Little Miss Party

View Original

Erika's Bookish Baby Shower

My best friend from college, Steph, and her mom were throwing a Baby Shower for Steph's sister Erika.  Since this is Erika's first child, they wanted the shower to be extra special, and they asked me to help with the decor to give it an LMP touch. The Sandberg's are like family to me, so I jumped at the opportunity!

Steph and her mom had already thrown a smaller shower for Erika over the Holidays at their grandmothers house, and this shower was for the Dad's side and also everyone from Erika's hometown. At the first shower, they had done a book theme, and we were able to reuse some of the decor items from that, such as this adorable Golden Books banner and these BABY marquee letters.

Since Erika and her husband, John Paul, are not going to find out the sex of the baby before the birth, we kept the colors neutral - soft green, yellow, orange and white, with hints of metallic gold and silver.

I used the metallic confetti balloon with gold fringe from our Shower Party in a Box, and supplemented it with jumbo white and regular latex balloons on our chosen colors.

We kept the food simple with dishes that either Steph's mom made, or the guests brought for a delicious lunch buffet.  We provided wine and beer, and a beautiful "Make Your Own Mimosa" Bar.  I set up champagne to chill in an ice bucket, with a carafe of OJ and cut up fruit in the pretty paper cups that come in our Shower in a Box.

For the gift station, I hung a "Welcome Baby Igoe" banner on the fireplace for people to put all of the gifts under, and we set up a gift opening station nearby for when Erika was ready to open everything.

Their mom had found a bunch of Erika's blankets from when she was a baby, so we draped a nearby chair with a beautiful embroidered one for her to sit on when it was gift time!

For dessert, Erika and Steph are both gluten-free, so Steph had coordinated for the cake to be gluten-free, and for there to be a variety of gluten-free and regular cupcakes, which were color coded so the guests could choose their preference.  I topped the cake with a silver glitter "Oh Baby" cake topped from out favorite, All That Glitters Party Shoppe.

I topped the cupcakes with gold glitter animal cupcake toppers by Paper and Parties, and placed them in this super cool cupcake tree that Steph's mom has!

Steph also made an incredible diaper cake for Erika out of a ton of clean diapers that she had rolled up, which acted as a perfect supplement to the dessert table.

Too add to the decor, I sprinkled silver confetti over the dessert table and bar, and placed fresh white flowers in bud vases around the room.

A few months before the shower, I had taken some maternity photos for Erika and John Paul in Central Park, which Erika had framed, so we placed those photos around the room, along with an ultra sound of the baby.

On the coffee table in the present opening area, Steph put out some baby shower games that she had printed, with markers for each guest to fill out as the shower went on.

In keeping with the book theme, Steph printed out pages from some of the most popular baby books, and we string them down white columns that are throughout the room.

Finally, we set up a favor station, which had soaps and "bookworms" - aka gummy worms, for guests to take home!

Thank you so much to the Sandberg & Igoe families for letting me be a part of this special day!