All in Parties
When planning Melody's First Birthday Party, I almost forgot about having some sort of signage that actually said Happy Birthday! It finally hit me that I probably needed something somewhere. When planning out decor, I noticed that the wall above the cake was going to be empty aside from the lanterns I planned to hang and some balloons. So I decided to come up with something using my Silhouette Cameo.
Melody's first birthday party was an ice cream themed party. The colors were general pastel with the focus on pink, blue, and yellow. I planned for her to have her smash cake in front of our fireplace so that everyone could see it. I also wanted to open gifts in this same location. I knew for gifts we would be sitting down, so I wanted to find some sort of decor that would cover up the actual fireplace. I already had banners and balloons for the mantel. I did some searching online and found where someone used streamers to cover their fireplace, so I decided to attempt that!
I have said this many times, but it is truly so hard to believe our little baby is ONE! I wanted a fun themed birthday party for Melody, but I didn't want to do a theme that she may want to do one day in the future. So Brad and I came up with an ice cream themed party. I personally loved the end result of the party, and it seemed to go over well with our family and friends. Below are some general birthday party pictures. This was a very DIY party, so I plan to post about all of the mini-projects that were involved. I will link them as they are posted, so be on the lookout for those if you are interested!
Melody was baptized at our local church, Asbury United Methodist Church, on February 19, 2017. Since I was not baptized as a baby, we did not have a gown that she could wear from me, so we found a gorgeous one at a local baby clothing store. Both fortunate and unfortunate, we purchased this dress for 40% off (fortunate), but the store is now out of business and was selling everything at a discount due to this (unfortunate). Brad parents actually bought her dress as a gift to Melody.
For my best friend's baby shower, I wanted to do something with the utensils and napkins to make it easier for guests when they are getting their plates. I decide to make napkin rings so that everything was easy to pick up all at once. Check it out below!
For my best friend's baby shower, I wanted to make more than just a diaper cake and mini diaper cake. I decided to also make diaper stork bundles. I thought these would be a cute addition to the baby shower.
For my best friend's baby shower, I decided to make the favors simple but cute. I wanted something that people might would actually use at some point. A lot of times you go to showers and weddings and end up with favors that you just throw away. I did some research and decided to use candles somehow. I mean people can always find a purpose for candles. Using washi tape, I was able to make some cute and decorative tea light candles for everyone to take home. Check it out below!
My cousin is having a baby boy in October. We celebrated baby Samuel at her baby shower recently. I struggle to just go and buy a gift without making a basket out of it. I looked over her baby registry, and I decided I wanted to do a bath gift set. Sure, you can go buy pre-made ones, but why do that when you can make your own?!? So I went to Target and started my search. I bought as much bath stuff as I could from her registry. I wanted the "basket" to be the actual bath tub, but our Target did not have the one she registered for, so I had to improvise. Check it out below:
I made a larger diaper cake for my best friend's baby shower, but I decided to use some of the other diapers and ribbon I had left over to make "mini" diaper cakes. I am a huge fan of decorating with items that can either be given to the guest of honor as a gift or that you get to keep yourself. These diaper cakes doubled a cute décor and a much needed gift for the mommy to be. See below!
For my best friend's baby shower, I gave her a couple of options for a guestbook. Since she would be the one displaying it, I wanted her involved to an extent without giving too much away. I found some different options through Pinterest, and I let her pick. She thought it would be cute to have an elephant and balloons that people signed. So I took that idea and ran with it.
Originally I had not planned to do this at my best friend's baby shower. However, after doing her diaper cakes and stork bundles, I had some diapers left over. I decided that this would be a much cuter way to give her the diapers rather than throwing them in a bag. I designed a cute sign and used a picture frame from Hobby Lobby to put it in. I also found an adorable basket at Hobby Lobby that went with the color scheme that I put the diapers in. I bought Sharpies in a variety of colors and used a small vase to put them in next to the diapers. I put these next to the party favors for everyone to sign before they left!
The baby shower pin game is one that most people already know about and do. But I did try to add some creativity in the way I presented the game to the guests at the shower.
About a year and a half ago, I did a blog post with a shower hostess gift idea. This was for one of my bridal showers. Below are the gifts I gave my hostesses of my baby showers. It isn't baby specific so these gifts can be given to a hostess of any shower really.
For my best friend's baby shower, I decided to design and create the baby shower invitations from scratch. Below is how I did the design, and then I also give some guidance on how I assembled them!
For my best friend's baby shower, the theme was pink and gray elephants. I decided to make a cute sign to let guests know where to put their gifts for the mommy to be. I used white cardstock and found a cute pink picture frame at Hobby Lobby. I used the same elephants that I used throughout her baby shower and printed that along with the words "Gift Table" onto the cardstock. I placed the picture from on the table we were using at the shower for gifts. This is super simple and easy, but adds a nice touch to any party.
I came up with the idea of making my own wine charms when I was trying to come up with a good party favor. While I actually never used these for party favors, I still think the idea of making your own is ideal for any occasion. And if you aren't a wine drinker, they can still be used on any glass with a stem to help everyone identify their glass! You can easily change out the beads or even the charms to make each one unique!
For my best friend's baby shower, I decided to make her a corsage rather than go buy a generic flower one. A ribbon corsage is actually really easy to make and it makes is a little more special since it is something they can keep forever since it won't die like a flower one.
At my best friend's baby shower, she agreed to play Baby Shower Bingo. She isn't big on games, but this was one she approved of. I designed the bingo cards myself so that it could match the theme. I printed two bingo cards per sheet. I bought white card stock from Hobby Lobby to print the cards on. I used a paper cutter to cut the sheet in half.
My family hosted a sweet baby shower for Miss Melody back in March. Check out the Princess Themed pictures below!
My best friend is also having a baby girl. She is due only 10 days after me. Our husbands are convinced we planned this, but we really didn't. Anyhow, my mom and I planned her an elephant themed baby shower. Her nursery colors are going to actually be yellow and gray, but we opted for pink and gray for the shower since she is having a girl. She is going to be using elephants in her nursery as well. There will be future posts regarding the crafts I did for the baby shower, but below is an overview!
