A Southern Shower with Jamaican Spice

04/26/2010 • Baby Showers, Party Inspiration • by

As promised, here are snapshots from the baby shower I co-hosted for my little sister.  The color scheme was lavendar, canary and chartreuse.  As pictured above, there was a reception table for our guests to stop by and sign the framed photo register.

I made a cute little diaper cake to adorn the table and surrounded it with children’s books, a wooden rattle and a sweet pair of sandals for baby Lauryn.  The brown bag favors contained salt water taffy and assorted pieces of chocolate candy. 

On each of the guest tables was an assortment of hydrangeas, children’s books, dolls, infant dresses, and gift bags used to anchor canary helium ballons.  My favorite centerpiece was the hot air ballon which highlighted our dessert table.  The balloon basket held a happy little teddy bear {I think he loved being surrounded by those cupcakes}.

The menu consisted of spicy Jamaican favorites like really spicy jerk wings, cocktail chicken patties & cocktail beef patties.  There were also milder offerings including assorted fruits & veggies, chicken salad on croissants, tuna tea sandwiches, and tortilla roll-ups. 

Our dessert selection included strawberry and yellow cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream frosting, brownie trifles, brownie squares, buttermilk pie and pistachio baklava.

Finally, there were personalized bottles of water, sparkling fruit punch and our signature drink, Lauryn’s Lemonade.  This drink contains equal parts of lemonade and sweetened tea which is officially known as an Arnold Palmer.  We renamed it for the shower in honor of my niece’s pending arrival.  I can hardly wait to meet her!

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Inspiration Resources:

Brown Bag Favor Tags:  Flights of Fancy

Dressy Centerpieces:  CelebratewithStyle.com

Chartreuse, Brown and Pink Paisley Baby Shower

12/28/2009 • Baby Showers, Party Inspiration • by

I recently hosted a baby shower for a family member.  Since the mom-to-be is expecting a girl, I wanted to do something “pinkish” without going totally pastel.  So, I ventured into Hobby Lobby, which is one of my favorite crafting stores, and spent some time on the scrapbook paper aisle. The papers chosen were a heavy brown card stock, pink vellum and pink paisley scrapbook paper.

When I started working on the layout of the invitation I added a header, which was printed on off-white sketchbook paper and incorporated a touch of chartreuse to balance it.  After patiently trimming a couple dozen of these by hand, I added pink and lime green swarovski crystals.  The result was a nice pink and brown invitation with lively splashes of color.

 The baby shower favors were inspired by the paper bag favor labels found at Flights of Fancy. I found brown bags on sale ($1 for 50 bags) then printed the labels on sketchbook paper. The labels were trimmed and attached to candy filled bags with double sided tape.

 A small glass frame held a thank you message and invited guests to take one home.

 As shower attendees arrived they were invited to sign a guest book which we placed on a mobile cart adorned with children’s books, a cute pair of baby socks, plastic pink pacifiers and a 3-tier diaper cake.

 

Refreshments

Guests enjoyed brie topped with honey, almonds and dried cranberries along with fresh fruit and personalized bottled water as they arrived.

A cute little baby carriage held napkin wrapped forks and knifes. 

Later, heavier refreshments were served which included beef and turkey burger sliders, lemon pepper wings, smoked ribs, pasta salad and waldorf salad. On the sweeter side, there were chocolate chip cookies, brownie bites and strawberry cupcakes.

Although I wish I had taken more pictures, I hope you enjoyed the ones that were.