We have another baby on his way in the family.  I helped with a baby shower to celebrate William’s pending arrival earlier this month.  We took a cue from his nursery and themed it Lil’ Peanut/ Elephants.  The colors were grey and light blue.  My inspiration board can be found here.

We held the shower at a church.  They already had wreaths on the entry doors, so I added a couple of paper fans to them.

For the gift table, I hung my blue tablecloths from a photo backdrop stand and added paper accordion balls to the top.

We served finger foods and blue punch.  The menu included fruit and veggies, cheese and crackers, hot chicken salad, meatballs, ham and swiss sliders, animal crackers with funfetti dip and cupcakes topped with nutter butters.  I made the garland for the table using my Silhouette to cut elephants and circles.  Then I strung them on white thread (my sewing machine was acting up).

On the tables, my co-hosts added baby’s breath to blue Ball jars and tucked elephant picks in to continue the theme.  Guests could also snack on peanuts that were in galvanized buckets on the tables.

The mom- and dad-to-be received a lot of great gifts for baby William!

These dipped nutter butter favors made by my co-host were absolutely adorable.  The perfect finishing touch!

My cousin and his wife are having a baby boy later this year and are decorating the nursery with a Harry Potter theme.  My other cousins and I threw them a baby shower last weekend using the same theme.  I dug out some halloween decorations I already had and made a few new things specifically for the theme.

At the front door, I created a brick wall using an XL twin sheet and a large sponge.  I hung it from a photo backdrop stand and cut it down the middle so that guests could enter the party through the “wall”.  I made the Platform 9 3/4 sign using a chalkboard sign I found in Target’s dollar spot and numbers cut out using my Silhouette machine.

On the breakfast table, I created a Defense against the Dark Arts vignette.

Our version of a Patronus next to the Dark Arts table.

I made a mobile with flying skeleton keys.  The keys and mobile came from Amazon and the wings were cut using my Silhouette. 

A welcome banner over the fireplace in Ravenclaw colors.

Potion bottles filled the mantle.  I found the labels on Groopdealz and the bottles came from various stores – Target, Hobby Lobby and Goodwill.

The owl lamp and cage were borrowed from the nursery.

A plush owl perched on the mantle.

The food table full of Harry Potter-inspired snacks.

Chocolate Frogs

Our family loves these cream puffs, so I put an edible gold dust on them to turn them into snitches.  The wings aren’t pretty, but they are made from melted white chocolate bark.

Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans

The Sorting Hat gift area. My cousin made the most awesome Hogwarts Express diaper cake with black and red onesies.
The Dementor’s Kiss-away goodie bags next to the front door for guests.

The mom-to-be opening gifts.  I put together a baseball themed gift, with a Braves onesie, a crocheted baseball cap, and little navy shoes with baseball patterned toes.  I used a baseball easter basket as the gift bag.  

We ended our current small group with a baby shower celebration for one of the couples.  Decorations started at the front door with a chalkboard sign.  I just free-handed the greeting and the buck head silhouette.

In the living room, I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut paper chevron arrows that I sewed into a garland.  The colors were inspired by fabric from the baby’s nursery.

I reused a mustache game I had made for a previous “Little Man” shower.  Everyone guessed the celebrity who’s mustache appears on each picture.  There were 12 photos and the winner went home with a Starbucks gift card.

In the dining room, we hung baby clothes and burp cloths from a clothesline above the drink table.  Per the mother-to-be’s request, we used the gifts as decor so that she didn’t have to open gifts in front of everyone.  I stacked paper accordion balls under the table to add some color.  I also picked up one large gift bag that all the gifts went into at the end of the night.

The hydrangeas came out of my own garden!  They seem very happy this year.

This super-cute clothesline was made from the popular baby toy Lots of Links by Bright Starts and some fun boyish onesies.

For the food table centerpiece, I made a diaper cake with a plush deer topper in honor of the father-to-be.  I placed it on a slab of birch and used a burlap table runner for a rustic feel.

Each group member brought a dish.  We had veggies with hummus, buffalo chicken dip, baked brie cups, and baby-shower-themed cupcakes.

The night was a fun way to close out two years of doing life together.  Now, to divide and multiply!

My cousin just had her little boy last week.  We threw her a Storybook themed shower a few weeks ago.  She has always been an avid reader so this theme was perfect.  We used children’s books, baby blocks, and primary colors heavily as the decor.

For our spread of food, I started with a blue chevron tablecloth and used cake plates, bowls and platters to get the food on different levels for better visual interest.  I found the inspiration for the food tent labels here – the ones she did not have pre-made, she shares how to make your own.  I made the hanging stars out of pages I cut from a copy of If You Give a Pig a Pancake using this tutorial.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (Oreo Pudding Cookies)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Fruit Plate)
Green Eggs and Ham (Ham and Swiss Sliders)
If You Give a Moose a Muffin (Krusteaz Pumpkin Spice Mix)
The Three Little Pigs (Pigs in a Blanket)

For the drink table, I attached paper honeycomb balls to the wall.  This was much easier than trying to hang them from strings at the correct heights but still just as cute to me.  I set some children’s books on the bottom shelf of the sideboard.

Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings (Lemonade Punch)

My mom cut flowers from her yard for us to use at the party, and I filled a big bowl with wooden baby blocks for a table centerpiece.

Above the gift table I strung together circles I had cut from children’s books and colorful paper.  I made a couple of paper fan wheels from pages of a Mickey Mouse storybook as well.  I made the diaper cake by fanning the diapers in a circle rather than rolling and banding them.  The center layer is board books I picked up at the Dollar Tree. The mini flashcards strung around the bottom layer are from this etsy seller.   I found the cute Hungry Caterpillar rattle at Tuesday Morning.

This was a really fun shower to throw.  Thanks to my mom for providing our location and flowers and thanks to my other cousins for providing food and serveware!

We held our annual New Year’s Eve party last week and I was able to try out my decorations in our new house.  I also added a few new things this year.  The best new addition was a wreath for the front door.  I bought the silver ball and tinsel wreath after Christmas at Target, then added some NYE flair using a glue gun.  I had to remove a few of the silver ball ornaments from the wreath in order to fit the extra decorations in well.  I added two party horns covered with gold and silver glitter and a silver tiara.  The gold starburst was an ornament I picked up at World Market after Christmas.  I also added an extra strip of tinsel to the outer and inner edges of the wreath for a bit more substance.

In the foyer, I put a crystal clock and two champagne flutes under a glass cloche.  I changed the DIY tinsel-covered numbers to read 2015 on the wall behind the table.  Lastly, I wrapped some gold and silver garlands that I picked up from Walmart after Christmas around the stair banister.

In the living room, I set up the party hats and noisemakers for ringing in the new year at midnight.  I hung a silver mylar “chandelier” above the coffee table.

On the coffee table, I put out little baggies of “Midnight Kisses.”  For dinner we had chili and chicken-corn chowder, cornbread, and buffalo chicken dip.  At midnight, we toasted with champagne with rock candy garnish.

In the den, I added a party hat to the bulldog jar given to me by a good friend this year.  Even Buddy put up with us putting a little hat on him for long enough to snap a picture.