Baby Shower!
My friend Ashley and I met about a year ago working home health. As she's moved on, we've continued to meet and have coffee regularly. I volunteered to help with her baby shower as soon as I found out she was expecting! It was going to be a group effort, but the other volunteers kind of fell off the train, so I did most of the planning... and had so much fun doing it!! Ashley and Sam brought the food (and lots of it!) and another friend brought cake. Yours truly brought decorations and games.
Ashley is having a baby girl and the nursery theme is Japanese cherry blossoms and pandas. (How cute!) We went with the same theme for the shower! Invitations were delivered in person or by mail, and we did a facebook invite:
As the shower was co-ed, and a pretty large group, I tried to plan "Opt In" Games, that people could do at their leisure. On the card with instructions, I wrote what time the winner would be announced.
I got the idea for the first 3 games from
this site, found on Pinterest, and then customized to our theme.
We didn't end up using the Word Scramble, with the way the crowd worked out. It was a large co-ed crowd and not only would coordinating it have been difficult, but we didn't need it! But the Play-doh Babies were a big hit.
The winner had pony-tails, a diaper, and a belly button!! Of course, we also did the Guess How Many game (pictured below right).
Also on Pinterest, got the idea for Panda Darake (pictured above left). The goal is to get all the little pandas inside the tire using the chopsticks. Nobody won that. I'm not sure it's possible! But it was fun to try:)
From family and friends all over, Ashley is collecting items for a "time capsule," that Baby Girl will open on her 18th birthday. We had cards for people to write a letter to the baby (with some ideas, such as-- tell the baby what you think she will be when she grows up, or your favorite memory with her mom or dad). Suspecting that some would need more guidance, there was also a "fill-in-the-blank" option with lines such as "I hope you respect_______" and "I hope you remember__________" (also found on
Pinterest).
Per Ashley's request, we also had a "Sooo Big" guessing game, where everyone guessed the circumference of Ashley's belly. (The fruit basked worked perfectly-- two holes punched in each name card-- one to put ribbon through, the other to hang on the hook.)
Then, we had a candy bar!! I got the idea from my new sister-in-law's bridal shower, but as I was planning, I saw a lot of similar ideas-- this is coming to be a fad, I think. I was able to find lots of bulk, pink candy online for pretty cheap. And of course, I had to add some Hershey bars with the pink "she" colored in. I was very pleased to find the perfect sized bags at Hobby Lobby- $2 for 36!
Next, the "Photo booth" that wasn't a booth, but was a tablecloth and some streamers on the wall, and a camera :) and some props! These props are from
Oh Happy Day's blog-- they were easy to make, and I can re-use them!
The lighting in this room was terrible for pictures, it turned out.... next time I will bring some lamps, and I will have a couple pre-printed photos to hang up to give people an idea what I mean-- like, using the white boards, which only one person did :)
Also, next time I won't put the props in
these beads. They are really neat (!) but everyone who touched the prop dowels said, "Ew, it's wet."
I had so much fun finding prizes for the games! Tazo passion tea, a black picture frame (with a printed picture of a cherry blossom to keep with the theme), a couple variety of Japanese Cherry Blossom products from Bath & Body Works, a Panda Express gift card, and a lucky bamboo with a panda on the side (hard to see above, but it looks kind of like
this.)
Decorations included pink and white paper lanterns (not pictured unfortunately), pink and black table cloths, and some artificial cherry blossoms in water beads.
The cake, provided by another friend of Ashley's. SOO cute and also delicious!
Sarah and Ashley :)
