A couple weeks ago, my sister Kaley and I joined forces to shower our younger sister, Maddie, as we celebrate the upcoming arrival of her baby boy. Let me say one thing: hosting a baby shower for a person who works in special events is NOT the easiest thing to do. The pressure was ON. Maddie has exquisite taste, creates custom invitations and paper goods for a living, and loves little details, so we tried super hard to make it a Maddie-fied event without involving her in the nitty gritty details (we wanted it all to be a SURPRISE!).
The Set-Up
As Kaley and I were planning through the details of the shower, we decided that since it was a light brunch, we would opt for paper plates. I have a love/hate relationship with paper plates and napkins. If I had my way, we would never have to use them, but at the end of the day, they do have their place. In this instance, I didn’t have a PROBLEM with using paper plates, I just didn’t want them to compromise the design. YOU GUYS. I have found an AMAZING resource for paper plates! I am so excited to share this collection with you by Harlow & Grey, because they are now going to be my new go-to for stylish paper products. They are from the mother ship of Amazon, too, which makes them even better (Prime, you tall drink of water, you). I loved the watercolor baby blue palette of this collection and that it still had a modern look to it.
One of my favorite prep hacks before an event is to set up all of your serving pieces and play around with what you’ve got. I have been working on my collection of white serving pieces so that everything will always match regardless of what I’m using. Once I have everything vaguely laid out where I want it, I go post-it crazy. This is especially helpful when you’re co-hosting with someone else. Even Kaley had to admit this was a helpful trick when she showed up at 8:00 the next morning to begin setting up her food!
The Invites
Of course the stationery had to be beautiful; Maddie is a paper designer for special events, after all. She used handmade fabric paper and hand painted each and every invitation. They were exquisite! Then of course each envelope was addressed in her beautiful calligraphy. The presentation was so “Maddie” and a perfect foundation for all of the other decor and inspiration behind the party.
The Food & Drinks
This was allllll Kaley (who could totally moonlight as a caterer if she wanted to). Maddie has this crazy infatuation with tiny food (maybe all those American Girl Dolls of our youth coming back to haunt her) so we decided for this brunch-time shower to do all MINI versions of brunch classics. On the menu:
- Mini pancake stacks
- Mini donut holes (from the one and only Rise & Roll Bakery)
- Miniature Parfaits
- Individual egg muffins
- Bloody Mary bar (not mini…. these were as maxed out as they could be, with alllllll the fixins)
- Mimosa Bar
- Cake: lemon filled white cake with buttercream frosting from Adam’s Cake Shop
The Decor
Since I had basically nothing to do with the food, I decided to focus all of my energy on making things PRETTY (you know, channeling my inner-Maddie). I mentioned that she hand painted all of the invitations BUT she didn’t leave any behind for me, so my first item of business was recreating the painting she did. I did my best with my kids art supplies (because FANCY IS OVERRATED) and scanned the image into my computer, giving me tons of creative freedom for incorporating that design into other party elements. It made an appearance on the guests’ name tags, the mimosa bar and the party favors (where I even had leftover fabric paper to print it on, really mimicking the invitation design!).
For flowers, I was fortunate enough to benefit from Maddie’s industry connections through her business and purchase wholesale stems from a local supplier. BUT if you don’t have similar access, you can always call your local florist or grocery story a couple weeks in advance to place an order for what you want. I knew I wanted white, blue and lots of pretty greenery (plus some pink for Mama). We even spruced up my winter greenery by the front door to match the shower vibes (by taking away any remaining Christmas influence and adding baby blue floral ribbon, baby’s breath and eucalyptus).
The Blessing
I love taking some time at baby and bridal showers to honor the mama to be or bride to be with a small blessing. Whether that’s a collection of advice from friends or a scripture or a devotional. For Maddie’s shower, I found a beautiful excerpt on Motherhood from Joyce Meyer’s The Confident Mom. As we sat down to watch Maddie open her gifts, Kaley prayed over her and I read this devotional. It is always a privilege to pause during the celebration to acknowledge the momentous occasion that is being celebrated, and if you’re hosting an event I highly encourage you to dedicate some time to creating a meaningful moment for the guest of honor.
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