Melissa's Baby Shower

Last Saturday two of my daughter's friends and I co-hosted a baby shower for her.  I had worked for months on different decorations for the shower, as we were trying to host a nice shower for her on a tight budget.  We did a lot of shopping at WalMart and the Dollar Store, but I don't think people thought that things were "cheap".  

I thought I would share with you some of the pictures that I took that day, and the decorations.

We had reserved the town hall in our little town which gave us a nice place for the shower - the only problem was there was some things that we just could we could not hide or take down.  You will see what I mean in some of the pictures.

The Hall

The table scape.

Each table had a tissue paper "flower", a tub of white chocolate popcorn for each person, a plate with napkin and silver ware, and the party favor.  I know that we were suppose to have individual tea light holders but with everything else that was on the table they would have just made everything too crowded.  So, I didn't use them.

We used yellow and green table cloths and decided to use square tables where four people could sit and talk comfortably.  I thought that if we used the larger rectangular tables people would have difficulty talking to everyone at their table.  Square tables are more intimate.

I wanted to make the head table where Melissa, Sole, Jessica, and I sat a little different than the other tables.

I used a large candle holder on the head table and used the dyed beans that I had made to give the "head" table that little extra.

One of the things that we could take down or hide were all the maps of the Lake Placid area.  They were attached to the walls and we were not "allowed" to pin anything to the walls - so there was no way to cover these maps.  Oh well, sometimes you just have to live with what you are given.

My version of the flower cupcakes that I pinned on Pinterest.

A closer view of on of the tables.

White Chocolate Popcorn.

Yummy!

Another Pinterest find were these cute "Wishes for Baby".

I printed these out and then mounted them on card stock.

Each person at the shower had one to fill out and after the shower I put them all together in a book for Melissa and Lorelia as a memento.

We decided to use bright colors instead of pastels.  We found these divided plastic plates at Walmart.  There were four colors, so we used one of each color at each table.  Also, there were four different color of each mini tub of popcorn.  They weren't exactly the same colors as the plates, but they were a close enough match that I don't think it distracted - just made the tables more colorful.

This is another topiary that I made using the flowers from some lei's that I bought at Hobby Lobby.  I used  a large Styrofoam ball, the flowers, and my trusty hot glue gun.  After the ball was covered I used straight pins to give a "center" to the flower.

Mountain Man painted the terracotta flower pot for me.  I covered the dowel rod with ribbon and hot glued the top and bottom.  Finally, I added a bow made with the same ribbon and Easter grass in the pot.

These were placed on the drink table and on the dessert table.

(Just ignore the map in the background - another thing we couldn't get rid of!)

This is the area that was the biggest disappointment to me.  

In my mind I thought we would be able to move the stacks that held the extra chairs so they would not be seen.  But we couldn't.

Then I thought that we would be able to cover the chairs with a tablecloth and then mount the name sign that Mountain Man and I made on the rack.  Well, that didn't work either.

Then I thought that I would take crepe paper and a couple of dowel rods and make a "curtain" in front of the chair racks - but there was no where I could hang the dowel rods (remember I couldn't hang anything from the ceiling or the walls).

Anyway, I just had to do the best I could with the restrictions that I had.  (but I still wish I could have made that "curtain)

On the back side of the arch were some cup hooks mounted into the wall - I actually thought of making the curtain with the crepe paper and hanging it from these cup hooks, but Mountain Man thought it would be too much and would hide the gifts.  Instead we hung the tissue paper balls from the hooks.

(I still think the curtain would have looked good, but I was overruled)

The ribbon topiary's were used on the gift table.  I had made four so I put two on each end of the tables.  I wish I had taken a picture of the gift table after everyone had gotten there, but we were busy doing other things.

All the food

Lots and

lots and

Lots

of food.

There was also lots 

and lots

and lots

of desserts.

Yummy!

This was the entry table.

Another candle - jelly beans - tray with all the colors from the shower - and one of my flower arrangements from home.

 The beautiful mom to be sitting in her first gift - the rocking chair.

This is a shot of everyone that attended the shower.  

I think everyone had a good time and Melissa and Lorelia received so many nice things.

I want to say thanks to Sole and Jessica for helping host this shower for Melissa.  I know that she appreciated it very much.

While it was a lot of work, it was doing things that I enjoy doing - making and creating things.  While there were a few things that I would have liked to have changed or done a little differently, on the whole I think it all turned out well.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you Monday for the Monday Menu!

Hugs -

Carol