Look Whoo's Having a Baby Boy!

I love baby showers. The mom-to-be is always glowing (they're usually hosted before those last few, uncomfortable weeks!) and there's so much anticipation about baby. What will the name (and sometimes even the sex) be? When will he/she arrive? How big will he/she be? It's a celebration of new life, and baby things are just SO adorable. Plus, there are always a few fun games (even if they're a little cheesy) and lots of delicious food. What's not to love?

Many of my friends either have babies or toddlers or are just starting to have children, and that means lots of baby showers! My friend Jen and I threw this one for our college friend, Molly, a couple of weeks ago, and it was so much fun! We were all Kappa Kappa Gammas, and one of the symbols for our sorority is owls. Since owls are cute for a baby theme and so popular right now, we decided to run with it and have a "Look Whoo's Having a Baby?" shower. Molly is having a little boy, so we chose a color palette of blues/greens/browns and headed to Pinterest! I offered to design the invitation and any printables we would use -- games, decor, etc. I came up with a pretty sweet little party package (listed here in my Etsy shop), and those colors and designs helped us keep everything tied together throughout the shower. I took plenty of photos throughout the process and before the shower, so you can re-create as much as you like, or pick and choose which ideas might work for your own shower!

My "Inspiration Board" after I'd designed most of the printables and Jen & I had pinned like crazy on Pinterest.

The invitation design! I printed them via VistaPrint and was able to upload my own design and also matching backside (the blue). We included the raffle tickets with the invitations (just printed and cut at home).

A welcome sign (which I cut out and mounted on card stock and scrapbook paper), circles that could be used to make favor tags, cupcake toppers, a mini-garland/banner, etc., and cards for our "Words of Wisdom" Tree (see details below)!

We simply printed the cards on card stock, punched holes, and tied ribbon. Then, guests were to write their "words of wisdom" (new mom advice) for Molly and hang the cards on the "tree" :)

We just used branches from my willow tree in a decorative pitcher, and it came together nicely.

I made the little chalkboard sign with an unfinished wooden framed "chalkboard" (really just gray paint, I think) and two coordinating washi tapes -- so easy and cheap!

They make the cutest tapes (found these at Walmart), and you can see that it they matched our colors perfectly.

Jen had the idea to use the circles I had designed as favor tags (in addition to the cupcake toppers I'd originally planned) -- it was a great idea to mix up the look of the favor bags! The favors were just little Target dotted paper bags filled with green and blue jelly beans (they were egg-like and went well with the theme and colors).

A close up of the cupcake toppers! We printed the circles on card stock, cut them out, and taped a toothpick in between two of them to make each topper. Please excuse the slightly jagged cutting -- I think I should invest in a 2.5" round punch! 

My banner design, as it looked on the computer screen. You can buy this design in my shop, or I can make you an entirely custom banner design :)

materials for the banner assembly -- tape, some twine, and little metal brads (I happened to have them in a coordinating color -- that was just lucky!) 

First you print the pennants, cut them out (more cutting!), and cut larger triangles of coordinating scrapbook paper (or card stock). Then, tape (or glue) all the pennants to their backgrounds.

Use the brads to connect the pennants. I have seen this done with twine/yarn/ribbon, etc., but I've found that banners hang very nicely and look really clean when they are connected with brads. It's totally up to you!

I did use twine for the ends, as I like the look of it to tie up the banner and hang loose at the ends of a mantle (or wherever you'd like to put it).

The finished product on the day of the shower!

Another random little detail for the shower -- I thought I'd run with the owls theme and scan some of the owl-related artwork from some of Jacob's children's books. Owls are very popular in baby and kiddie lit., it seems! I just created a quick little collage of the images in Photoshop, printed it as an 8x10" photo at Walgreens, and framed it in a simple frame to use as shower decor and also to give to Molly for her nursery :)

The last printable (also a part of the whole package on Etsy) was a fun Mad Libs game. It was Jen's idea to do this game, and we decided Mad Libs never get old. Guests completed the words list in groups of 3-5 (without seeing the story), and then we asked Molly to read the stories aloud for the group's entertainment! We just had three groups, so if you had a larger shower, you may want to have the guest of honor read the story once and just have groups call out their answers.

Molly was forced to read about some very interesting labor and delivery scenarios she might have to look forward to ;)

And here are some collages of all the shower details as they looked when we brought everything together that day! Jen and I live a couple of hours apart, so we each did our own portions and didn't show each other much before the day of the party. It all came together well, and we had such a nice day celebrating Molly and her baby-boy-to-be!

The flowers were simple Kroger bouquets divided among several vases. The whites/greens/yellows looked so fresh and springy (although the day felt wintery). The turquoise basket held prizes that guests could pick if Molly was opening their gift when a timer sounded (I think we set it for every 5 min.). 

Jen did a great job with all the paper goods, the punch, and a lot of the food -- her hummus cups, fruit cones, and Asian cole slaw were popular! We just ordered cupcakes (so easy for a shower where you have to travel), and I also made the little birds' nests for dessert.

the "Words of Wisdom," Diaper Raffle, and game areas (Another quick and easy game we did was have guests guess how many eggs were in the jar -- the winner took home the jar of candy!)

Jen and I with the mom-to-be!