Baby Shower, Simple but Elegant

It's a Boy!

If you are like me, you love to entertain and hosting a baby shower is so much fun! It is even more fun when it is for your FIRST grand child :) This is also the first great grandchild and great great grandchild! My grandparents (my mother's parents) were in town a few weeks ago and I took this picture! Remember the grandfather who earned the beautiful dishes from his paper route? Well here is that handsome guy! Baby Colin was born December 17th and takes after his great great grandpa!

The invitations were all handmade by my daughter Aimee' and me. We made 54 invitations & the envelopes. Whew... I was glad when we were done!
I kept the food fairly simple and also had friends who helped me by bringing some of it. I had only been back for 3 days from a 10 day trip to Europe (with the other bloom girl) so I had to have things that would not take forever to put together!

~The Menu~

Savory Sweetish Meatballs with amazing gravy (Brought by my friend Kim who is a fabulous cook and amazingly talented & creative)

Delicious & Creamy Cheddar Cheese ball w/Crackers (Brought by my "Aunt Jean" who was actually my mother's best friend and she "stands in" as much as possible on these types of occasions)

Fresh Fruit Salad (Kim)

Miniature Key Lime Cheesecakes

Cream Cheese Mints
Veggie Tray
Apples with Carmel DipPetit fours (I made 2 different kinds)

Turkey and Spinach Pin Wheel Sandwiches

Special Occasion Punch (super easy and always gets rave reviews)

Diaper Cake (Sorry, just for decoration!)

Pinwheel Sandwiches, Punch & Fruit Salad These sandwiches are always devoured and they are very simple to make! The punch is simply Sherbert and lemon lime soda. I always have to make more! I use different colors of sherbert varied by the occasion.Petit fours. I baked a white cake mix in a jelly roll pan then cut into rounds and iced with a thin white confectioners icing topped with a thicker layer of baby blue or yellow (I found the little rocking horses and tiny baby bottles at Walmart on sale) Cream Cheese Mints, Home Made Petit Fours, Veggie Tray, Apples & Carmel Dip. These cream cheese mints are fabulous and easy to make. These are a favorite of my daughter and she requested them for her shower.I bought this sweet little petit four tray in Provence last September during The Bloom Girls 10 day trip abroad! Diaper Cake. I made this with newborn and size one diapers. There is an 8 oz bottle inside as the core in the bottom layer. The giraffes match the ones on the invitation. We cut them out with the Cricut. Two colors of ribbon and cream color shred were used for added adornment. Tiny baby products line the bottom layer as well as a few purchased stickers. You can add other small toys or baby items. These are very easy to put together and very cute! If you are giving as a gift you can wrap the entire cake in cello and tie with a bow for a wonderful presentation. Party Favors: The babies other grandparents are beekeepers so we did party favors for all the guests along that theme. We used tiny jars of honey from their farm and I made custom labels and tied each jar with a blue bow. Each Jar says "Parents to Bee" and has a bee with a pacifier, the parents names and Colin's Baby Shower & date. They were a huge hit!

Some Extras:

We played a few games. The usual "Guess how many inches the mothers belly is" and the other is a game that we played at MY baby shower for my daughter (the mother to be) Each guest is given an index card and asked to write a question on that card that a new mother might ask. (Example: What do I do if the baby cries all night) Then the guests all turn their cards over to the blank side and pass the cards to the left. Each guest then writes the answer to the question that they had written on their card. Then the mother to be reads each index card - the question and the answer. They are always really funny because the answers do not normally match! For Example our question What do I do if the baby cries all night?, the answer "Soak in a combination of Shout and Oxy wash overnight, then wash and dry" Everyone always laughs at how silly they end up. I still have all my index cards from my shower 23 years ago!

I also set out several brand new burp cloths (new cloth diapers) and assorted color fabric markers. As the guests arrived and visited a bit, I asked them to sign or draw a picture for the baby onto one of the burp clothes. She uses these every day and they wash up wonderfully. These are wonderful reminders of all the dear friends and family that love her and Colin.

The guests all had a wonderful time. The "mother to be" received lovely gifts and Colin is now enjoying them all!

Blessings to you and yours!

Karyn

To see more awesome ideas with Food and Decorating, please pay a visit to our gracious hostess Gollum over at http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/!