A Sweet Baby Girl's Shower

Well... its been baby season in my family! We just threw the most adorable shower for my cousin who is expecting a little baby ANY DAY NOW... I know there are so many super CUTE shower ideas out there, but I love when a shower helps the Momma decorate her nursery. Plus it means that the décor you purchase for the shower doubles as a gift and can make the baby's room adorable instead of your crawl space where you would store all the party stuff after... WIN... WIN... :)

Sooooo... my cousin is decorating her little one's nursery in giraffe print and purples... but we couldn't resist throwing in a little pink annnnnnndddddd a little orange for good measure. :) Hope you like what we came up with.. :)

As guests arrived they were greeted by this sweet chalkboard sign. :) This chalkboard actually was used at her wedding last year.. buy and reuse people.. buy and reuse...

 

Okay... so you may have read my post about the transportation first birthday and using fabric as a runner over a plastic tablecloth... but my Mom found something even BETTER for the shower. See all these paper runners on these tables? Wrapping Paper from the dollar bins at Michaels! :) They worked our perfect, we covered all the tables in the usual plastic tablecloths and ran a runner of the paper down the middle! She found them in purple and pink and all sorts of designs! Worked great and saved us major $$$$$$ We made these tissue paper balls, which I will post a tutorial on shortly... super easy... super cheap. :)

The W I picked up at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon and spray painted White... I think that this will be so cute over the crib or a dresser in the future Miss's room. :)

P.S. the white dress? My flower girl dress from ohhh just a few years ago.. hehe

Here is where we placed the drinks on these perfect little wet bar... my sister made these cute little punch bowl tu-tus... which I just love... We make these punches for EVERYTHING because they are so easily made into EVERY color and can be spiked or not... oh and they are delicious... cup number 5? Don't mind if I do...

Just a few more handmade tissue balls.. and an adorable little outfit we strung on tulle that matched the colors.. Mantle... Complete...

Again... my ever so talented sister made this unbelievable canvas... We hung it up at the shower and now it can adorn the nursery... like I said... win win :)

UNFORTUNATELY the weather did not cooperate and we ended up bringing in this cute little clothesline of girlie onsies... grrrrr mother nature..

SORRY... this picture stinks... no sunlight... no great photos... Here is where we set out the food.. we did little fruit kabobs.. filled the orange bags with chips and there are my three cake stands.. living to see another PAR-TAY where we placed these little sammies in pink polka-dotted cardboard boxes... wish I would have snapped a shot of those but you know...

And last but not least... my cousin made this remarkable cake.. I mean she's super talented... as if that needed saying... find your self an AMAZING baker... why? because a cake instantly makes a great TALL centerpiece to a table and eliminates buying an additional piece of décor or giving you another area of the party to stress about... get yourself a baker and consider the dessert table DONE... she also bagged up some animal crackers tied up with orange, pink and purple ribbon that we sent home with guests as favors.. again sorry lack of photos.. maybe the five cups of punch had something to do with that?

 

 

Now we're all just twiddling our thumbs... waiting on sweet baby W to arrive... tick tock tick tock..

Transportation First Birthday Party

This past weekend we had a blast celebrating our little guy's first birthday! How fast a year goes! I thought I would share some of the photos. :)

My Mom found this great shirt on ETSYfor the birthday boy to wear at the party! And it matched his party colors perfectly. :)

I snuck a couple of cardboard boxes from my Mother in Laws school to help make this little photo prop! :) We had so much fun taking pictures in it. :) I liked that I didn't have to make it PERFECT, you can see the package taping and all! But I like the look it gave it when I changed the finish to Sepia... I slipped one of these into each of the thank you notes and printed a few in 8X10 to frame for tables. :)

I found this great little idea for greeting guests and had to replicate it! I wanted it to go with the travel/transportation theme, so I placed the letters on suitcases and attached balloons to the handle. :)

 

I know, I know... guest books who needs them right? But I couldn't resist... I found an ancient copy of 'Happy Birthday to You!' by my favorite Dr. Seuss, that had a note written in it to my Dad for his birthday and then to me... I had to have it our for little man's first! With the sign... "First it was your Grandpa's and then Mommy's too, and on your first birthday we share it with you!.... Find a bank spot to write a birthday with or just say hi, to our favorite ONE year old guy!'
Did I mention I love rhymes? Well I do.. I love when things rhyme.. :) glad that's out there.. :)

Scored this AH-MAZ-ING trunk from my Mother in Law... her Mom used it to come to America from Ireland.. crazy right? It was the perfect spot for gifts to be dropped at the 'Baggage Check'. That Railroad Crossing sign? A thrift store find... talk about being in the right place a the right time. :) ANNNDDDD you know how stores think its okay to charge like 29.00 for a frame? I found all these frames thrifting for two dollars or less and spray painted them! Spray painting is quickly becoming a new favorite.. right up there with my hot glue gun...

Refreshments are clearly a must.. for the little and BIG kids.. :) So for the little kiddies I stocked a little wagon with Capri Suns. It fit perfectly on the table.. I covered the table with a plastic tablecloth and ran a runner of fabric down the middle that I got on clearance at the fabric store. Sometimes covered tables in fabric can be OUTRAGEOUS $$$$. I found that using some as a runner helps you use less and stttrrreeettcchhh out your dollar bills...
For adults I set a couple glass drink dispensers on small suitcases and this completed the 'Inflight Beverages'. :)

In our kitchen I replaced our usually dishes with brown lunch bags I picked up at the dollar store, cut down with some funky scissors and a travel sticker attached, these I filled with different types of potato chips as the 'Inflight Snacks'. On the lowest shelf of the hutch I covered little cardboard boxes with red wrapping paper and attached some black circles to make train cards carrying plates and silverware.. :) An idea I just had to borrow from here: Choo Choo!

 Here is one of the tables where I set out one of the plane pictures I took earlier in the week and another one of the airplane topiaries. I borrowed the idea from here.. Airplane Topes

 

Here is where the little peanut ate his smash cake. I wanted the map background for pictures and made the little highchair banner from scrap burlap and old road maps. My wonderful Grandma painted this antique find high chair. :)

Here is the dessert table and cakes! I loved the three different cake stands at different heights, but COULD NOT find them anywhere... So I made them! Ill post more about that soon. :) The wood train up front with little guys name is what started this whole party theme.. he was given it as a gift from his god father at his baptism... and I just couldn't let it sit in his room.. :)

I cut numbers 1 through 12 from old maps also and attached them to 1.00 frames from Target and placed monthly pictures and milestones in each. :) It was crazy putting these together and seeing how much he has changed over ONE year!

 

Lastly... on the way out the peanuts each picked up a favor from the 'Baggage Claim', which was a wooden train whistle wrapped in a red bandana... I thought I had a better close up of the favor tags.. so sorry this one is from when I was making them... at night.. in my bed.. soooo sorry...

"Were so glad you came! By car, boat or plane, we had so much fun, celebrating Finlee turning one!"...more rhymes :)

A great first birthday for our FAVORITE little guy... <3