Monday, March 8, 2010

baby shower recap

on saturday i got the chance to throw my little sister a baby shower and i realized in the car yesterday that i only get to do that for her once. for that reason i'm glad i paid attention to details, because when it comes to party planning it is ALL about the details! i've learned in all the birthday parties, bridal showers and baby showers that i've thrown (and believe me, it's been a lot) that people really do appreciate the details! those are the things they remember that set your party apart from other ones they've attended.

for katie's shower our details happened to include the most adorable owls. it started with the invitations which i found on etsy here. i loved that they featured a cute little owl family which represents katie & declan's soon-to-be family of 3. we decided to hold the shower at a restaurant because let's face it, who wants to have to clean their house, make all the food and then clean your house again? yeah, not me. i'd much rather pay (or in this case have my mom pay) to have the event at a restaurant. *thanks mom!* we held it at this great place called brickside grille and they were amazing! we had my sis-in-love's baby shower there a few years ago so i knew how accommodating they would be. our 2 servers did an incredible job taking care of all 40 of us that were there!

one of the things i knew i wanted to do was a 'wishing tree.' i've seen images of these floating around the internet and had it filed in the back of my mind to use someday. it really fit in with the owl theme of the shower so it was perfect! the wishing tree was literally a branch i cut off of one of my mom's dogwood trees (sorry mom!) that i spray painted brown. i put it in a vase filled with glass marbles to keep it from shifting. then i created these cute little tags in photoshop and printed them on cardstock. i punched a hole, looped some ribbon through and they were ready! the guests wrote a sweet little "wish" for katie and the baby and hung it on the tree. it looked so pretty with all these precious little notes hanging from it. it was so elegant and added so much to the shower. at the end of the shower i took all the tags off and this afternoon i made katie a little scrapbook that has them all in it. now she can look back and read all the sweet notes from her friends and family whenever she wants! maybe someday my little niece will read them, too! here's to hoping the "wishes" come true! here's a couple shots of the tree that lyryn took.


my sis-in-love made the amazing cake. you can see a photo of that on katie's post. she did an incredible job! i am always impressed with her talent when it comes to desserts... mmmm! i found the favors on etsy here. they were the cutest owl cookies i have ever seen... ok they were the only owl cookies i have ever seen, but they were still awesome. we had one at each seat for the guests and everyone was so happy to get them. you couldn't help but smile at how cute they were!

there were of course fresh bouquets of flowers... i am a firm believer that fresh flowers are a must at parties! i went to a couple places on friday morning and found a great mix of pink, green and white flowers. i have a large collection of glass containers that i collected over the years which we used for vases. i love using different size containers. i think it adds a lot of visual interest and keeps things from looking too uniform. for a final touch to the flowers we made paper owls and stuck them in the vases. it was a great touch and the guests loved them as well!

sorry, i know this post is getting long! it really was such a beautiful day and i loved being able to shower my sister and future niece with lots of love! i couldn't have pulled it off without some amazing help so thank you to lyryn, kesh, jennie and my mom for all your hard work to make the day special. and a big shout out to jesus for giving us such a sunshiney, beautiful spring day!

i love you katie and i am so excited for this next chapter in your life. you are going to be such an amazing mom!!!

hope everyone has a fantastic week!

9 comments:

Lyryn said...

It was a beautiful day! I'm glad you like the photos, love!!!

Katie @ Loves of Life said...

I have tears in my eyes. You are the most wonderful sister EVER, I feel SOOOOOO blessed you have NO idea. Mom said to me, "Do you have any clue how blessed you are?"...and I DO!! I really, seriously DO. I am overwhelmed.

One day, I'll get to pay it forward for all you've done for me. My "one" shower was the most amazing, best shower EVER (kind of like my wedding, hahah), and every little detail made it absolutely perfect. Afterall, you're right...its in the details.

I love you more then a million sour patch kids.

Jocelyn said...

This was such a cute shower...I absolutely adore all the owl stuff!!! You did good:-)

Brittany Ann said...

Oh my gosh! You did so great! I LOVE the wishing tree! I wish I'd thought of that when I threw the shower I did last week. Storing that one way for the next baby event!

Shelley said...

cutest shower ever,...and even cuter comment from your sister! Tugged at my heart strings! ;) I am just getting ready to throw a shower for my sister too so thank you so much for the inspiration.

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

I love the Owl theme!

Kishah said...

CUTE! you did an amazing job planning and putting your personal touch in everything! I love that you went with a theme! Bravo! Awesome :D

Bethany said...

YOU DID A FANTASTIC JOB!! It was beautiful and cute and classy and sheik!!! I loved all the decor and especially the wishing tree. I swear you do a better and better and better job with each party you do! Parabens, querida!!! <3

Laura and Ryan said...

I love the idea of a wishing tree! How fun! She is really lucky to have such a loving family to shower her!