Baby Shower Time!

This past Saturday was the much anticipated baby shower for my good friend Brook.

Yes...now I am totally pooped. I seriously need a nap...for days. But wait! I'm not so pooped that I can't share the fantastic fun! Are you ready!?! Are you pumped?!?! If you are going into labor in anticipation, that's exactly where I want ya! Let's go over each and every detail of the festivus for the uterus! And let's throw in exclamation points whenever possible!!!

So you are officially invited to Brook's Bambino Blast...

The theme was driven by the lovely lilies that I found on super-discounted sale at a local farmer's market. Lilley is one of the names that Brook & Kent are considering for their baby girl. Since they are having such a hard time nailing down a moniker for the little monkey, I thought it would be perfect to have the theme be NAMES.

The shower was held outside on the back patio of our church. It was plenty big enough for us to fit the food buffet, the gift table, the seating area to eat lunch, the candy bar, and the various other tables that we used. The weather was perfect although sometimes we had random gusts of wind.

The picture above is the scene that greeted friends when they first entered the patio. Two tall tables held appetizers and name tags for the guests. Each name tag had the person's name, the origin of their name and the meaning. (enter theme points here) The children that attended really enjoyed learning what their name meant and loved seeing that their name was special and different from their friends.

A small Ikea frame on a mirror held a message for all the guests. Yep, that is Brook's baby belly - from one of our photo shoots - and it looks just darling as it personalizes the quick note. Best part about this detail is that I didn't have to be standing there greeting each visitor as they arrived. Since so much had to be done, it bought me some very valuable time.

Each table was adorned with a white to-the-floor tablecloth and topped with a 52" square pink, green and yellow tablecloth to add some pops of color and tie all the (many) tables together. The centerpieces were large vases filled with limes and yellow lilies placed on mirrors. Smaller vases held more limes. Let's just say limes were everywhere :)

One of the details that fell through the cracks were the chairs - originally the plan was to rent white chairs from a local rental facility. However, they closed early on Friday and opened late on Saturday - so we used the churches chairs instead. I know aesthetically it would have looked better with white ones, but heck, if something had to fail, I am glad it was that cause we had a backup plan. Whew!

Seating tables also had small Ikea pitchers with various beverages. Floating lemon slices added a bit of southern flare. Dontcha just love the look of the color combo?!? I love how they coordinate with the invitations and Brook's Pottery Barn bedding.



THE FOOD: Brook is a health nut and loves fruits and veggies, so I attempted to incorporate lots and lots into the menu.

Crostini's topped with blue cheese and walnut spread with a slice of pear.

Caprese minis. I am Italian...by heritage and by taste buds...so this one was my personal input into the appetizers. Made of mozzarella balls and cherry tomatoes, the easy to eat appetizers were very popular.

We also served spinach dip with crackers for those with less brave appetites (aka kids). Brook and my mom are hanging out with the apps waiting for everyone to arrive.

We set the buffet to be easy and fun to serve yourself a big portion of the flava-flav. Shrimp cocktail, fresh fruit salad, and what I like to call 'nutty' salad were all ready to go after the blessing.

The chaffing dishes held the mixed veggies and were located at the end of the buffet next to the chicken salad in croissant sandwiches and the 'katie-dids'. What is a 'katie-did'? Oh just a little something I invented. It is a butter biscuit with craisins rolled in. Then stuffed with thin sliced turkey, Havarti cheese and served with spicy mustard and cranberry sauce on the side. It was more an accidental invention to be honest. But even my boyfriend loves them (he warms em up) so I can definitely see them being a staple for parties to come!

The beverage table was loaded with tons of glasses, lemonade, unsweet tea for those Atkins-lovas, cran-rasp-lem-lime punch, water and of course, sweet tea (cause we are in the south!!!) Little tags adorning each pitcher let all the guests know exactly what they were getting into. And small tin buckets held the artificial sweetener and of course, a lime was floating around the table.

I barely got a shot of the 'sweetie pies' as they were whisked out the door. We asked if each guest wanted one - ten hands shot up. As the plates with the pies, ice cream and a strawberry were delivered, all the others were slowly added to the list to receive their own. I guess the ladies decided they weren't THAT full :)

And of course the candy buffet was a hit! Especially with the kids - one little girl filled her bag all the way to the brim - and she was even allergic to nuts! I am still trying to figure out how she did that! Probably those little scoops helped out, huh?!?

THE GAMES: We played two games - to go along with the 'name' theme. One game was 'guess the meaning of the names in the Suter family'. And the other was 'guess the names of the characters'. Brook is about to become VERY familiar with all things baby - including each Disney, TV, cartoon and animated character so I thought this would be good for her baby education as well. Let's face it, it is more important to your two year old to know who Thomas the train is, than well, their grandparents. Not surprisingly, a child won this one!

THE PRESENTS: The other activity guests could participate in while visiting with the pregnant lady was to visit the center table that held a dogwood tree. There is a legend about dogwoods that goes a little something like this: Long ago, dogwoods grew straight, strong and tall. Jesus was said to be crucified on a dogwood and after he died, the species changed into a gnarly sort, so that no person could be crucified on one again. The flowers bloom in spring (Easter is when Jesus was resurrected) and each blossom is white as snow (representing a clean heart) and dots of red (drops of Jesus' blood). It represents the forgiveness that we have because of His love and sacrifice.

Being a pastor's wife, I thought it would be the perfect tree to give Brook. We wrote notes of encouragement, prayers, blessings and well wishes on tags then fastened to the branches. When Baby Suter is born, they can plant it in their yard to commemorate the celebration of their child's birth and the hope that their little one will grow to appreciate how much God loves her. And every time they see it, they can remember those friends who are praying for their baby girl.

It made me so happy to see Brook's gift table loaded with tons of pressies. I missed most of the opening so I will have to go by later this week to ask her what she got.

These little girls were 'helpers' as she unwrapped. I only wish I could wear pink polka dot pants with pink crocs, a leopard headband and a fun top...oh to be 6 again!

THE THANK YOU was way more than I expected. She got me a uber-cool bracelet made of real wood (totally my style) and a west elm chain link frame. I can't wait to put a photo from the shower in there! The best part about my hostess gift was the homemade note. In it, she thanked me for the fabulous shower even though it hadn't happened yet. I was so flattered, I wanted to throw her another one. How many do you think I could fit in between now and her due date? She is due in one week. I could totally do like two more at least, right?!

The Day I Didn't Blog

Sorry ya'll. Yesterday I had no brain power to blog. I was scrambling to get ideas, lists, menus, glassware and food together for the baby shower I am hosting tomorrow.

Wanna see some of the chaos? Neatfreaks avert your eyes:

Oh and I just wanted to share a little something with you guys...I have been having a dialogue with lovely little Tammi from Sweet Nothings and she recommended some little scoops for my candy buffet. Nothing screams 'I am cute' and 'Fill your goodie bag' like mini scoops right? However, the only uber-adorable ones were the uber-expensive Southern Living Astoria scoops...at a price tag of $12.50 plus shipping and handling on Ebay for two.

So I had a delimma - I know I would love them and I know they would get tons of use. However, I also know that I won't have them in time for this candy bar and $9 per scoop is a bit steep for this frugal shopper.

Enter Kroger supermarket:

$4 a scoop = candy buffet bliss! Plus, seeing how it is flu/cold/nasties season, this little serving wonder will probably save a few folks from sharing their grimies as they reach into get some sweets. Yeah for No Boogies in the Buffet!

A Candy Bar

Literally speaking - a bar full of candy. That was the final destination that I arrived at for Brook's Baby Shower favor. Sure, I wanted to do little sweetie pies...but then I thought, heck, why not serve those AT the shower for dessert! That way I don't have to spend money on a cake...which by the way, I am not a cake person. I am definitely more of a brownie, cookie, icecream kinda gal. And thinking about trekking to the grocery store and spending money on cake is just enough to get me in a mood...a bad one. Another hangup with the pies were those mini little tins. I just know that there is someone stupid distracted enough to throw the whole pie, tin and all, in the microwave - creating some sort of fire disaster. Yikes! Bower Power doesn't want credit for anything that requires a 911 call.

Besides, I figure that tricker-treaters are just the ticket for candy leftovers. I don't know that any costumed kids would be allowed to eat the neighbor's baked goods :(


I was so excited to get started that I bought all the sweetums at Target last night on sale. Then I set to work getting them in matchy glass jars for the big day. I will have little baggies on hand for the guests to dig in. This also helps with satisfying the children that are coming - nothing says 'Baby Showers Rock' to a seven year old like a sack full of sweets.

Whatta doya thinks? Did I make the right decision? Should I go back to my original plans? Will the sweetie pies still be a hit? Or is candy always a good way to go? Can you tell that I am getting more nervous?!?

Favors as Easy as Pie

Favors at showers, favors at weddings, favors at parties...they are a small little touch that screams "I CARE!". And I do.


So in order to decide on the perfect favors for Brook's Baby Shower, I racked my little brain till my big noggin ached. Then it dawned on me. It was like I reached up and pulled the imaginary string that turned on my imaginary light bulb. And that little light bulb turned around (he looked like Mr. Bluelight) and said "Favors are easy as pie!"


And then I knew what must be done.


You see, it all goes back to July. I made this pie in July for my brother's birthday. He's a big boy and boy, does he like his pie! He even asked to take the leftovers home. He is not a leftover kinda guy so I knew that he loved it.




Bakerella provided the recipe of a chocolate chip cookie pie for all the bloggin world to see. And I stole it.


But you see, I switched the regular pie crust out for something a little easier to make. I am that much of a slacker. I switched it to the graham cracker crust.


Jeremy then jumped on the pie parade and the next day I had to make another one. I think I have made this dessert once a month...which is a lotta baking for me. You should really try this recipe - it has only like 6 ingredients and is sooo super easy.


Not only is it easy but combine the warm gooey pie slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it is heavenly. It truly puts the 'amore' in "a more pie please!"


And it was only natural for me to mess with a good thing. So one day I decided to try the same recipe but put the innards into mini graham cracker pie crusts.



And it worked! I lowered the baking time and it really worked. I was a little amazed to tell the truth. Like I said before...I am not much of a baker.


Where am I going with all this? And how does it relate to baby shower favors?

So glad you asked.


I want to give this wee dessert out in pretty packaging as the favor for Brook's baby shower. Of course it will have the recommended heating and enjoying instructions. And on the tag it shall read :

Little Sweetie Pie

Brook's having one

So should you!

Asking For It

When I heard that one of my best friends, Brook was preggars...it took me a while to come out and ask to do a shower. Why? Well, we went on a trip together with our church youth group & we were both in a uber busy stage. Also, Brook had a miscarriage with her first pregnancy. Out of fear that it might happen again, she was reluctant about spreading the good news with this baby. I can only imagine that she felt hesitant to let herself get attached. And I wanted to respect that by waiting till the fingernail chewing first trimester was over and all was well. So when she started telling other people, it was definitely time for me to pop the question.

I wanted to make it really REALLY special. After all, this girl was glued to my side during my wedding preparations and I know that I would just fall apart if I didn't get to vent to her every other day. She is that precious.

Asking "Can I throw you a baby shower?" just didn't seem enough. So I put my craftiness skills to the test. I decided I would give her a gift...a small token that would distract her momentarily and then spring on her the motive behind it.

I got a paper parasol and set upon painting it up really cutesy. I did it based on her original choice of bedding. And although it doesn't match what she ended up getting - I am so glad because dude, her new bedding choice rocks!

With the help of my trusty glue gun, some trim, ribbon and a bit of imagination - Brook's parasol was complete.

Then I set on making her a little red and white polka dot fabric bag to slip the parasol into. I made a little poem - glued in on some scrapbook paper and attached the poem to the outside with some ribbon. It was adorable if I do say so myself. Oh - and the last stanza of the poem I attached directly to the parasol handle so that when she opened the gift, she would know the true intention of the gift.

Wanna hear the poem? Ok - here she is:

Brook dear Brook
You got a bun in the oven
We know how it got there
Too much of Kent’s lovin’

Brook dear Brook
You have to keep growing
Cause labor’s no cake
(Practice breathing and blowing)

Brook dear Brook
You’ll have a little one soon
Your belly will shrink
Like a deflated balloon

Brook dear Brook
I hope it won’t hurt
I promise to be there
To greet the wee squirt

Brook dear Brook
I’m so very happy for you
I pray for your safety
And the little one’s too

Brook dear Brook
You have a lot you still need
The Baby will eat, sleep, poop
And grow like a weed

Brook dear Brook
Open this package with care
This will help you be ready
For a “showered” affair.

and she opened the package and read the tag which said:

Brook dear Brook
Here is my heart felt request
May I throw you a party?
Will you be the special guest?

She said "What?! What!?" And then I asked. It was great. I mean, if she wasn't having a baby I probably wouldn't give her some random umbrella made of paper. That's just weird. But seeing how a little bambino is on the way & I made up a special poem - it seems cute...I hope.

So that is how the whole baby shower process started. And now that the invites are out, it can't be stopped! Any fun ways you have done for your guest of honor? How bout when you asked your friends to be a bridesmaid? I love this kinda stuff - I could read about it all day long.

Oh - and just so that everyone knows - she said "yes!"

Shower me with Invites

It is official, one more thing is getting crossed off my GOALS list. Man, that feels good! I completed assembling, addressing and affixing all the invites for my friend Brook's baby shower. And they are sooo cuuute!!!! The end result below actually looks really similar to my make believe version but with softer pink and brighter green.

My blogging friend Emily recommended the bow - and it is adorable! She just hosted a shower of her own and I must say that she could do it for a living...she's that good. I would definitely recommend checking it out.

Props to my boy for cutting the ribbon and helping me stuff...dontcha just love it when men do that kinda sweet stuff? Just thinking about it gives me weak knees.

Oh and I wanted to share with you the envelopes as well. I am a big believer in that the wrapping helps make the gift. The envelopes here are just wrapping for this cutey pa tootie invite so I wanted to jazz em up a bit. I got the idea from Martha for the liner. Her internShe is good. Real good.

Now that the invites are out, the next step is securing rental chairs and linens for the tables. And I have to ask if my lovely sister will photograph the event with her new shmancy camera. Also need to brainstorm about a menu that will rock...it is a luncheon afterall.

Any suggestions? Any help? Please don't hesitate to put it in the comments OR you can email me - Ooh Ooh - yes I have established an email address for those of you that don't like to come outta the lurkin closet. Throw me a line here people!

Baby Shower - Julia Style

Brook is having like six baby showers I think. and one of them was planned by my friend Julia. It was this past Sunday. yea - it rocked.

I was super pumped to be dubbed the photog of the event. My sister even let me borrow her brand new camera. For the record, I stink at it. I need a lot of practice...hear that Jer? lots. and lots.

Overall - It was cool. Lowkey and chillin all max and relaxing all cool....(and shootin some bball outsida school...ok I'll stop.) And I am sure Brook thought I was getting annoying cause I didn't put the camera down. But hey, don't hate on the paparazzi Brook or the paparazzi will hate on you :)

In celebration of all things baby, I thought I would break down the event for you photojournalism style. and Julia style. she was the host afterall. And what is Julia? A teacher. So here are some photos & tips to learn to do a faaaaaabulous baby shower.

HOW TO THROW A BABY SHOWER:

TIP #1 - Invite hotties. Sure the invite list is technically the job of the mommy-to-be but a little bling don't hurt nobody. Embellish the list with a few of your hottest friends...afterall you want to have something to blog about where you all look smokin! Bonus points if they bring pressies.

P.S. this is not a wedding where the honored guest HAS to invite the shower attendee to the main event...I'm pretty sure most hotties would opt out anyway.

TIP #2 - Have yummy food. This is crucial. You don't have to have a ton of food, but all of it has to be delish. And I would recommend just a bit of food not laden with highfructose corn syrup or sugar, just in case of that nasty old thing called gestational diabetes. Cakes are always a hit. Hollah if you like your name written in icing!! OOH OOH!

TIP #3 - Play you some games. Julia had two that were perfect for her low-key crowd. One required the guests to bring in baby pics, post them on a babylicious board and we all had to guess who's who. The other game was one where we wrote down as many BABY products as possible in two minutes. Doubles didn't count...the person with the most won a prize!

Another good idea, especially if you have experienced mothers in the crowd, is to write down some advice for the mommy-to-be. Have her keep each advise card in a photo book to remember all the times people mentioned poo...ewww!

TIP #4 - Give your gal a kick-A gift. And make it available for others to do the same. Most new mommies need EVERYTHING. And in this hightech world, I stick to the registry. After registering for my wedding, I realized that I only wanted the stuff on the list. Be creative at Christmas. Hosts should be sure to list the registry on the invite - believe me, your friend will love you for it.

TIP #5 - Central seating is superb. Let your honored guest sit somewhere that all the gifts can be seen. Girls love to ooo and ahhh over each mini bootie and fancy breast pump. After all - the guests spent a chunk of change on the tike - they wanna see what the baby will wear for oooh three seconds.

TIP #6 - Spend time enjoying the little things. Julia timed it just right - we had time to eat, play games, talk, and open presents. Afterward we even got to feel Brook up. Well, her stomach...and it was awesome! The baby fluttered just like the ribbons did coming off her gifts.

Tip #7 - Have a Dr at the shower. No not a doctor...although, if she is like 40 weeks preggie - then you may want to consider that. A DR is a designated recorder. Someone to write down all the pink or blue snuggle poos and winkle woos that the mommy-to-be receives. After all, when you are preggars, you loose like 50% of your short term memory. So this little slip of paper will be nothing short of a life-saver come thank you note time.

You can see that we had an amazing time - Brook was a glowin - the presents were a flowin - and the photog skills were a growin.

Do you have some helpful hints to share about how to make a baby shower a little smoother? Or do you just wanna say how adorable yellow shoes are next to a big pile of gifts? Either way - comment section available!

Shower Invitations

When I asked for your votes on the baby shower invites for my good friend Brook - you came back with the following advice -

"Keep it simple, stupid" - paraphrased of course.
"Love green"
"Prefer #2" - maybe because it is like totally simple(?)

So I went back to the drafting board and came up with this very SIMPLE and a little more GREEN version of #2. I figure since it is pretty basic that I can be more creative with the shower itself...don't want people to think that the best thing about the shower was the invite, right?

Oh and you can't see it but the white paper is actually adorned with tiny pink polka dots. Maybe I'll even add another layer of vellum to add some whimsy :) And I love 3D invites - anything with bows, texture or puffy paint is right up my alley...so I thought the cute little bow was just enough to sweeten this invite deal.

So whatta ya thinka? Is this shower ready or stormy weather ahead? ok - that was just super cheesy - seriously though, do you like it? Or is it too simple?

Theme me up Scotty!

When my friend Brook told me that she was preggars, the first thought was oooooohhhhh - it's baby shower time! Now in the last year I have hosted or co-hosted several wedding showers - but the ever elusive baby shower is something I have always dreamed of doing. So now that the opportunity is here - I am having a brain jam. The hardest thing for me is picking a theme. I have some listed below but if you come up with something cute - PLEASE let me know.

So that is where you come in - I need your help. Help with a lot. But right now - it is themes and invites.

Here is some info on Brook so that you can understand what a complex and interesting creature is popping out the little one. Also, this will be helpful so that you can make an informed decision. She is 27 and has been married to Kent for 5 years. She loves sports, art (she can paint like ANYTHNG!), crafts, and healthy living. She is a youth pastors wife. She has a modern edge to her decorating style. She loves the outdoors and nature. Oh and they are expecting a little girl (no name as of yet!).

So some of the themes I thought of were

• Nature/Organic - inspired by her efforts to live, eat & grow healthily
• Trees - inspired by her love of outdoors & her growing family tree
• Birds - inspired by her nursery bedding from Pottery Barn
• Pink/Green - inspired by the colors of her nursery

Ok - and here are some of the preliminary invites that I have thought of :


Option 1 - trees

Option 2 - Simple design
Option 3 - birdie birdie birdie
Option 4 - lots of green

Please please please - just let me know what you think or if you can think of other ideas, I am open to anything right now!