It's a baby shower for Blondie!

Last weekend was the second of two baby showers that I've helped to plan this fall. This one, a Beatrix Potter Tea Party for Blondie, who is due with her first baby, a little girl, in December. I've been working with Blondie's sister, Sporty, throughout the fall to get things coordinated for the shower. While this one was a bit more stressful to get together and resulted in little sleep for Sporty and I, it was still a great event.

I headed down to San Diego after rehearsal on Friday and found Dressing Queen and Sporty hard at work on the food prep. Thank God for Dressing Queen - she generously volunteered to help with the food at the end of Vino's shower and we quickly took her up on the offer. While Sporty and I had a good outline of what we wanted to do, it was great to have Dressing Queen offer her expertise and to clean up the final menu. I love to cook and all, but things have been so crazy this fall that it was a blessing to have someone else really pulling the food stuff together.

After a yummy dinner from Sporty's mom, we got down to business putting together the favors and tissue poms. Oh, the tissue poms. Yes, they're adorable and in the end, I'm so happy we used them, but oh my. They took for-ev-er to assemble. We we're punchy by the end and it looked like the kitchen table had exploded with tissue paper balls. Heh.

The next morning we were up super early to get everything ready. Vino, Dressing Queen and their mom Crafty joined us as well and between the 6 women (including Sporty's mom) and the two guys we recruited for brawn, it all came together right as the first guests were arriving. Nothing like cutting it close. ;)

Sporty's mom has several sets of beautiful china that she has collected over the years. She happily let us use them for the shower. Each table was set with a different pattern and I think that they fit the theme beautifully.

Hard at work in the kitchen!

Appetizer Table

We also had a full spread for lunch - 2 tea sandwiches, chicken salad in cucumber cups, spinach salad, but I completely neglected to take pictures of it. Oops. :/

Dessert was mini NY-style cheesecakes with strawberries and pumpkin spice cheesecakes.

The happy grandmas-to-be

Games and gifts

Group Pics

It was a such a fun afternoon and I think Blondie had a great time. Blondie, I'm so excited for you and can't wait to meet your little girl in just a few weeks. :)

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Our group has now planned almost a dozen parties together for one another - baby showers, bridal showers, birthday parties, etc. The moms always joke that we should just go into business together already. We all just laugh it off, but I think that after planning these two showers practically back to back, it was a thought that seriously crossed my mind. Realistically, we all just live too far apart to ever consider it for real, but I've never met a group of women who are able to plan events so efficiently and without any drama. We all just seem to feed off of one another's ideas and visions and the events develop and grow in ways that always appear to be more than the sum of their parts. Sure, we all put in a ton of work to make the parties beautiful and special, but it's always more fun than it should be and I look back after all of the hard work and am so happy with the final product. I love these girls so much and am so happy to consider them all friends and partners in crime. It'll be nice to have a bit of a break, but let's get back on the party bandwagon soon ladies. Anyone up for starting to think about 1st birthday party themes for the wee ones? ;)

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. :)