Over the summer I helped plan a shower for Meg and have been meaning to blog about it ever since. Grace is Meg's second baby, but first girl so we wanted to throw an intimate feminine shower for her so she could get those adorable girly items she'd need for baby number two! When trying to decide on a theme, we decided to go with pink and lime green. Not only do I LOVE that color combo but planning a baby shower around a color scheme is much easier and less expensive than choosing something really specific.
The first place I always look for party planning ideas is the hwtm blog. There are so many ideas that can be altered or replicated to throw an adorable and unique baby shower. One of the decisions we made was to create a pink and green menu that would serve the purpose of light fare and a design element. That was a challenge, but so fun. I literally googled "pink and green food ideas," and came up with a lot of options there.
Our menu consisted of mint julep cupcakes, watermelon lemonade (Meg's sister made this from scratch! I was SO impressed), jello cake with whipped cream and kiwi topping, strawberry with field greens salad, and any green and pink fruit we could think of--kiwi, strawberries, watermelon, honeydew, grapes, and green apples, with fruit dip.
Other design elements included a pink and green tulle swag over the fireplace, pink and green placemats, and lovely pink and green floral arrangements. My gift to Meg, a modern diaper cake, was used as a decorative element as well.
For favors, Meg's sister found a lotion and nail grooming kit set from Bath and Body Works on sale and made adorable little favor tags that matched the invitations.
For invitations, I simply layered vellum and pearlized pink and green cardstock and used a ribbon to attach them. I found a little baby footprint graphic online for the 'title page' of the invitation. I personally don't have the technical skills to create something too elaborate but making invitations is a cinch if you simply choose attractive paper, a fun embellishment, and a pretty font.
Planning a shower is fun but can be overwhelming. My advice is to keep it simple and google, google, google! If you you have good taste, you can make anything look good (and if you don't, just copy someone who does!). There's no need to spend a ton of money or wear yourself out. Color combinations are always fun and easy and a light menu can help keep things simple as well. And really, it's not about the decor or food so much as showering someone you love and helping her celebrate this special time in her life.
The first place I always look for party planning ideas is the hwtm blog. There are so many ideas that can be altered or replicated to throw an adorable and unique baby shower. One of the decisions we made was to create a pink and green menu that would serve the purpose of light fare and a design element. That was a challenge, but so fun. I literally googled "pink and green food ideas," and came up with a lot of options there.
Our menu consisted of mint julep cupcakes, watermelon lemonade (Meg's sister made this from scratch! I was SO impressed), jello cake with whipped cream and kiwi topping, strawberry with field greens salad, and any green and pink fruit we could think of--kiwi, strawberries, watermelon, honeydew, grapes, and green apples, with fruit dip.
Other design elements included a pink and green tulle swag over the fireplace, pink and green placemats, and lovely pink and green floral arrangements. My gift to Meg, a modern diaper cake, was used as a decorative element as well.
For favors, Meg's sister found a lotion and nail grooming kit set from Bath and Body Works on sale and made adorable little favor tags that matched the invitations.
For invitations, I simply layered vellum and pearlized pink and green cardstock and used a ribbon to attach them. I found a little baby footprint graphic online for the 'title page' of the invitation. I personally don't have the technical skills to create something too elaborate but making invitations is a cinch if you simply choose attractive paper, a fun embellishment, and a pretty font.
Planning a shower is fun but can be overwhelming. My advice is to keep it simple and google, google, google! If you you have good taste, you can make anything look good (and if you don't, just copy someone who does!). There's no need to spend a ton of money or wear yourself out. Color combinations are always fun and easy and a light menu can help keep things simple as well. And really, it's not about the decor or food so much as showering someone you love and helping her celebrate this special time in her life.
Here is a list of items I used:
- a bottle of champagne
- about 70 Pampers Swaddlers size 2 diapers
- 3 Circo receiving blankets
- 1 stem of pink peonies from Wal-Mart
- Mam "sassy" 2 pack pacifiers
- Mud Pie booties
- personalized onesie from Kimbows Etc.
- ribbon from Wal-Mart
- craft birdies from Wal-Mart
- push pins
- hot glue gun
The great thing about diaper cakes is that you can do pretty much whatever you want with them. They can be girly or boyish, modern or whimsical...the world is your oyster. It's all about what accessories you choose for the cake. Typically I'd say less is more but I went a little crazy with this one and ended up making it really frilly (I just couldn't help myself)!
For step by step instructions, check out Alpha Mom's page "How to Make a Unique Diaper Cake." Her instructions made this project a cinch. Her suggestions gave me just enough guidance to get started but as you can tell I made a few adjusments. First, I skipped the tissue paper and used receiving blankets instead. I can't take credit for this idea. I consulted my all time favorite blog, hwtm daily blog. I also used different size diapers. I accidentally picked up the wrong size and figured it wouldn't make any difference. And it really didn't; both size 1 and 2 diapers work fine. It's probably a good idea to avoid using newborn diapers since the baby grows out of them so quickly (and while it pains me that this cake will be taken apart, let's face it, mama will need all those diapers!).
Basically I followed alpha mom's instructions and then took my time placing the blankets, flowers, and positioning the decor just so (for me, push pins were great because it's not as permanent as glue). Finally, voila! An adorable modern diaper cake for an adorable baby Grace!
