It's a Baby Shower for Vino!

Last weekend found me trekking down to San Diego, my home away from home, to help throw a baby shower for Vino. As a recap, Vino is pregnant with her first baby, a boy, in December. Blondie, our other bff, is also pregnant with her first baby, a girl, in December. Due dates are only 4 days apart. Mmmm hmmm. Needless to say, we're not relying on either one to do too much to host the other's shower since they're busy cooking a baby and all. Trying to work on both showers at the same time has kept me pretty busy this fall, to say the least. :)

I had been working with Vino's mom and sister for the past several weeks to get everything ready and I can happily say that the day was such a success. Our theme for the shower was Dr. Seuss, inspired by similar showers thrown here and here. While I was the one that first suggested the idea, this was such a group effort - Crafty and Dressing Queen really took the theme and ran with it and between the three of us, the creativity was really flowing. Blondie also helped us last weekend, but since she is, you know, cooking a baby and everything, we thought we'd let her take it easy for the shower planning this time around. ;)

The original idea was to have the party outside, but the rain made that impossible. Instead, we moved the set-up inside and dare I say, I think the cozy atmosphere help to concentrate the decor, which made a much bigger impact.

The Cat in the Hat greeted everyone at the door. Love him so much!

The main dining area. Paper lanterns hung from the ceiling while gerbera daisies, Dr. Seuss books and plush toys decorated the tables.

We "disassembled" a couple of Dr. Seuss books to make banners that hung around the house. Blondie did a great job stringing everything together and it was a simple way to add some color to the party.

The large diningroom table featured more plush characters and books. The fish in the bowl about killed me. He was just too cute!

For the favors, Dressing Queen and I made mini Cat in the Hat "hats" from marshmallows, white chocolate and mini gluten free cookies. While they turned out so super cute, they took HOURS to make. Maybe not one of my best ideas. Heh.

In the food department, Dressing Queen pretty much killed it. She put together a lovely lunch spread that included a selection of chilled dishes, including "green eggs and ham", of course. Made the morning food prep so much easier and the final products were just delicious! There was lots of going back for seconds and thirds - always a good thing. Instead of boring menu cards, Crafty made the cutest menu sign I've ever seen! I want one of these at every event I host!

This was easily one of the most relaxed and laid back events I've ever had the pleasure of helping to host. No super late night doing last minute tasks or running around super stressed out before the guests arrived. It was just so nice and mellow. Most important, it seemed that Vino had a great time, which is really all that matters. I'd say we are some very happy ladies, don't you think?

Congratulations again Vino! I can't wait to meet the little man later this year. :)