Those of you who have followed my blog for pretty much any amount of that know I’m more of a meal in the crock-pot and beer in the fridge type of party host. However, for my best friend’s baby shower, I really wanted to go all out and make it a super special day for her, and I think I did a pretty great job!
I tried to keep the entire party in the yellow & turquoise theme since those were the colors of her nursery already, and I wanted her to be able to use any of the decorations she wanted to keep after the party. Since this themed-party stuff doesn’t come to me naturally, I spent a LOT of time cruising Pinterest for ideas. I figured it might help somebody else if I linked everything here in one place in case anyone else wanted to use a similar theme for their baby shower or kid’s birthday party!
It all started with the party invitation. My friend wanted me to just do an e-vite, so when I found this twinkle twinkle themed baby shower invitation, I was stoked! It totally matched the colors of her nursery, and I thought it was an adorable theme for a baby shower.
Decorations:
Baby Clothing Clothes Line
I normally don’t buy clothing for baby showers, just because people tend to get a lot of clothing gifted to them and not so much the boring essentials that they actually need in those first days and weeks and months. In this case I figured they could double as a fun decoration though, so I went to the local second hand children’s clothing store and scored everything you see for about $25 total. Not bad for a cute decoration I could send home with the Mommy-to-be!
Star Garland
I saw this idea on Pinterest and immediately knew I wanted to do some variation of it. I bought a pack of cardstock paper at the local craft store along with a star paper punch, and Stella helped me punch out a bunch of stars. I gave the stack of stars to a friend who is good with a sewing machine, and she sewed them into strands for me. I just taped them to the top of my window sill behind the dining room table where the food would be served for a little extra ambiance. I LOVE how they turned out, and the baby mama wanted to take them home to hang in the nursery window afterwards. Score!
Chalkboard Wall with Twinkle Twinkle Rhyme
A few months ago we did a DIY project (a magnetic chalkboard wall) next to our dining room table, so as soon as I saw this printable on Etsy, I knew I wanted to try to recreate it in large version on the wall. SO many people commented on it – and best of all, it was FREE!
Diaper Cake
I feel like diaper cakes are a pretty standard decoration at baby showers now days, but maybe I’m wrong? My 3 year old thought it was SO silly that we made a diaper cake, because “people don’t eat DIAPERS, Mama!” 🙂 Here is the tutorial I followed. I just bought a 100pk of size 1 diapers off of my friend’s baby registry, a bag of rubber bands, and a couple decorations from the local craft store, and bam! After my kids and husband were in bed one night, I stayed up late watching my TV shows, having drinks and building a diaper cake. Not a bad night!
Food: Mostly in a star shaped theme, obviously! 😉
Savory Cheese Crackers
My friend made these so I have no idea what recipe she followed. Apparently they’re kind of like cheese straws and are a Mississippi thing? People loved them!
Star Shaped Tortilla Chips
These were deceptively easy to make! I just bought a pack of corn tortillas, cut them into star shapes with a cookie cutter, and brushed them with oil before tossing them into the oven. Follow the instructions here.
I paired these with a little sample platter of hummus, salsa, and a cheese spread. Delish!
Star Shaped Fruit Bowl
My friend is a HUGE watermelon fiend – and that’s when she’s not pregnant. Since getting pregnant, she can basically eat an entire melon in a sitting, so I knew I wanted fresh fruit as one of the food selections. Since I had bought a pack of assorted sizes of star shaped cookie cutters, I bought cantaloupe (aka – “muskmelon” if you’re from MN!), watermelon, and pineapple to cut into star shapes. I also bought a star fruit (fancy!) and some blackberries & kiwi for color contrast.
Star Shaped Sausage Biscuits
I found this link and just knew they’d be delicious! I prepped them about 3 hours ahead of time and waited to bake them which made the pastry fall and not be so fluffy (oops), but they were still super tasty – especially when paired with that dipping sauce! I’ll definitely make these for a football party or something in the future.
Star Shaped Cheese & Crackers
Pretty self explanatory on this one. 🙂 I just cut out star shaped cheese slices (and saved the extras for melting / snacking on) and arranged them on a try with some water crisp crackers. Delish!
Star Shaped Sandwiches
I did two variations for the party – a classic BLT and a prosciutto/gouda cheese/chipotle & mayo spread (I used Board’s Head Fiery Chipotle Gourmaise). I also saw PB&J versions for a kid’s birthday party! I meant to toast the bread before assembling so they’d look more like this, but two of my girlfriends came over 30 minutes before the party and I wasn’t ready yet, so I had them assemble the sandwiches while I finished getting dressed. Afterwards I thought OOPS(!), but everyone still loved them.
My friend LOVVVVVES bacon, so I wanted to do deviled eggs with a piece of crispy bacon on top. If my time management skills were better, I’d have used a frosting piper to make the filling have a star shape on top, but I totally ran out of time. Honestly – everyone loves deviled eggs, no matter how they look, right? 🙂
Star Shaped Wild Mushroom Puff Pastries
The last item I had wanted to do were these puff pastries. My friend that was going to make them had a wee kitchen explosion that morning though, so instead she brought these stars from Trader Joe’s because she had them in her cupboard. They were a hit, of course!
Photo Courtesy of Bake at 350 – http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/2014/12/trader-joes-mini-dark-chocolate-mint-stars-review.html
Oh! And last but not least, one of my girlfriends took a cake decorating class on a whim last year, and she’s gotten really good at it! I asked her to make a star cake for the shower, and this is what she came up with. I loved it!
So there you go! A star shaped twinkle twinkle extravaganza. It is probably the only baby shower I’ll ever throw, but man it was fun. I also had fruit water (I can’t believe I forgot a picture of this! Basically a big glass container filled with water and a selection of fruit – cranberries, lemons, oranges, etc), sparkling wine & OJ for mimosas, and a selection of spring time beers for drinks. There’s something to be said for doing more than sloppy joes & beer I guess. 😉
Me and my two best friends. Last time we took a picture like this, the opposite women were pregnant. 🙂