Since this was a second baby shower, I wanted it to be more like a kid-friendly tea party than a traditional guess-how-big-Mama’s-belly-is/gift bingo/grown up shower. I also wanted it to be girly but not princessy, cute but not over the top, and to involve lots and lots AND LOTS of food. I actually stumbled into a nursery rhyme theme after reading Little Evan his favorite Mother Goose book for the bazillionth time (he specifically requests the “this little piggy” and “one, two, buckle my shoe” pages because they involve being tickled at the end). “Boy,” I thought to myself, “there sure are a lot of baked goods in these nursery rhymes!”

And thus a theme was born.

I thought it would be super easy to just pick up some Mother Goose craft paper & fabric, grab a couple books from my shelf and be done with it but it turns out nursery rhymes are soooo 1900’s and not very popular anymore so I had to improvise. But it all ended up coming together really well and only involved three trips to the craft store and two to Target with a day of online shopping thrown in for fun.

(click on collages to see them bigger – I know a lot of stuff is kind of too small to read but trust me, it’s better than posting them all individually)

Decorations:

Adorable book-themed invites from Tiny Prints (free tip: ask around Twitter for discount codes – sometimes people give them to you and the invitations you thought were too expensive end up being just right.)

Baby Girl diaper cake done by the VERY talented Joanna of Raising Madison. She was a doll to work with and even made the cake fit my theme with the Farmer in the Dell animals.

Collection of geese (aka ducks I just called geese) on the mantle from Goodwill.

I found the adorable customizable pennants and gift tags in hedgehogstudio’s shop on Etsy for only $5. I used the pennants (printed in 2 different sizes) to make “Welcome!” banners and one over the mantle that says “Rock-a-bye Baby”. I used the gift tags as book marks for the nursery rhyme books I passed out as favors – an INCREDIBLY lucky find in the $1 bin at Target.

My original plan to just scan in pictures of each nursery rhyme from vintage books was cut short when I realized that probably broke about a zillion copyright laws and after a few minutes of trying to find public domain images I was ready to give up. Luckily, Etsy saved the day again with 20 2×2 vintage nursery rhyme illustrations for only $2.50. I cut them out & glued them to ribbon to hang behind the food table and attached the ones that matched the food to the food labels.

The tablecloths are all fabric ordered from Fabric.com.

The sparkly butterflies were in the 80% off Halloween clearance at Michael’s.

Yarn wreath made by me: it’s yarn scraps wrapped around a styrofoam form. Easiest thing ever – but REALLY time consuming to wrap all that yarn.

The blessing tree was an idea I saw mentioned on Ohdeedoh a few weeks ago and stuck with me – I used the same small book of craft paper (called Nana’s Nursery, bought at Joann’s) for the hanging tags on the tree as for the food labels and the backing on the nursery rhymes I scattered around as decorations.

The books on the mantel are a combination of my own from when I was a kid, my mom’s from when SHE was a kid, a few I found at Goodwill and one special moving-picture book I bought especially for Baby Sandy.

The children loved the coloring book pages I found online and printed out, along with my box of 200 crayons. Many of them took their beautiful creations home as souvenirs.

And I just can’t go without pointing out the tea and the plates/napkins are in (a tisket a tasket) green and yellow baskets. MY THEME WAS SO COHESIVE.

Food:

Menu:

Little Jack Horner Thumb Print Cookies (declared the most delicious thumb print cookies ever by all my guests & made by E so obviously not super hard – I think the secret was we used boysenberry jam because I couldn’t find plum – recipe here)

Little Boy Blueberry Muffins (recipe from Tasty Kitchen – also made by E & his dad and also DELICIOUS)

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater Pumpkin Cookies (recipe from Amy @ A Good Life)

That’s What Little Girls Are Made of Sugar Cookies (bought the nursery rhyme cookie cutters on Ebay)

This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef Sandwiches

This Little Piggy Had None Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

Humpty Dumpty Deviled Eggs

Mary Mary Quite Contrary Garden Veggies

Jack and Jill Went Up The Hill To Fetch a Pail of Watermelon & Fruit

Peter Piper Pickled Peppers

Three Blind Mice Cheese and Crackers

Jack-a-dandy Sugar Candy (aka Smarties & Starlight mints)

Polly Put The Kettle On Tea

Punch and Judy Party Punch

And, because I am AWESOMELY AWESOME, I found a nursery rhyme that included wine: one of the middle verses of Old Mother Hubbard.

Erin (Wedding Erin for those who know what I mean) made this entire cake from scratch – the cake, the frosting, the fondant and the decorations. One layer was strawberry and the other was vanilla that she made with a no-crap actual vanilla bean. It was DELICIOUS. I’ve stuffed myself with cake every day since the shower and we STILL have some left over. I’m totally blaming Erin when my doctor announces I’ve gained 15 pounds at my next appointment.

Friends (really the very best friends anyone could ask for):

More than half the photos (and all the good ones) taken by Erin of Open Shutter Photography. She’s not only my BFF, she’s INCREDIBLY talented with both her camera and Photoshop and can make even a 35 week pregnant Sasquatch look pretty adorable. (You can like her on Facebook here)

Exhibit A:

Headband from TwentyFiveDesign, sweater is at Target RIGHT NOW (not even maternity)

Thank you again bunches and bunches and bunches to The Erins, my in-laws, and my friends who came. I hope you all had as much fun as I did. Oh and if you ever want to pay me gobs of money (or let me SPEND gobs of your money) to plan a party, just let me know. I’m available.

If you’ve read all the way to the end of this, you deserve a piece of cake. Come over and I will TOTALLY give you one right now.

OK, so this isn’t technically a BABY shower or in any way baby related – at least I don’t think it is, unless the bride Has Something to Tell Us – but I’m still SUPER excited about all the cute stuff I found in planning the decorations and favors for my friend Erin’s bridal shower. If I was at all capable of sticking to a budget I would seriously consider going to event planner school (is that a thing?) or just printing up a bunch of business cards and begging people to let me plan their parties. But, alas, I am incapable of not going WILDLY OVERBOARD with adorable things I find on Etsy and would get fired immediately when I spent twice what I was allowed.

Man, I love Etsy. Hardcore love. I think I’ll marry it and get it pregnant.

P.S. Erin, if you want to be surprised on Saturday, LOOK AWAY! Although if you secretly hate the color pink and think butterflies are tacky and break out in hives when in the same room as tiny soap, it would probably be best to check out the post below and prepare yourself.

Clockwise from top left:
1. Shower invites from Tiny Prints
2. Two yards of fabric from JoAnn’s that I’m going to hem for a tablecloth (although this still isn’t done as of 11 pm on Thursday)
3. LESS THAN HALF of my milkglass collection I’m going to fill with pink/blue flowers as a centerpiece
4. Thank you notes (that match my colors!) from Target

Clockwise from top left:
1. ABSOFREAKINLUTELY ADORABLE print from Hugs & Kisses Designs (done by my friend Becca). She usually makes those with baby info but I forced convinced her to make a wedding one! Part decor, part gift. Uh, that WAS supposed to be a surprise. Oh well.
2. Prizes for the guests who win the shower games (which will NOT include wrapping anyone in toilet paper) – wrapping paper from Target, actual gifts are from Bath & Body Works
3. Mini soaps to be given out as favors from BLCBodyShop. She custom wrapped them in my colors and printed “A sunny future starts with a shower” without even once laughing at my corniness. They are coconut lime scented. I did not eat any. Yet.
4. Tiny paper butterflies to perch on the edges of all the guests’ glasses from byemma. I saw these and spent at least 30 minutes looking for a tutorial on how to make my own before I realized they were so inexpensive I couldn’t even buy the paper cheaply enough to make it worthwhile to do-it-myself. I LURVE THEM.

P.S. Do YOU have an Etsy shop? Please let me know. Unless you are Emily, because I have already called dibs on everything in her shop, so don’t even THINK about buying any of those clippies or dresses.

I am super-duper, totally, ridiculously, unbelievably thrilled that Ohdeedoh is featuring Baby Evan’s Carnival birthday party today! The creative, modern, brilliant ideas on their website always inspire me, even if I’m not creative, modern or brilliant enough to actually use any of them. I live in Connecticut, which invented  flea-markets-masquerading-as-antique-dealers.  I am totally not cool enough for pale wood furniture, minimalist design and funky colors. I’m really more of an antiquey, junky, cluttery kind of decorator, as evidence by my crowded bookcases, mismatched furniture and collection of chicken shaped candy dishes (come back Friday to see them). I am no where near stylish enough for any legitimate publication, unless someone publishes Useless Collections of Candleholders and Mirrors Monthly.

So when I submitted Evan’s first birthday to Ohdeedoh I had almost no hope of being selected. Most of the parties I’ve seen featured have been done by moms who just HAPPEN to be party planners or professional photographers or Etsy craft sellers too (check out this Fairy Garden Party or this Lego Party) – but I’m honored the editors liked my ideas! I’m so proud of myself and my friends who helped make such an amazing party possible, especially Amanda and her fantastic cake.

If you missed my birthday posts the first time, you can find them here.

Evan’s First Birthday: Photo Booth
Evan’s First Birthday: Friends
Evan’s First Birthday: Decorations
Evan’s First Birthday: Food

The photographs I used for the party were taken by Nina Benjamin of Nina Benjamin Photography here in Connecticut. She’s also the photographer partnered with Papoose, my favorite baby store so you can check out more of her work there if you happen to be in the area.

And check out these photos my BFF Erin took. She’s just started her own photography business in the Philadelphia area and did a fantastic job catching all the little details of my party. You can contact her at openshutterpa@gmail.com

I couldn’t find a good spot for the photo booth so ended up hanging it in front of my china cabinet. The lighting was not the best and I didn’t manage to get everyone but it was still a super cute idea. I would recommend assigning someone to catch all the guests as them come in the door and forcing them to engage in your fun photo opportunity. Including the noses!!

I don’t even know how many people came for the party but it was AMAZING. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family! I’ve never had such a successful party before, including all my own childhood birthdays. I wasn’t the most popular child. Maybe this is a good sign for his elementary school status, although if I have to throw a party this elaborate every year for the next decade I’m going to need access to a much larger budget. And also some high quality pharmaceuticals.

p.s. If you want a copy of your picture let me know!