Considering Lil’ Miss Muffet is almost a year old, it’s about time I posted a blog for the internets about the shower for her or “Le Bébé” at the time. Bout time I posted a blog in general.
Sooo many themes to choose from. I had a natural Pinterest progression of idea changes. See board Shower for Le Bébé for ideas. Although, they might not be as trending as they were from over a year ago. But who cares, do what you want.
To my sister’s dismay, I vetoed the grass bunny theme that was all the rage at the time. Although I love bunnies and all things Alice and Wonderland, these creatures made of grass creep me out. Maybe if she behaves she will have a succulent/grass bunny themed 30th birthday party.
I had a few things in mind when I was thinking about the shower.
- Activity for people to pass the time during boring present opening.
- Black and White – Logistically, easy enough to find items in these colors. There aren’t 50 shades of black.
- Doilies and lace – Because
- Healthy finger food that has a cute presentation.
- Outside at our place.
The Stationary Spread
Designed by Shana Popyk
Look clooossseerr….Shana worked hard on her signature carriage. So tough to find a vintage, classy, french carriage that isn’t too cartoony. So she just made one.
The Menu
First we started out with some apps that Shana and I prepped. Mostly Shana. The goal being make ahead and just put out on day of.
Cucumber, tomato bites with cream cheese
Standard cheese and crackers
Fruit skewers
Pay no attention to the brick fireplace and collapsing retaining wall compliments of our neighbor.
Tea Party Food
Was very excited to have my very own tea party. Adel Donegan from The Vintage Tea & Cake Company did a lovely job. She was even kind enough to individually wrap the scones I used as favors. In addition to the Tea Party Menu, she provided all the tea ware and lace linens.
Menu Front
Dessert
While the tea party came with some mini desserts, in the words of Ariel…..” I want more..”. I made these scrumptious pieces of art. I started with some crushed oreo cookie crumbs, then this Easy Chocolate Mousse recipe and added fresh piped whip cream, single raspberry and half an Italian Pirouette all in a mini balls jar. Pipe it like it’s hot et voila.
Decor
To dress up the tent, I used sheer curtains tied around the metal poles at the end and also used them as curtains in the “entrance”. Picture doesn’t do it justice, but Joanna is modeling a lovely blazer and Shana her tea party dress. The benefit of the tea party is that the food is really a decoration in and of itself. Tiered plates, teapots, scones on vintage plates are just plain pretty. For flowers, we just did white hydrangeas. Always use an odd number when arranging.
We framed little black and white photos of Ben and myself. Golf pencils in balls jars for the trivia.
Card box. If this was a wedding, it would be something old. This is my mom’s toiletry luggage. Has a mirror behind all the doilies, so is quite top heavy if there are not full size shampoo and conditioner bottles. Which when we were younger was what we would take on vacations. And when it was empty, forget it, you were going to get your hand chopped off if it closed on you.
Keeping people occupied
What will people do while I open presents. The most boring time. Especially if you already have kids and have seen all the stuff before. I thought I would take advantage of all the experienced moms and ask for their words of wisdom. Shana made an Eat, Sleep, Poop sticker, kind of like Eat, Pray, Love…but for babies. We used a moleskin hardcover pocket size and attached a bookmark with recommendations for the wisdom sought. Not sure if you can see in the picture, but the Ideas included: Baby name recommendations, Essentials for a diaper bag, Favorite books, Best/Worst part of being a parent, Baby’s 1st Halloween costume ideas, Essentials for hospital stay, or general.
We still use these Eat, Sleep, Poop books. We keep track of Vira’s nap and food schedule and our caregiver keeps notes for us. I usually put questions in the back, so that when we go to the pediatrician, I can have everything in one place.
Many people keep track of all this stuff on an app and if that works, great. For me, it just didn’t work. I really didn’t want to have my phone on my 24/7 on maternity leave, trying to log in and out, making sure it was charged. The book worked for me, because it was easily transferable. No need to worry about compatibility, or have to look at something online, when I am stuck in a chair breastfeeding. Anyone can pick up the book and leave a few notes. I could see if there are huge sleep issues, that it would be helpful to have some sort of chart. We were lucky and just followed sleep habits recommended to us in a book. It was pretty easy to see patterns.
Trivia
On the backside of the menu we had a little trivia for people. Answers were provided upside down at the bottom so we didn’t have to scream out the answers at the end. Can’t google the answers to these.
We did give out some prizes. Not for the trivia, but I think whomever had the birthday closest to the due date or something. Can’t remember. But the prizes were mini bottles of Prosecco.
Favors
My preference for favors generally fall to edible. I want something someone can enjoy and not throw out. Joanna helped me assemble these puppies. Each little wooden basket consisted of the following: Mini Scones by Vintage Tea & Cake Company, wooden spoon, Bonne Maman preserves, Tea Pyramid (can’t really see in pic), which I got from Homegoods, but you can also find on amazon. Some decorative parchment paper, mini bags for scones and twine all from Michael’s. Little Thank You Punch out, “A Baby is Brewing, Steep until August 1st, 2015”.
Selfishly, I enjoyed leftovers of these for quite a while. I still have some scones frozen and they defrost perfectly.
A special shout out to Shana who was very patient in following all of my many lists and schedules I had for her to complete. Baby is lucky to have a fairy godmother such as her.
And of course thank you to all my friends and family that traveled in planes, trains and automobiles to share this special day with me.
What has been your favorite shower theme….besides your own if you had one?
Favorite food enjoyed at a shower?
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