Sunday, September 8, 2013

Baby Shower

When I first moved to San Antonio 14 years ago, I made a friends with a group of girls. To this day I still talk to most of them. It's amazing where our lives have taken us all, and how we have changed. We have moved, married, and added kids. Babies, are one of the reasons for the most recent get together. 
My good friend Brandy and I wanted to throw a baby shower for our friend Jen.  



She is pregnant with her second child. With 12 years since the last, we knew she needed EVERYTHING. So we put together a circus baby shower....one of my favorite themes! 

Yes...I did a circus theme for my sisters shower (see here), so I knew we had to change it up. We still used the painted party animals, because they are so dang cute, but I came up with some fun new circus ideas. 

Check out the party.....


Games are not a big thing at showers anymore. While the mom wants to be the center of attention, she doesn't always like to "guess the poop candy" or "tell how many sheet of toilet paper around she is". We don't need to draw any extra attention to our waistlines during this time of our life!! However, you do need to fill the time somehow. So at our shower we decided on a more crafty theme. You never know how these things will turn out, if anyone will even get into it, and be crafty...but at our party these ladies brought their "A" game. We set up a onesie station, and had all sorts of fabric cut outs, and embellishments laid out. The onesies were set up in a vintage suitcase with a sign letting you know what to do 



We set up an ironing station, where you would iron on your fabric cutouts, then glue embellishments on. People also signed their names with fabric markers. Everyone was very creative.










 We set up a box with diapers, were people could leave a little note to the couple on a diaper. For a few laughs during those late night changes, and perhaps explosions. 


We also had a fortune telling station, complete with fortune teller sign, fortune teller fish, and good-old-fashion  paper fortune tellers. I loved these so much at the last party, I had to use them again. From Darling Girl Paper, on Etsy. She customizes them, and you print them off and fold them up. We put fun pregnancy, and baby trivia on the flaps, and on the inside, was a mad lib for guests to fill out and glue in a book as a keepsake.



Brandy reading her fortune from the ever truthful fortune telling fish. 




We set up a drink station in the kitchen area. I used a piece of canvas to cover the table, with a colorful piece of fabric folded across the top. For the banner I bought basic cotton fabric, the thin stuff, that matched the decorative fabrics. I had my daughter put this together, she 11, so if she can do it anyone can do it. I bought about 3/4 of a yard in about 6 colors. I clipped one side of the length of fabric all the way down, just a half and inch into the fabric, at 1 inch increments.. Going the long ways. This just helps start the ripping process. Then my daughter, ripped it into strips starting at each cut, it goes very fast. I cut a length of hemp a bit longer than the table, and a bit extra to drape down. Put a knot where the fabric should start, and she just knotted them on with a bit of fabric left at the top. We had lots of strips left over. For the name banner, I cut triangles and painted a letter on it, and glued ribbon across the top, nothing fancy. 







I used some animals, with some new wood tags from my shop, to label the drinks. These cute mason jar drink dispensers were from Bed Bath and Beyond.  




The table had a fun pink fabric as a runner, and a bunch of jumbo party animals trotting down the table.





The food table we set up on the island. I needed a good centerpiece, and something to hold the sandwiches. So I created circus wagons (which you can get here). I made 4 different ones, to hold two kinds of sandwiches. The sandwiches were tied with fabric from the banners. I used the animals again with the wood tags, to label all the food.


Instead of plates, we used these really cute cardboard paper trays from Pink Lemonade Party, and placed colored cups inside. For the deserts we used small cardboard trays from Creative Juice Cafe.











We had such a great time, with great people, for a deserving mother...due anyday!
Can't wait!

Now go throw someone a party!!!

Check out my shop, for other circus, and party decorations. 
Thank you to my dear friend Paige, from Paige to Page Photography for helping with pictures.











  

3 comments :

  1. Hi Alyson! What a fantastic idea! The set ups look amazing :) What did you do for the fortune telling section? I am organising a baby shower for my sister in law with a vintage circus theme so this would be awesome!

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    1. That's Kelly, I used fortune tellers that I had custom made from darling girl on Etsy. I also used fortune teller fish for fun decorations.

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  2. Could you tell me what type of baby trivia you used on the fortune tellers? Also a more clear picture of the mad libs. I cannot tell what it says really.

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