A Baby Shower

Our dear friends are having a baby girl and we could not be more excited!!!

On Sunday I was lucky enough to be a part of hosting a shower for Miss Casey. She is not the game playing, pastel pink, squealing over baby gifts type.....so we kept it pretty simple.

Decor included:

• Paper lanterns, honeycomb and paper poofs, and petaled versions clustered.(a new one for me that turned out pretty, but took hours to do. project includes cutting millions of circles from tissue paper and gluing them in rows to the lanterns)
  
• Felt and twine flagging.
• Card stock circle and doily bunting.
• Streamer garland, again.
  
• Wood letter and clothespin banner, painted by the lovely Ashley.
  
• Sunflower and Hydrangea arrangements.
• All decor hung from Contact hooks, genius for decorating without damaging walls and wood.
  

Menu included: (thank you Angel!)

• Lots of cheese and crackers, an assortment.
• Crudite with hummus and dips.
• Cheese straws.
• Sausage balls topped with pecans.
• Mini cheesecakes and kiwi pies.
  
• Miniature cream cheese mints.

Beverage options: (thank you Ashley!)

• Izze in adorable little cans. (soon to be moms drink of choice)
  
• Yummy pink lemonade punch, served in Ball Jars with the most adorable striped straws.
• Water and wine.
  

This was the only baby shower that I have ever been to aside from my own, so I was nervous about being a newbie. (luckily my co-hosts were much more versed in hosting!) I am happy to report that it seemed to be a great success! Everyone loved the decorations and food, great gifts were opened, and it was a beautiful sunny day.

While I was setting up in the morning, I had the news on covering the Memorial Services for 9.11. It felt sort of strange to be celebrating on such a sad day. I felt conflicted. It is hard to believe that has been ten years. In the end I felt good about celebrating life, it seemed appropriate and right and comforting!

Birthday Breakfast

It's official........I am over Mickey and Minnie!

The party was a huge success, especially if your judging based on the looks on Carson's face all Saturday morning!

Shrieks of delight made every moment of crafting and planning worth it!

If I was forced to admit a misstep.........I once again was frantically icing the cake as guests arrived. From the picture you will be able to clearly see I had cake problems.......again. Avoiding store bought icing seems to mean that my cakes will forever look like they are on the way off the plate, yikes!

For now, I'm hoping and praying that she doesn't ask to be Minnie for Halloween and dreaming of the Cowboys and Indians Party I wanted instead......maybe next year, fingers crossed!

It might not have been my first choice as a theme, but Carson is the most amazing little girl! I'm endlessly beaming with pride over the little person that she is becoming. It was my goal to give her a truly magical day that she deserves and would remember............mission accomplished! Plus, as far as Minnie/ Mickey Parties go.......I think it was about as cool as it gets!?

PS. How about that last picture? That is the face of the fierce independence to come in the next year. Watch out!

Party Preperations

Party hats: Carson could not decide between ears and a hat, so I combined the two and added some sequins for fun.

Covered Sangria wine jugs for the centerpieces on the tables. I have glittered and painted mickey heads to add to some sunflowers. Long tables will be covered in polk a dot and striped fabrics.

Lots of cute ribbons to tie onto the balloons.
My girl LOVES balloons!

Lots of paper garland, cuz I love it! Carson had so much fun picking out all the papers in the scrapbook section and we cut our own confetti from the leftovers.

I used hot pink nylon cord that I bought in the camping section of Target, perfect right?

Here is my version of the streamer garland, so pretty.....but it takes forever! I will feel like it is worth it when its all spread out over my vintage picture of Mickey and Minnie I had blown up poster size. Kind of the centerpiece over the food table.

Paper fans: by far the cheapest and easiest of all the projects. I plan to cluster them over the cake table.

Finally found a use for the millions of pictures that Carson paints and colors every day. We picked our favorites and loaded them all into a binder in clear sleeves. The rest we used to cut homemade confetti with.

Must have noisemakers!

Homemade mixed with store bought sparkly.

Confetti bags with noisemakers to hand out before cake. The party venue is the screen porch so the cement floor will be easy to clean up. What kid doesn't like throwing confetti and making a mess? Final touches are going on our favor bags, but they include some of Carson's favorite things.

Carson's dress for the big event. She requested a dress and a skirt, so this one has both......but it's still kind of a work in progress. My sewing is far from impressive, but luckily she doesn't seem to mind.

Kind of a let down after yesterdays post on Confetti System, I know. I guess it's kind of runway to reality. I'm not planning a tea party or a rock concert. I'm planning a Minnie and Mickey Birthday Breakfast for my little, and I want everything to be amazing!

In an attempt to avoid the Disney aisle at the party store, Carson and I have been hard at work for weeks. I'm not a huge fan of pink, so I tried to steer Carson towards the classic red and white polk a dot that classic Minnie wears, with pops of pink here and there. I added some gold because I think that there always needs to be a metallic for it to feel festive. Somehow that kind of turned into yellow too, but they both wear yellow shoes so?

The party is ten AM which is great for many reasons. The kids will be freshly rested, the heat should be tolerable, and the food and drink manageable. We are serving standard eggs and bacon for the kids, chili cheese grits, a breakfast casserole, and mimosas for the adults. There will be piles of donuts from the amazing Sublime. You must check out the website to see the out of control flavors! At noon we are having cake covered in sprinkles, Mickey and Minnie cookies, and ice cream......cuz that's what the Birthday girl requested. Activities include balloon animals, face paint, a short scavenger hunt, and a special appearance by two surprise guests. Guess who?