I'm going to be an Aunt!

And it's a boy!!!

This past weekend I hosted a baby shower, with my brothers mother-in-law, for my sister-in-law. We had a blast!

First of all, I have hosted several baby and bridal showers in my day and I've attended twice as much. So my party planning these days are on point! I am not much into major games and more so into classy, elegant affairs for the ones I love (not that smelling the chocolatey diaper and making toilet paper dresses aren't fun). Plus, my sister-in-law is pretty reserved and wanted something a little more on the quiet side. 

I was going for a burlap inspired, chicy-rustic, boy feel. So I envisioned cut wood, driftwood, burlap and lots of photos of the happy couple as their fresh-faced baby selves. So lets jump into the crafts that I did. 

I made a whole bag of smaller poms that I intended to hang but when it came down to it, it just wasn't going with the feel I had planned all along. I was originally thinking they would bring in the tacky, baby shower feel but I also ran out of time. Oh well. 

Bag of poms to be used some other time maybe. 

While browsing the 70% off sale at Michael's I found several rolls of this really pretty ribbon that I had to have. It was similar to burlap but more of a textured print. I happened to have the wreath ring already so I watched Burlap Wreath how-to on YouTube and this is what I ended up with. I like it and used it as decoration and now my brother and sister-in-law have made it their year-round wreath.

I can be quite crafty when I want to be (If I may toot my own horn). I saw this burlap flag banner at Hobby Lobby and I knew I had to paint something on them. With a stroke of luck, my mother-in-law (she's my brothers mother-in-law but she's like family to me) had the letter stencils and I got to work painting the letters. While watching Food Fighters on NBC, I mixed a little acrylic paint with water, held down the stencil (really hold it down to get a clean edge) and painted out my letters. I loved the way it turned out. See the very bottom of the post for the final result.

As I mentioned before, I am not big on games and at a recent shower I co-hosted, we had the guests address envelopes to help out the new parents. This time I gave them an incentive to fill out the envelopes. We did a drawing at the end of the event and the person picked gets a prize (it was a nice fall decoration sign for the yard).

Of course there was lots of food. My Mother-in-Law's good friend has a side-catering business and she is amazing at what she does. We didn't want too much so she made every salad under the sun. Chicken salad, pasta salad, egg salad, tuna salad. And an AMAZING baby fruit trey. See below.

I decorated the tables with baby pictures of future Mom and Dad

We also paid a lovely young woman who is going to school and has a side, at-home bakery business and she made DELICIOUS cupcakes and cake pops. 

There was German Chocolate and Vanilla cupcakes. And Chocolate-Chocolate and Red Velvet cake pops. So good. 

I am really proud of how we didn't over order when it comes to the food. That is usually a problem I run into with these events. I have never run out of food, however, I ALWAYS have tons of food leftover. 

For every event that I have done, I always do the flowers. I have some really nice antique pieces that I inherited from my grandmother and like to pull those out and fill them up. Sometimes I go to Publix or Trader Joes. For today's event I ran into Whole Foods the morning of. I can find some really unique flowers there. You know, I don't think I took a picture of the mantle but I have flowers in blue mason jars there too. I left most of the flowers for my Brother's In-Laws to enjoy but I took the Green Bowl home.

Here's the bowl on my dinning room table.

I had a diaper station as well. Guest could walk over and leave precious notes on the baby diaper for Mom and Dad to see in the middle of the night while changing the diaper. Most of the notes were not quite as precious and more so humorous. I mean you have to be able to entertain your self somehow when you're knee deep in diapers at 2 in the morning.

These stick flowers are from Trader Joes. OVER A YEAR AGO. I bought them for an event and never took them out of the vase. They have cute fuzzy balls on them. They usually sit in my kitchen. I have gotten great use out of those things.

The other game we played, if you want to call it that, was played during the opening of presents. Some people just don't do well with so much attention so I broke it up and we played a small version of "Who did it?" I would say facts about either the Mother-to-Be or the Father-to-Be and the guests would have to guess who did it. For example, "Who was born 2 weeks early?" or "Who made the 95th percentile on the growth chart at their first checkup?" Facts from their childhood. Then the ladies would keep track of their own score. No fuss with passing out paper and pens and those that wanted to just listen and watch were able to. The winner for this also received a nice outdoor fall decoration. The Mother-to-Be was so happy for the break and everyone enjoyed learning bits and pieces about Mom and Dad when they were babies.

Future Mom and Dad overwhelmed with love and support.

My brother arrived at the end of the shower to help thank the guests and possibly raid the food tables. 

The happy couple and my finished banner!

Future Grandmother and Aunt (Shower Hosts).

My Beautiful sister in law and baby boy peanut! (oh and you can sort of see my mantle flowers here)

So I think that sums up this showering event of love!! I cannot wait to be an Aunt. And of course, can't wait to host my next event. 

Xoxo,

Lynsey