So, this past Wednesday morning my fabulous friends threw me a baby shower. It was all sorts of awesome. They did a tremendous job. Though I was heavily involved in the planning concept and crafting of decor items, the main hostess wouldn’t allow me entrance (to help) until the actual starting time. I completely understand her reasoning, but still felt like I was missing some of the best part of the event! It’s so fun to be the behind-the-scenes person, and see ideas come to fruition. Anywhoozle, here are some pics of the event. I have some of the best friends ever. They really spoiled me….and even got my husband on board too! I’ll tell you how….
First, what I wore…. Since my friends wouldn’t allow me to come over early to help put up all the decor items I threw at them, I had plenty of time to get ready. So I put on some eyeshadow, lip liner, lipstick, and even gloss. Oh yeah, it was major. I can’t remember the last time I made the time to do my lips on a weekday. Kinda felt nice. Of course no baby shower is complete without Anthro on board, so I cloaked the belly in stripes…Layered Column Stripes to be exact.
Wearing: Dress-Anthropologie Layered Column Dress, Cardi-J.Crew Ethereal Ruffle, Belt-Anthropologie Macadam Belt, Shoes-Chie Mihara Foreso, Necklace-Anthropologie Papaya Pebbels Necklace
On to the shower…. if you remember, the theme was hot air balloons…here’s a pic of the invite again:
Inside reads: "We're Up, Up, and A-Way Excited for Molly's Baby Boy to Arrive"
Colors were orange, celadon green and aqua…basically the colors of my kids’ room. We gathered up maps and globes….I hit the mother-load at Home Goods and found all of these awesome, light-weight globe balls and the idea of them hanging like a mobile immediately popped into mind. So we drilled some hanging hooks in them and when I found some equally awesome aged wired baskets at Home Goods, I sweet-talked MacGyver a night or two before into helping us suspend them above the drink station, to look like the globe balls were spilling out of them.
Globe ball Mobile suspended by fishing line and wire.
The “tablecloth” you see under the drinks is actually wrapping paper in the perfect shade of aqua houndstooth I found at Hobby Lobby. An inexpensive option to a table cloth.
The mason jar drinks were totally Pinterest-inspired. I saw this photo /DIY tutorial and knew I had to try it for the shower….also knowing I could use them at many different parties and gatherings to come. Again, my man MacGyver delivered. At the mere hint from me that I needed some holes drilled in metal lids… he jumped into action. (….any excuse to use power tools, he’s game….). So he drilled holes for me and then attached a metal file to the drill to file the edges down nice and purdy before handing them off to me for spray painting. Here’s what that looked like:
The lids getting a nice spray tan in aqua.
The stripey straws were purchased on etsy in perfect shades of green and orange. As with the baker’s twine in orange and aqua from the greatest seller. The mailed package was so cute….hand decorated, quirky and fun. I then simply tied little white price tags (so guests could pen their name and claim a glass) from my paper crafting stash onto the jars with the twine and ta-da! Awesome mason jar party glasses.
The majority of the decor cost almost nothing. I went into Home Depot on several different occasions and grabbed stacks of specific paint chip colors in green, orange, and aqua. (I didn’t mind visiting several times a week since I still want to practically lick the walls in there with this pregnancy-induced Pica-ish sniffer I have). I also went to Half-Priced Books and found a really cool old Atlas they sold to me for $3, ripped out all the pages with cool maps, and cut both the paint chips and maps into triangles. Purchased cheap seam binding at Hobby Lobby , and sewed them on. Super duper easy. They make such a big impact for so little money….All the buntings, when said and done, cost $10.
Noshing Table. See the darling hot air balloon cookies on the scale? My friend Dana is a Martha Stewart in the kitchen, and her cookies are crazy good. Thank you, Dana!
The Hot Air Balloon hangings on the windows were also a Pinterest inspiration. I found this photo of an etsy seller’s handiwork and knew it could be recreated in my shower colors. Bought some embroidery hoops at joann for like $1.59 each, used some of the same houndstooth from the invitations. I also used other awesome fabrics from my crafting cohort friend, and hand-drew the hot air balloons on the fabric using the picture on Pinterest as inspiration. Then I handed them over to my cohort crafting friend who worked her needlepoint magic on them. Didn’t they turn out so cute?t! Love. Oh, I also spray painted the embroidery hoops in glossy orange before the fabric went in, because, basically, spray-painting is a sickness for me. (The smell! Oh how I love the smell of spray paint….don’t worry, I was outside, well-ventilated,…but man, it just smells so good right now.)
Hot Air Balloon hoops.
Check out this cake my friend Em made for the shower. It was so beautiful! The hours of work that went into it….I just loved it so much. Two different flavor-flaves: almond lemon top, and peanut butter chocolate bottom. So.Good. It kills me to actually eat something this pretty, but hey…we have the pictures, right?! A work of freaking art, I tell you…..
Seriously....this cake is RIDICLESS!! Em, you are so talented!
One of the coolest discoveries I made in my Joann excursions to the yarn section was this totally boss pom-pom yarn. It comes pre-pommed, all perfectly colored in a variety of colors. It’s so cool, pretty to look at, and CHEAP. (check your joann’s…it’s by Red Heart, called Pom-a-Doodle. Great name too). The hot air balloons were also a Pinterest-inspired idea from this gal here. I free-handed a hot air ballon on a paint chip, cut it out, and used it as a tracer on coordinating scrapbook paper. The best part was that I traced and cut these all on our drive down to the coast over labor day weekend. Once home, I scored them all down the center, and used Mod Podge to glue them together. Remember to stick a piece of string in there while you’re gluing them all together so you can tie/hang them wherever you like. I used the baker’s twine I mentioned above. Aren’t they darling? I tell no lies when I say Pinterest is my BFF lately.
The adjoining room- Hot Air Balloon buntings and pom-pom yarn
Close up- Paper Hot Air Balloons and pom-pom yarn
I received so many beautiful gifts. I felt truly loved by all my girlfriends. My dear friend, Arianne, the hostess, was also in cahoots with my husband about buying a certain gift she was made aware of by another one of my dear friends who follows my love for all things Anthropologie. So Annie texted my MacGyver and asked if he wanted to go in together on said item. He texted her back within 15 minutes saying he took care of it, that the package would arrive at her house on such and such a date, and just like that….he earned himself the position of hunkiest husband on earth for life. Audible “AWWW’s” were heard from all within earshot as Annie told the story. She saved it for last…..on a cake stand….hidden under a basket. In all their blue-bowed glory.
The Dauphine Heels, from BHLDN. Oh yes,.....he did. I love that man.
This is my “I’m so happy that I might cry” face.
I had to have help getting these on. A.) Trying to put shoes on while this pregnant is just a joke. B.) Trying to put shoes on while pregnant and sitting on a sinking couch is flat-out comedy. Thank you, Mare.
I’m super excited to be receiving this and this in a few days (items of the group gift that had to be ordered….) and can’t thank my wonderful friends enough for all their work, putting up with me and my *exuberance* for event planning, and for generally being awesome people.
And that, my dears, is the end of the shower wherein I was spoiled rotten. Any questions about what you saw in this post or about shower/party planning? Fire away. I love this stuff!
xoxo Molly
P.S. Don’t forget to enter my DIY challenge and a chance to score your own Anthropologie gift card for $25!! So far, I have two entries….keep ‘em comin’!
