Sunshine {Garden Party} Baby Shower

Well Hello there Summertime. It’s been a while.

FYI this post is VERY detailed with DIY party tips! Feel free to just skip to the pictures (thats what your guna do anyway :))

So as you know, I am a HUGE believer in all things DIY (Do-It-Yourself) & absolutely LOVE throwing parties. It makes my heart so happy!

So when my cousin told me she was pregnant just 8 months ago.. I thought PERFECT! I can throw a summer baby shower.. & O ya Congrats on the baby! (in that order) But yes I am sooooo excited to have another {nephew}. With this being her third and a BOY this time.. I wanted to do something simple yet intimate with just close friends and family.

I turned to my handy dandy Pinterest and starting pinning away.. for about 6 months. I know Im obsessed.. I thought about every detail, the flower arrangements, the color, the theme, the decorations, the invitation. Speaking of the invitation, I started with designing that first and based the whole party around it! Yellow & grey were the perfect summer colors and gender neutral. I knew I didnt want to do the typical boy baby shower decor, and with her due date in July, I thought a Garden Party would be the perfect theme! I later thought about the fact that its Florida… In June… & really really really HOT, (unimportant details)
Thank God for air conditioning.. right?!  P.S. the week before the party there was totally a tropical storm in Florida (AH FREAK OUT). But thankfully the day of the party was absolutely beautiful!

 

Next I focused on the decorations. First things first, throwing a baby shower doesn’t have to be EXPENSIVE, I repeat.. it does NOT have to be expensive. From someone who has thrown her fair share of baby showers, I always say O Im not going to spend that much?! But then I get sucked in at Target and next thing you know I just had to have the matching placements and cute baby toys for decorations.. and im out a whopping couple hundred bucks! O Target, we have such a Love/Hate relationship.

It was my goal this time to stick to my guns, and do it myself, as much as possible (I later caved in and bought a cake from Costco.. which was TOTALLY against my plan, but my logical thinking sister knew I just wouldn’t be able to do it all.. and guess what.. Sister knows best! She was right, and no one even cared that I didn’t bake the cake… thats another story! Back to the decorations. So for three months I went to every thrift store on Saturday morning, and looked for any party decor I could find, which was basically just the table cloths and fabric, but hey I saved some major moolah! I bought 3 curtains from Goodwill, a yellow tablecoth, and 3 table runners for all around $10.00!

In the interest of saving money, I also created a welcome wreath with pops of yellow. I’ve had this white wreath from a previous party, so I just repurposed it by making burlap/felt flowers.. and a little paper banner! Easy peasy and it set a great tone for the party.

I also LOVED having the tables outside. It was so great and really felt like a garden party! My original plan was to have the food table in the grass as well.. but the patio was really the only shaded area and again in Florida.. Its HOT.. like all the time! I moved the buffet table from my dining room outside to the patio and put the main food on there. I used the third curtain I got from goodwill, as a tablecoth over the buffet table, and I had some left over chevron fabric (purchased from Hobby Lobby) from the flag banner I made.

P.S. a bag of lemons at costco is under $5.00 and adds some SERIOUS color and class to the decor.

I used sliced lemons to line the inside of the vases to create a more dramatic flower arrangement.
TIP: Use a large vase and place a smaller cup/glass inside filled with water for the flowers.
Slice your fruit (lemons, limes, oranges) thinly and place them in between the outter edge of the vase and the smaller glass.
You will have to layer them until they reach the top of the vase.
Next place your boquet in the small glass thats filled with water (you dont want the flowers sitting in acidic water) And your done!
Optional: Tie the vase with burlap or ribbon for a finishing touch!

So aside from the flowers, my next favorite part of the shower was the COFFEE BAR!! OMG I dont know about you but I absolutely LOVE coffee. I seriously go to bed at night just thinking about how excited I am to get up in the morning so I can have coffee.. O you dont do that?!.. Okay maybe thats just me! Regardless I knew I wanted coffee at the shower. And because this was a “Brunch” I knew coffee would be the perfect fit!

Heres another Party Tip, if your a perfectionist / contreal freak like me :)… Be Flexible!
Originally I wanted ALL the food and the coffee bar outside, I had this vision in my head of exactly the way everything was going to look and I wasn’t budging. But the night before, that voice of reason A.K.A my sister, made me realize that noone is going to want to drink HOT coffee outside. HA what great insight! And I knew once again (Man this being wrong all the time is getting old!) that she was right. This is where the “being flexible/ adaptable” comes in handy. Normally I would be okay sure no problem, but my lack of sleep that day and months of planning was making me stress over every detail. But Alas, I knew it would be better if the drinks were inside.  So we set up the coffee bar / beverage station inside. Which was actually perfect, because once everyone ate, we were sweating anyway so we all mingled inside.

One thing that I always try to do when planning a party is to think about every detail, so a guest can walk in and not have to ask for one thing. That every item that they could possibly need has already been thought about and is easily accessible to them. For example the “Self Serve” coffee bar, I put all the cups, creamer, coffee, and even biscotti’s out on the bar for easy access for guests. You want them to feel at home and comfortable at the party, and not have to ask “O do you have a glass I can use.. OR Do you have silverware” As a host, I want to be able to enjoy the party, and as much as I can get done the night before, it allows me for more time to relax and socialize with the guests.

The Iced Coffe was a hit! I made a pot of coffee the night before and put it in the fridge, about an hour before the guests arrived I placed it in my super cute mason jar drink dispenser (which I got on sale for $10.00 at Kirkland’s), I added about half a cup of milk and a little bit of flavored creamer.

Now heres a neat trick: I love iced coffee but when the ice melts my coffee gets all watered down UGH.. NO FEAR!!
Take your leftover coffee and place in ice cube trays overnight, thus creating “ice coffee cubes” .
That way when the ice melts it adds more coffee NOT water, genius! Thank you Pinterest.

I also had lemonade, orange juice and water if everyone didn’t share my love of coffee. I bought this adorable sunflower aluminum tin, that doubled as a drink station as well as a take home gift for the Mom to be! I have to take a second to just write about my obsession with Hobby Lobby! Not only is it A-M-Azing!! But they have the best deals and they are always having sales. I bought these glass drink containers (3 large and 3 small) for originally $22.50 for ONLY $11.50! There glasswares go on sale about every three weeks so I snagged these jars, perfect for the drinks. I had to bling them out of course! My sister wrapped them in burlap and made the felt flowers. Then we tied on the drink labels with twine. I’m in LOVE.

I also created these drink flags for the mason jars. It’s really convenient that I am a graphic designer and have an etsy store with party decorations :).

Okay so moving on to the food.. shall we? And this was really the main reason I was up till 3 am the night before. I wanted everthing homemade. I have a problem I know.. It would have been easier to just buy premade pancakes, or premade quiche, but I do LOVE cooking so I thought well its not that much work.. I just kind of forgot about the part where I had to clean my entire house and put up decorations and the party was at 11AM. I do it to myself, I know.. but I just love being involved in every detail.. and I truly enjoy it (I do! even though I totally complain about it, the process really is enjoyable) For the menu I had: spinach & mushroom quiche, mini pancakes, yogurt parfaits, baked bri pastry, watermelon pops & cake.

And now for the cake. Usually I am a BIG fan of cupcakes for parties, but for some reason I just really envisioned a cake at the party. My plan was to make a lemon cake the night before but as you know there was alot of other things to do too! So I bought this premade Chocolate Cake from Costco.. and I have to say OMG SOOOO GOOD! It was probably better than anything I could have made anyway. I did however make the burlap & felt mini flag banner as well as the “washi tape” flags that were on top of the cake. So that counts for something, right?!

Overall the party was amazing! Everything turned out perfect and with the beautiful Momma and all our friends it really was a great day! I always enjoy some girl time, but add some coffee and talk about babies and Im in Heaven :)..

Mason Jars & watermelon on a stick.. talk about Southern Ya’ll!!

Game Time! Im usually not a fan of cheesy baby shower games, but these really fit! The first one, was just voting for the cutest Big Hat.. which was quite hilarious seeing everyones hats.


And the second game was a simple “matching game”.. but it gets quite entertaining when you hear everyones answers!


Yay! My Aunt won for cutest Hat! The gift: redneck wine glass of course!

My amazing sister with my adorable nephew Cadeyn!

The only man among these women..such a cutie pie!

I knew I wanted to give her more than just baby clothes so I made this custom nursery art, printed on Burlap, to match Baby Easton’s nursery. I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out.

I absolutely LOVE these ladies.. each and every one of them! They are all amazing and sooooo great to have in my life! I am so blessed to have friends NEW & OLD.. Love celebrating a NEW baby with great women.

Three beautiful Prego Mommas!

My amazing sister, and cousins (who are.. lets be honest, practically my sisters)

The beautiful Guest of Honor with her Momma! Love these ladies so much!

Me with my beautiful Momma and amazing sister WHO SERIOUSLY HELPED me pull off this party!! THANK YOU!!

Sunshine Garden Party Baby Shower Invite: Baby Shower Invite
Drink Flags: Etsy Listing Drink Flags
Party Decorations: Myself and a HUGE help from my amazing sister!