A Zebra Baby Shower for Andrea

Last June I had the honor of throwing a baby shower for my long time friend and college roommate, Andrea.  She has always had such a wild and fun loving spirit so the animal print theme seemed very appropriate!   



While guest were waiting for everyone to arrive, I had a table set up for them to leave words of encouragement or advice as Andrea began her role as a mother.  The table also included a variety of index cards, scrapbook paper and stickers to allow guest to add their personal flair. Later the cards and pages were combined into a book for expectant mother!

A bunch style menu was served for this afternoon party.  Chicken salad sandwiches, deviled eggs, fruit and veggies, meat balls and premade mini cheesecakes.  Very little time was spent on cooking but presentation made this buffet elegant and impressive.  You may begin to notice throughout my blog that my serving ware is usually the same ceramic white sets.  I love having the basics and being able to dress them up with different linens and decor.  The Zebra print table cloth shown here is actually just a remnant of fabric I found on clearance at a craft store! I simply bunched it up and layed my dishes on top.  Height variation can help liven up a boring buffet.  The plate of strawberries in the back is actually just sitting on an upside down bowl! Hiding boxes and bowls under table clothes is a little trick I like to use to achieve the pedestal look.

I had originally planned to place the silverware in cute little basket but I somehow forgot to pack them when I was getting everything ready for the shower.  Quick on my feet, I grabbed some scrap book paper, cut it to size and put it down inside these drinking glasses!

 

 

This zebra table runner is also made from a remnant found a fabric store. I added the hot pink feather boa to give a fun sassy accent!

 

While everyone was finishing up snacks we played a matching game where each guest drew a card with a name of a well known parent or child.  Then had to get up, find whoever had their match, and sit next to them for the next activity.

Examples:
Marge and Homer Simpson - Bart, Lisa, & Maggie
Britney Spears - Sean Preston & Jayden James
Danny Tanner - DJ, Stephanie, & Michelle
Gwyneth Paltrow - Apple

Next, requested by the mother-to-be, we played the dirty diaper game.  Different candy bars, baby foods, and other random edible items were put in diapers.  Guest could taste, touch, feel, smell etc. as they tried to guess what was in them.  

 

Little details, such as this number tag for the dirty diaper game, tend to make big impressions!

View of the entry way banner from the second story.

 

 

These bath fizers, candles, and notebooks found at hobby lobby made perfect prizes for our games. The cards and words of wisdom where added to the pink scrap book shown here.

 

Girly Dinosaur Party

My daughter absolutely loves dinosaurs so this year I had to get creative in order to throw her a feminine Dino-Mite party.  After searching several party stores and websites full of boyish party supplies I finally found my inspiration piece to base my party theme around! These handmade cupcake toppers were purchase through http://www.etsy.com/shop/paperclever. The original listing was for bold primary colors but the designer, Robin, is able make them in just about any color!   

To create the vibrant frosting colors I used concentrated gel colors made by Wilton.  A little bit goes a long way! They can be found at your local craft store or you can visit http://www.wilton.com to purchase online.
  

Robin also created this beautifully detailed banner 
that we kept after the party to hang in our daughter's play room. I love this banner so much I feel I must post another picture so you can see the intricate craftsmanship!  

With the larger crowd this year, my husband and I decided to use our garage space as an extra party room. We did not want our guest to have to stare at our tools/lawn equipment so we ended up wrapping the entire garage with rolls of plastic table clothes. A staple gun was used to secure the plastic to the ceiling and again at the bottom of the wall. Then we finished off the look with streamers and tissue paper puffs.  The total cost for this project was less than $20.  The end result turned out looking like a fun circus tent! Far better than we had imagined. 

 Dino-Mite Menu

Prehistoric Pizza

Brontosaurus Burgers 

 Pterodactyl wings (Buffalo wings)

Paleontologist Pasta Salad

Deviled Dino Eggs

T-Rex Tortilla Rolls

Volcano Veggies

Stegosaurus snack mix (homemade chex mix)



 

Food labels were made using sparkly scrap booking  letters and stickers on white card stock, free hand cutting the zig zag/ lightening design. Then I simply mounted it onto a square of sea foam green card stock and folded it in half!

And No Dinosaur party would be complete with out a Dino Dig .  We filled my daughter's plastic baby pool with a few bags of clean sand and buried dollar store dinosaur toys.  Each little girl received a Prehistoric Dinosaurs Pith Helmet (purchased from Party City) , a bucket, shovel and all the dinosaurs they dug up as a party favor!