Yes! We are having baby #2! And it's a set! We have a boy, now we will have a baby girl that I can dress up like a doll and do funky hairstyles. ))) It is a very exciting time for us!
And how fun it was to plan this baby shower for our sweet daughter, who was still in the oven, so to speak. :) I, of course, had to plan it out all by myself, and would have put everything up myself, if my husband did not put his foot down. I mean I was 10 months pregnant. :) But I still managed to do a lot of the decorating myself, except for anything that required a foot stool. ))
My husband wanted something girly with a gentleness to it, hence all the pink and lace. And I love vintage - brings you back to the old times of elegance and a different perspective on life. I started thinking what would give off a vintage feeling? Lace! Pastel colors, like pink, teal, beige, gold! Vintage photo frames...oh and tea sets! Home Goods had some amazing finds in this department. So, here is what we got...
ENTRANCE
Our friends were gracious enough to let us host the baby shower at their wonderful home. At the entrance, they have a wall with a mirror, and I thought, "What a perfect place for an entrance table?!"
I had the fantastic idea to print out old baby photos of everyone in both of our families, starting from the oldest photos we have to the youngest, our son. I placed the photos in these vintage frames and arranged them all over the home, where guests could see them. Our children are the continuation of our heritage and family, and what a great way to represent our lineage through baby photos of everyone...well everyone we could find. :)
The entrance table had a small toy cradle, where I placed a blanket (that we kept for our daughter) and printed out colorful sheets of paper with wishes for our daughter that the guests can write out. In the center, I placed a cute little pyramid of pink vintage suitcases I found on Amazon, which we ended up using for our daughter's socks and accessories. On the top were baby photos of my maternal grandmother and my husband's paternal grandmother. The front row had (from left to right) my mother, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, and an old photo of my maternal great-grandparents and their family. I placed flowers all over, a cute bunny toy, and a vintage pail with a bouquet of flowers. It all looked beautiful!
Above this table, I hung lace on the sconces on the sides of the mirror and two vintage-looking dresses that our baby girl will one day wear. :) I love that beige dress! So beautiful! I can't wait until she can actually wear it!
THE DESSERT TABLE
There was so much detail that went into this setup, and I'll be honest, I was very proud of myself and how much I have come in learning to design and create beautiful setups! We were trying to come up with ways to hang a lace background, and my husband thought of the three wooden deck boards taped to the walls with painter's tape. We hung everything on those wooden boards. I got two wreaths with vintage flowers, burlap flowers pinned to the lace and a sign I made that said "BABY SOPHIA", which is the name we will be giving our daughter.
I covered the table (a large wooden table that worked out perfectly for this setup) with a lace table cover and pinned various flowers on the front. The table setup turned out so amazing! All my ideas are always in my head and then I attempt to put them out into the real world. That is why I usually have to do everything myself because explaining my idea to someone so they can try to help is too difficult for me. :) In addition, I might have an idea in my head, and if it does not work out in reality, that is when my hands and mind do their thing and work it out to make it perfect. :) That's just me!
Well, I had various vintage tea sets I bought at Home Goods and large glass vases. I also found this beautiful vintage tiara, which I honestly did not know what to do with until I started decorating. ))) I filled one of the vases with a bunch of flowers with pearls and placed a vintage tea set on top, as if it is pouring out flowers. It came out gorgeous! The other vase I placed upside down. Inside, I put up three tea sets in a tower and flowers into the top teacup. On top of the "bottom" of the vase I placed the tiara with flowers inside. These vases went on the far back corners of the tables due to their height.
The rest of the table had baby photos of my husband, our son and I. In front of the cake, we placed an ultrasound photo of our baby girl. There were flowers, more tea sets, pearls, a burlap runner, etc. As for the desserts themselves, we of course had cupcakes and macaroons. The macaroons I placed on two towers of three tea sets on both sides of the cake. We had Ferrero Rocher chocolates in a vase, chocolate covered strawberries and a berry cake that was so good, a recipe I obtained from our friend and house hostess.
The cake was so elegant and chic. The bakery placed various flowers on top and the side and a little baby that actually came from our son's baby shower. :)
GIRT AREA
This house had so many beautiful and unique areas were one can get very creative with decorations. They had a fireplace in the living room that let in a lot of light due to the two large windows on the sides. The wooden mantle with tilework on the fireplace itself was a perfect backdrop for the gift area and for the vintage theme.
We used the "BABY" letters from my son's baby shower and covered them with fabric, flowers, stickers, etc. My best friend was a big help to me with these letters, and it was quality time well spent with her! The letters came out so beautiful, and we were definitely going to put them somewhere in the nursery! We also hung two onesies with vintage flowers, which I definitely plan to have her wear sometime in the near future.
We of course had two vintage frames with photos of my husband's paternal great grandmother (on the right) and my mother's maternal aunt (on the left). I found this cute vintage bicycle in Home Goods that fit the theme and color scheme and placed some flowers into the basket. On the other side was a vintage stroller with some flowers and baby inside. I love this setup too! On the side windows we hung lace curtains and flower garlands. It looked very lovely!
THE PHOTO CORNER
There was a corner in the dining room that was empty and needed to be filled with something. So we decided to make it into a "photo corner". I bought a vintage Paris background, some vintage tea party photo props, small lace umbrellas and a vintage pink Parisian trunk that held all the photo props. I decorated it with some pearls and placed it on a folding table. It was very charming and was a hit with the guests!
THE BAR
The house also had a bar area near the dining room, which worked out perfect! Since this was an all-girl baby shower and during lunch time, we had a mimosa bar! Well, I called it a "Mom-osa Bar". Ha! My husband was the bartender, who was in charge of mixing the mimosas for the guests and providing any other drinks they wanted, such as water, flavored sparkling water and wine. This was his way of being involved and present in the baby shower. :) We had four different flavors of mimosas to choose from: orange, lemon, raspberry, and strawberry. So we poured juices for each of the flavors and placed the actual fruits in front of each container. Guests would place the fruits in their flutes. We of course had three frames with baby photos of both of our brothers and my husband's paternal aunt.
LUNCH SPREAD
Since this was a lunchtime baby shower and only for females, we decided not to go all out for the food. We got sandwich platters, deli plates, bread with a spinach artichoke dip, fresh veggies, various salads, etc, most of which came from Costco. I got various serving plates from home and found vintage plates at Home Goods. To cover the sink faucet, I placed a bouquet of flowers with two frames with baby photos of my husband's maternal aunt and cousin. We also had pink plastic plates (I know, not good for the environment, sorry!), a vintage silverware organizer and rose gold plastic silverware. It was very nice! And the food went well with the guests!
ENTERTAINMENT
Now to entertain guests...most of the female guests were also present at my son's baby shower. Therefore, I had to come with new games, so it wasn't repetitive and boring for the guests. :) Let's just say everyone had a lot of fun! It also helps to have guests, who are active and willing participants. :) Here were our games:
“Chop Binky” - Two groups try to get pacifiers from one to the end using a chopstick in their mouth. If someone drops the pacifier, they have to start all over. Ha! Not an easy feat, I tell ya!
“Big Belly Twister” - Oh this one was a hoot!! I had the girls blow up their own balloons. They did not know what they were going to be doing with them. Some blew up large balloons, some small. Well, with the blown-up balloon over their belly and under their clothes, they had to play Twister. Oh my, there were some compromising and interesting poses! Considering there were one or two who blew up balloons that barely fit under their clothes! Ha!
"Baby Sounds” - This was a fun one too and was a version of the type of game I had the kids play at my son's first birthday. :) A group of girls had to pick out papers from a basket. There were pairs of papers that had baby sounds written on them (e.g. baby crying, baby trying to poop, baby peeing, baby calling out “Mama”, baby calling out “Papa”, baby babbling, baby cooing, baby laughing). I blindfolded everyone and they had to make the baby sound that they picked out and find the other person who was making the same baby sound. Oh my! Hilarious and a lot of fun! Though I did have to make sure no one ran into anything.
Labor or Sex” - This is the last game we played and it was awesome and very unusual for a baby shower. It was perfect for an all-female party! :) My best friend helped me print out several cards that had 9 photos of women's facial expressions - some where of giving birth and some were sexual in nature. Ha! The guests had to pick which ones were birthing expressions and which ones were the ones that eventually cause the birthing expressions. Ha! The guests had great laughs with this one!
For gifts and favors, I gave out bottles of wine because it is hard to fine a woman who does not love wine! Another gift was a small organza bag with a vintage tin box and a vintage notepad. For the favors, in an organza bag, I placed a vintage fan and a scented sachet I found at Home Goods, which fit perfect with the vintage theme.
As I already mentioned, I had an amazing time planning this baby shower and all the guests enjoyed it! Time to meet our baby girl!
Vendor Credits:
Planning and Decorating: SMLA Happy Events Decorations: Home Goods, Party City, Joann, Michael's, Amazon Photography: SMLA Happy Events Cake and Cupcakes: House of Pastry in North Hollywood, CA (www.houseofpastry.com)
Food: Costco, SMLA Happy Events
Location: Calabasas, CA