neon orange Izze soda, washi taped water bottles, and of course neon plates and forks to dive into the neon dyed cake that SIL made.  :)   Since it was a 7pm party we had said clearly it was dessert only, but we did provide a few neon(ish) colored snacks as well (rainbow goldfish, rainbow neon nerds, mandarin oranges, and baby carrots.  

What shower is complete without games?   For the most part I like a free flowing shower that doesn't require much conversation and socializing to stop and so for that I had a bit of a twist on that part.   We decided to have a photo booth with lots of silly props (shout out and kudos to Shell for the awesome spray paint job on that bright green frame!)   so I acquired a fun backdrop in hot pink (aka a polka dot queen sheet that I found at Target.)   and then went to the dollar store and a few other spots to gather some props.   Bec's other SIL is a photographer as well so I didn't have to haul all of my extra equipment to Cali and so that worked out perfectly for that!   

Our only 'organized' game was 'Take Care of Baby!'  If you set the baby down then someone else could adopt it.  I spent about an hour drawing various faces, hair, hats, and diapers onto the babies and then hot gluing them into little blankets that again were thematically colored.    This game was a huge hit for the 8-13 year old crowd and that worked out well in general to keep them entertained as well.

The night concluded with Bec opening her presents while I worked to put together a slide show to the song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" which we hooked up to the tv and played as a final wrap up to the shower.  It was a great evening and I've been told by several people it was the best shower they've ever been to, which is quite the compliment!   It could not have been done without the help of some awesome ladies and a best friend that is always happy to let me take the wheel and have full creative control!  Thanks Shell, SIL, and Becky!  Can't wait to meet Hannah!!

The Baby Shower

We couldn't be more excited that our friends are having a baby!  Loving Husband is pretty stoked that his good friend is finally joining the ranks of parenthood - I'm certain his elation is totally positive - and nothing to do with commiserating even in the slightest.  ;-)    As mentioned in my decor and design post, Angie and I,  had a lot fun planning, prepping, and hosting a lovely shower and I enjoyed photographing it as well!

Due to an unexpected military deployment my built in childcare (the husband) was not available.   Since Mae had been sick all week she just wasn't up for grandparent watching (which is where Ace was off to for the day!), away from mommy all day, and so she joined in on the girlie fun - and what a great girl she was!  I could not have been more proud by her self-entertaining, minimal clingy-ness, and general cuteness!

Mae trying some grapefruit Italian soda.  She made a face, but she went back for more!

The lovely mommy-to-be joined us after sneaking away upstairs to relax a little bit while Angie and I set up, after all the party was at her house.  :)   It worked out nicely.    People began to arrive and we enjoyed some food and chit chat and then got the party started with some balloon popping, followed by presents!  Who doesn't like to start with presents? :)

After presents it was on to our activity of headband and hair bow making that was done at a leisurely pace while some enjoyed more snacks, picture taking, etc..

Eventually the boys returned from their 'man-date' and I grabbed a shot of the parents-to-be. 

It was an excellent party, the new baby has a LOT of new books (from us and others!) and I cannot wait to meet their baby girl sometime next month!!

Ready to Pop - Baby Shower Decor

I love planning parties! I love themes, color schemes, and photographing it all! My friend Angie and myself were in charge of a baby shower last weekend and we went with the theme 'Ready to Pop'  our inspiration began with this pin and thus our color scheme of hot pinks, orange and yellow was established and after some talking through the theme we were set and the execution was a lot of fun!  

I went to the local craft store bought about $10 worth of cardstock and got to work with their die cut machine and began to prepare our decor for the party.  A few trips to Michaels (for the balloon tub, the plates, vase, and hot pink/orange tins - all 40% off, plus $15 off that with coupon!) and Target (for the table cloth, tray, frappacinno glasses, mini-waters, and both popcorn bowls...one is actually a planter), a final online trip to Amazon (for the straws, dart balloons, and cake pop covers) and a party theme is born!

The food and drinks were inspired by all things that 'pop' - Italian soda pop, popcorn chicken, pop rocks on the cupcakes, Pringles (Pop the top!), Tootsie pops, jalapeno poppers, and a delicious tasty mix of popcorn that Angie found and prepared!

You just can't have a 'Ready to Pop' party without balloons and the way we incorporated them was to fill a bucket full of balloons (I used dart balloons they pop really well!) that had wacky quotes from the book 'What to Expect in the First Year' - then at the bottom of the bucket was a copy of the book for the mommy to be.   We used this as a kick start activity to her opening presents. :)

Activities included bow and headband making the the area for said activity was equally as inspirational in thematic color as the rest of the space.  The $4.99 Target table cloth really made the space (and saved her gorgeous dining room table!)

Don't forget your Cake*POP*! As a thank you for coming!

We had a lot of fun plotting and planning - and I always love when a plan comes together so well!  If you're interested in the labels (2"x7.5") for the water  - feel free to message me and I will email you the PDF.  Stay tuned for a post about the event itself.  :)

Angie and I with our party girls*! 

* No my daughter's dress was not planned to match the theme.
I bought that for $3 on consignment a year ago and when
I went to get her dressed that morning I found it!
It was serendipitous!  My bracelets however were deliberate! :)