Sarah's Baby Shower - Baby Pictures & Games

The game table, which sat right next to the cookies & milk bar, was not nearly as cute or exciting as the other tables. I think it really needed a fun backdrop to give it some pizzazz.

However, it still featured one of my favorite details for the whole shower--baby pictures of Sarah & Rob. If you are planning a baby shower and you can do this, DO IT! It's such a sweet touch and EVERYONE loves looking at the pictures. I probably could have found a cuter way to display all the pictures, but we were out of time and this accomplished the goal.

This part of the shower project was a lot of fun for me since I got to go through both Sarah & Rob's baby albums and coo at each and every page before picking out pictures and scanning them.

Getting ahold of Rob's pictures was easy. I just had to ask his Mom if I could borrow a few albums for a while.

Love the hair.

Sarah's pictures? Well, I had to be a bit more sneaky to get my hands on those since she is the one in possession of them.

When we visited Sarah & Rob last December for some extracurricular thrifting fun, I packed my portable scanner and brought it with me. Fortunately for my sneaky plan, Sarah and Rob are lame and go to bed by about 11pm every night (who does that?!). It was easy enough to swipe Sarah's baby album off the living room bookshelf and lie on the floor scanning album pages into my laptop.

Love the hair.

Alice (Sarah's brain-damaged cat) was not pleased that I was the only human still awake in her domain. She kept pacing in wide agitated circles around me the whole time--like a hungry (and demented) tiger. We made eye contact a few times and I gleefully informed her that I would punt her across the room and then feed her to the wolves outside if she even thought about making a move. I may have been sitting with the spray bottle at the ready in case she decided to maul me. The stupid cat hates my guts for. NO. reason. And she doesn't seem to like scanners either. Good. I hope the noise was terrible and gave her kitty nightmares. Stupid cat.

That last bit makes me sound like a cold-hearted cat-hater, but in reality Alice is actually a demon robot sent from outer space to annihilate me. Probably with lasers. So, my enmity is understandable.

Having scanned a bunch of 3x5 baby pictures of both Sarah and Rob (and survived kitty death glares), I went through and recropped all of them so that their proportions were correct for a 4x6 format and then sent them to CVS. I was very surprised with how well they came out in the larger format. After the shower, I gave all the pictures to Sarah to do with as she likes.

Everything else on the table was related to shower games/activities.

Oh, silly shower games. We had some common shower games such as guessing Sarah's baby names A-Z and tasting unlabeled baby food and trying to identify it.

The baby food tasting was especially entertaining:

But my favorite activity was the Baby Shower ABC book.

We printed each letter of the alphabet on a piece of cardstock and then asked everyone at the shower to draw a picture of something that starts with that letter. We also encouraged them to leave a little message for baby Katherine and sign their name.

We are going to bind all of the drawings together to create an ABC book for Katherine that was made by her own extended family.

I think it will be super sweet when it's finished and it will be something Katherine can use to learn her ABCs when she's older. :)

And on that note, we're finished with the actual shower! I'll be sharing all about the creation of baby Katherine's quilt & camel sometime this week. I can't wait to share about the history of the camel pattern. SO much fun!

Lastly, I'd like to thank Theresa for being such an awesome shower planning partner. The past few months have been a lot of fun, Pretty Lady! Now, go buy that fabric at Walmart so we can cover your recliner together on Wednesday while watching a happy chick flick. I don't want to have to hand you a tissue when you blubber all over me like last week. ;)

Mrs. Five Camels' Baby Shower

Last October, Theresa (my sister-in-law) and I just happened to be visiting Sarah (our other sister-in law) in Richmond when she decided to pee on a pregnancy test after years of infertility struggles. It was gloriously, gloriously positive. You can read all about that crazy night here. It's a good story. Full of pee splashes & nudity. ;)

Who is this Sarah person gestating my niece? Well, you may know Sarah as the lovely, round, and very glowy Mrs. Five Camels.

As Theresa and I pulled out of Sarah & Rob's driveway at the end of that happy weekend, I turned to Theresa, bounced up and down like a two year old on a sugar high, and gleefully squealed, "WE GET TO PLAN A BABY SHOWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DUDE, THERESA, I'VE GOT THIS!!!!!! I'VE BEEN PLANNING THIS FOREVER!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"

By November, Theresa and I had hammered out enough of the details that I felt confident enough to email her a ridiculously long & detailed outline (including inspiration pictures) entitled "SARAH'S BABY SHOWER - THE MASTER PLAN." There were headings, subheadings, and lots of bullet points. Theresa just rolled her eyes at me.

So *maybe* I was a tad excited at the prospect of becoming an aunt... Just a tad.

About a month and a half ago, Theresa and I started using our weekly Girls Nights to prepare as much as possible ahead of time. As this was a family baby shower, it was to be financed by my mother-in-law and held 5 hours away in NJ where the vast majority of our extended family lives. Thus, having as much done as possible before getting there was key to shower success.

This means that for the past month and a half, I've been obsessing over DIY baby shower details without my usual blogging outlet for sharing. And since I'm already queen of excessively long posts, if I were to do one big baby shower post right now, it would end up being the. longest. post. of. all. time.

So, get ready for a whole series of posts dedicated to baby shower stuffs in the coming week!

In the meantime, you can see some of the details and read about Sarah's experiences at the baby shower here. :)

Sarah's Baby Shower - The Main Table

When we (Theresa & I) started planning the baby shower, we knew that this would be the room we were working with.

It's a good-sized banquet room where we hold most of our big family events (key phrase: "big family"). In terms of size, tables, chairs, etc. it's perfect for our family party needs. However, the wood paneling, the big screen tv, the score board, the bar area, and the trophies make the room seem very Man Cave-ish. Very. You can practically feel the testosterone resonating from the walls.

So, our goal was to brighten everything up with super happy colors and allow the estrogen to shine through at the party. Honestly, if I could have draped the walls in white & yellow chevron striped fabric, I would have... and I briefly considered it (just think of the photo possibilities!)... but that was a little psycho, even for me. ;)

When we first started planning the shower, the only thing set in stone was that we'd have a milk & cookies bar... because what pregnant woman doesn't want milk and cookies?? We didn't know the gender of the baby yet, so we were still leaning towards gender neutral colors. However, once we knew we'd be having a niece, that idea got tossed out the window.

As we watched baby Katherine's nursery come together on Sarah's blog, it became clear that what this baby shower needed was a multitude of crazy cheerful colors. Not just one or two.

Then, as I was combing Google images for ideas on how to utilize my large collection of empty baby food jars, I came across this image:

And inspiration clicked! We could combine the happy colors of Katherine's nursery with the reception decor from Sarah's wedding! Look at the table centerpieces:

Daisies, a cute little clay pot of grass, and candle votives.

Why not use all those baby jars for tea lights & grass? We could deck them out in happy nursery colors and they'd be adorable! Plus, it would tie in the start of Sarah & Rob's marriage with the celebration surrounding the impending arrival of their first child!

So, Theresa, Joseph, and I took a trip to Michaels' scrapbook paper aisle and spent time debating and picking out paper until we had a color combination that made us happy.

Then we went and found matching ribbon. Good thing Joseph is too young to complain about shopping with females, right?

We then went back to her place, sat ourselves in front of some cheeseball chick flick, and got to work while Joseph played with Pooh & friends.

picture taken with phone

Since the party was to have a milk & cookies bar, Theresa decked out the jars in paper & ribbons while I cut circles for paper fortune cookies as favors to go on the main table using this tutorial:

Fortunately, I had my mom's scrapbooking circle cutter, so it went really fast! I folded them according to the directions and then used a paperclip to hold the ends together until the shower.

Theresa and I thought it would be neat to put funny little facts about Rob & Sarah inside instead of fortunes. We almost had to resort to calling Rob for help as we were typing them up, but decided to stalk Sarah's blog like creepers instead.

Theresa had the idea to make all the facts start with, "Did you know..." and it worked perfectly for us.

We wanted them to be amusing when people read them aloud, so we filled the cookies with fun little fact morsels like...

"Did you know... that Sarah got pee on Theresa when she told her she was pregnant?"

Yeah. We have no shame.

The vases were mason jars that Theresa had on hand and they were perfect because they are practically giant baby food jars. I'm easily amused by details like that... ;)

The little snowflakey things on the table runner were actually part of a larger doily that I picked up while thrifting with Sarah at a church bazaar. It's square shape offended me, so I cut it into smaller and much cuter little round doilies.

The table runners actually used to be one of my tablecloths. The very same tablecloth that I attempted to use as a pantry curtain ages ago:

The green was too much as a whole table cloth and I never used it, so since the color perfectly suited our color combination and since Sarah loves green, I cut it up into 4 strips and sewed all the edges. Voila! Instant table runners!

The morning of the shower, we sent Mom out for daisies. We had planned on white daisies like at Sarah's wedding, but told Mom that either yellow or pink would be okay too. She could only find yellow and I'm SO glad it turned out that way. They were so cheerful with the white & yellow pom poms.

On the original "Master Plan" outline, we had listed streamers, balloon garlands, buntings, & pom poms as possible decor. However, knowing Sarah's love for fluff, Theresa & I agreed that pom poms were the way to go. Plus, she has them over the crib in Katherine's nursery! We folded & tied all the tissue paper ahead of time, but waited until the morning of to fluff them.

They almost didn't make it up because we couldn't find a ladder and the ceiling was too high for Theresa to just stand on a chair and hang them. Theresa rigged a broom handle with tape & the pom pom strings & tried to hang them from the panels that way. In retrospect, it was kind of hilarious, but at the time, the lack of a ladder was stressing me out, so I didn't think to take pictures of Theresa's frustrated attempts. So sad. Fortunately, Aunt Paula arrived early & saved the day by locating the ladder for us.

Also, did you know that tissue pom poms on strings make for a great free for all pom pom fight at the end of a party??

You should file that little tidbit away for future parties. SO much fun for the kids.

See? Happy colors. Happy Sarah. Goal accomplished.

When Sarah first arrived at the shower and commented on the grass, I mentioned to her that the table decor was meant to mimic her wedding and provide continuity. She said we were going to make her cry. I just looked at her and said, "Dude. You have NO idea." Boy, was I right! Sneaky sisters. You can never trust them. ;)

Coming up... the cookie bar, game table, and the nitty gritty details about the creation of baby Katherine's quilt & camel (with a free pattern!).

Sarah's Baby Shower - Milk & Cookie Bar

I'm a big fan of the milk and cookie bar concept. How could it possibly be bad? I mean...

Milk. Yay!

Lots of cookies. Double YAY!

Milk & cookies together in a bar? WOO HOO! SPRING BREAK!

Fortunately, no one spiked the milk. That we know of... Hmm... Those kids were going kind of crazy with the pom poms there at the end... So, who knows...

As with the main table, a lot of the items on the milk & cookie table were actually things we already had on hand. The green runner was one of four runners I made by cutting up a tablecloth. The frames around the chalkboards are hand-me-down items from Stephen's Grandmother. I sometimes use them as photography props on shoots.

The chalkboard in the smaller frame was a blank canvas that Theresa already had. She painted it with chalkboard paint she had leftover from a previous project.

For the larger frame, Theresa bought and painted a piece of foam core board. Both were duct taped onto the backs of the frames. Very simple.

One of the milk jugs is a former apple cider jug from my Mom's house. I believe Theresa found the other bottles on clearance somewhere. And Theresa bought the ice bucket with the intention of using it her home somewhere.

The glass cookie jar collection was assembled from my china cabinet, Theresa's kitchen, and  my Mom's dish collection. Some of the cookie jars were even leftover from the candy bar at my wedding...

We included "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" on the table because it's a fabulous book and because it amused us to do so.

Same goes with the Cookie Monster. I came across an image of Cookie Monster trapped in a jar while staring longingly at a plate of cookies on Pinterest, cracked up, and immediately sent it to Theresa with, "WE HAVE TO DO THIS!" as the subject line. Fortunately, Theresa gets my sense of humor and agreed.

For shower prizes, Theresa assembled pre-measured cookie mixes in mason jars and included a recipe for "Baby Katherine's Country Oatmeal Cookies". You can see one of the prize jars behind Cookie Monster. They were scattered all throughout the milk & cookie table.

We had oatmeal, chocolate chip, nutella, checkerboard/pinwheel, lemon ABCs, gingerbread, peanut butter blossoms, and funfetti cookies in the jars. All of the cookies were homemade with the exception of the gingerbread. Theresa and I each made 4 types of cookie dough in the month prior to the shower and then froze them. Theresa even used Kim's method for freezing cookies ahead of time and I loved how easy it made everything. Definitely life-changing Kim! Thanks!

Two days before the shower, I had a big cookie bake-a-thon at my house. It smelled like someone set a cookie bomb off in the downstairs and it was heavenly. Joseph spent a lot of time moving his stool around trying to steal freshly baked cookies. Smart kid. He even got a hold of a few while I had my back turned and then looked at me like, "What?" when I put my hands on my hips and glared at him.

I guess it's only fair since he helped make half of the cookies.

He gets SO excited every time I pull out the mixer for anything. Really. He shakes and laughs in his dorky little way EVERY time. He helps me add all the ingredients, steals whatever tastes he can get, and then is COMPLETELY offended every time I do this:

MOM?! What do you mean I can't eat all of the dough??? WHY?? Why would you wrap it up like that?!?! Meanest. Mother. Ever.

But... But... It's GONE!!

Very upsetting. I don't let him eat the raw cookie dough when it has eggs in it... but when the dough is eggless...

...I have no qualms handing over the spatula.

At one point, he started licking his hands. It was kind of hilarious to watch.

Planning baby showers is the best, Mom!

That was one happy kid! Hip hip hooray for eggless nutella cookies!

And don't even get him started on sprinkles!

I sliced the pinwheel cookies while Joseph meticulously picked up all the stray sprinkles and popped them into his mouth.

Then he'd get really mad at me when I stuck the trays in the ovens. He thinks I'm so unreasonable, but he always likes the result.

Joseph's favorite cookie to make was probably the lemon ABC cookies. The kid is obsessed with letters and numbers. He can count to 10 (in order, without prompting!?!? when did that happen?!?!) and can identify all of the uppercase letters of the alphabet.

So cutting out letter cookies with Aunt Theresa? I think it rates right up there with choo choo trains.

Me: "Joseph, what letter are you holding?"

Joseph: "Effffff!"

For the cake, we wanted to keep it simple, something we could slap together right before the shower. Keeping with the theme, we settled on a giant "oreo".Theresa made two rounds of brownies in a quiche pan and we made an oreo/cream cheese/cool whip filling.

The cake was assembled a little haphazardly as a certain pregnant lady (*cough* Sarah *cough*) walked through the door 10 minutes early while I was putting it together. Then a certain little boy (*cough* Joseph *cough*) promptly fell and tried to knock out his front two teeth. But, whatever, it was tasty and Joseph still has his teeth, so all is well. :)

At the end of the party, we had everyone take the remaining cookies home in baggies as favors.

I think it went well. Hard to go wrong with a glass of milk and a homemade cookie.

Finally, all the credit for putting together the milk and cookie bar at the shower goes to the lovely Theresa. I'd let her blog and tell you all about it... but then you'd have to wait until December. ;)

But seriously... Bestest. Shower. Planning. Partner. EVAH!

Thank you, Pretty Lady, for keeping me grounded, for doing the vast majority of the shopping, and for all the good times. You rock my socks! :) Oh, and...

LOVE!