Shower Sunday: Yellow Pinwheels & Mason Jars

I love baby showers!  There is always excitement in the air... excitement about everything!  Mommy is excited, friends are excited and family is excited.  Although I think all baby showers are fun, I especially love showers for baby number one.  There is always a bit of extra excitement (if that's even possible).  Last month, I got to help with some shower details for a friend.  Sarah is my sister's best friend and through the years, I've come to love and respect her so much!  I was able to help with her wedding and was thrilled when my sister asked if I could help with Sarah's baby shower.

We found the perfect invitations from Cate at Bella Love Letters.  We were on a time crunch and Cate worked fast and the invites were gorgeous!  We also asked her to design some thank you cards for us.

As guests arrived, they were greeted by this table.  The picture is terrible but the idea is there.  Yellow, gold, orange and light brown candies were used to create this fun candy bar for guests to enjoy during the shower and to take home as favors.  We used milk glass and clear containers to help the candy pop.

The food spread was beautiful. Emily and Amy did a great job preparing some yummy and eye catching treats.  To tie in the yellow and bring the ceiling down, we added puffs directly above the food table.  Emily's home was prefect for fabulous party flow - food in one room, mingling and gifts in another, plus a patio to expand the space.

Using the same graphics as the invites, I created some basic food tags.  I'm all about labeling food especially with all the allergies out there - plus, it's an awesome way to continue the theme with your table and make the food pack of the decor.

Emily is a gifted florist!  She has an eye for classy, simple arrangements and had small flower arrangements placed throughout the party space. 

I loved lots of little things about this shower, but my absolute favorite was the mantel.  This was a fabulous idea and I have every intention of doing it again... and again!

The pops of yellow were all pieces of one big gift basket for Sarah.  I love the use of milk glass and yellow flowers and the idea of hanging the dress, bib and socks from old painted frames.

Baby shower activities and games are always a bit tricky.  In my book, there is a fine line between tacky and classy when it comes to shower games.  We played one real game but had a couple different activities as well.

 "Finish Mommy's Sentence" is an easy way to get the guests involved, but focus on Mommy.  Because this is Sarah's first baby, it was fun to hear her answers compared to guests who have one or two kids already.

For the other activities, we collected words of advice for Sarah and Paul (Mommy and Daddy) as well as some words of advice for the baby.  We asked guests to fill them out and collected them in a jar.  We didn't read them at the shower, but gave them to Sarah to take home and enjoy reading later.  This is a fun way to involved Dad by extending the shower fun beyond the party hours.

For prizes, I wrapped fancy white chocolate bars in doilies and tied with a yellow ribbon. 

The best part of the shower was, of course, was the good company!  At the end of the day, a great party means good friends and lots of fun.  I loved watching the mommy-to-be open her presents and laugh.  Excitement was in the air!

This was one of my favorite showers to plan - I loved the location, the inspiration and the company.  Candy bars are a great way to tie in color, but the mantel decor was by far my favorite small thing about the shower.  

This was also the first time I've used a designer from Etsy and I was super impressed by the choices out there and the ease in ordering.  If you have access to a good printer, this is the way to go for invites!

Birthday Party: Call the Hogs!

For Tom's birthday party, we once again planned the party around a Razorback game.  For adult birthday parties, planning around a game or activity is a simple way to get people together for some food and fun while not making it a strange "celebrate me" party for the birthday guy.

The cupcakes were red velvet to match the Razorback colors and also happened to be a favorite of Tom's!  Perfect!  We created these football toothpicks using a sheet of football stickers.

 The food was simple and easy - tailgate, football style.  Although it was a little strange to eat pork while watching the Hogs, the ribs were delicious and the bean dip is a new favorite.

Our good friend, Neyssa, of Neyssa Lee Photography captured the party in pictures and snapped a shot of our family (although Eli was sleeping) in our Razorback gear.  Go Hogs!

Birthday Party: Zoo Party Invitation

My daughter loves animals - so that was our inspiration for her 3rd birthday party last fall.  I designed a few different invites for the party, but ended up going with the second here.  I love the giraffe print with the green.  So fun!