Tuesday, January 16, 2018

My Baby Shower

This past weekend, Baby S. and I were showered by so much love by family and friends! My mom, sister, and sisters-in-law hosted the shower at my brother's house in the Minneapolis area and they did an AMAZING JOB. I knew they would do an amazing job as they are so crafty - especially my SIL in Chicago (she helped tremendously with our wedding DIY projects) - but they exceeded my high expectations!

The shower was Dr. Seuss-themed and they included an invitation insert that asked guests to bring a card instead of a book, which was such a wonderful idea! I would much rather receive a book than a card! Plus these days, the cost of a board book and a card can be about the same, which is kind of crazy (why are greeting cards so expensive??)!

The adorable invitation


Shortly after the guests arrived, we ate the yummy food. I love how they tied all of the food into the Dr. Seuss theme! Here are some pictures of some of the food!


Green Eggs and Ham
The "train" veggie tray
"Cat in the Hat" Fruit Kabobs

"Hop-on-Pop" Cake pops

A sweet take on "Green Eggs and Ham"
Grinch Punch

After eating, they had a couple of activities. The first was guessing what was in these gift bags. The bags had the letters for "baby shower" on each of the bags and the guest had to guess what baby item, that started with the letter on the bag, was in each bag.


I, of course, got to keep all the items in the bag. They were filled with things like bibs, a brush, oragel, hats, an aspirator, yellow duckies, etc. 2 people tied - one is my cousin who has a 4-month old; the other is one of my closest friends that is due this week with her 2nd baby. So they clearly had an easier time thinking of all the things a baby needs!

The next activity was for guests to decorate onesies. They had stencils and iron-on decals so that made it a bit easier for guests. But I am still SUPER IMPRESSED with what they came up with! I have some very artistic family and friends!


There are so many clever ones - like the "Kitty Did It" one! Too funny. They decorated a range of sizes so it will be fun to dress the baby in them over the next year!

After those fun activities, I "opened" presents. I say "opened" because I had my family include some clever wording on the invitation, asking guests to not wrap their gifts. I think opening lots of presents in front of people can be kind of awkward. Plus it's not very green as all that wrapping paper goes in the trash as most of it isn't recyclable. I still went through my gifts so people could see what I got and I could acknowledge the gift-giver, but it was a more efficient/less drawn out than it would have been if I unwrapped all the gifts. We got lots of wonderful things that we will need for the baby, but I am most excited about all the books we received!


After the guests left, I stuck around and Phil joined us for dinner. My 12-year-old nephew, Andrew, researched recipes to find something GF that I could eat. He went with Jambalaya. When he was at the grocery store with my brother, he asked if it would be ok to buy bread as he wanted to make sure it would be ok to eat something in front of me that I can't have. How sweet is that? I of course do not care at all when others eat something I can't eat but it was very sweet of him to worry about that.

Andrew then did the bulk of the cooking, with some assistance from my brother!


My sweet nephew, the chef

He even plated everyone's meal and added a garnish. This kid can cook!



After dinner, Andrew and Phil loaded up my car with gifts. It was below 0F so I was very glad that they did all the heavy lifting! Then we headed home and I spent a good chunk of the following day going through the gifts, washing the baby items, and writing thank yous.

It was such a special and wonderful day. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends who are so excited for us. I couldn't have dreamed of a more perfect shower!!

13 comments:

Charbelle said...

WOW!!! Your family is SO talented!!! What an amazing shower!!! Every detail was perfect!!! What I love is that you've now had the wedding shower to celebrate you after celebrating everyone else for so many years and now the baby shower to celebrate, after attending so many to celebrate others!!! I love love love that it's your turn now to be showered and pampered!!! All the books, ahhh!!! So fun!!! Even the cold temps couldn't dampen the awesomeness of the day!!!

Marlys said...

It was a joyous day! My daughter-in-laws and daughter did such a great job of planning and executing the event! I helped with food prep, so got the easy job! We had lots of fun planning it and so happy it turned out so well! I wish we would have purchased more onesies, as I didn't get to make one, and I know quite a few others didn't either, but they sure turned out cute!
Isn't it fun to wash & organize all the baby clothes, diapers etc? I loved doing that - part of the "nesting" syndrome, I believe!
It is also amazing that you got so many books yet no duplicates! WOW!

Marlys said...

Oh, and that jambalaya looked awesome! I wish we could have stayed to have some, but had to hit the road! Andrew is such a great cook for a 12 year old! WOW!

Jeanie said...

I'd say this is the most clever and fun baby shower ever. Love the book theme -- someone knows you well, I noticed the Paris books (I have one of those!). And the game and decorating sounds loads of fun. Usually I hate the games but that one is so clever! And I really appreciate the creativity in the food and styling of the food. Honestly, you have a fun family (which I knew, of course) and they know how to party!

Alison said...

What a perfect shower for you! I love the book idea, it was so awesome to have so many books instead of cards you will never look at again. I did that for my niece 7 years ago and get to go it again this weekend for me new niece. Those onesies are too cute too! If I had more time, I would steal that idea for Sunday! ha

Stephany said...

Those onesies are SO cute and so clever and creative. And it'll be fun to put them on Baby S and feel connected to your family and friends. <3 And, of course, I *love* the idea of showering you with books (pun intended, ha). The perfect thing for us bookworms!

I'm glad you had such a perfect baby shower. Yay!

katielookingforward said...

I love how your family parties! Also, have you read bringing up bebe? Its an easy read, but super interesting about how the french raise children.

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

Awww, I love everything about this shower! But what I love most of all is your nephew- such a good cook and already learning how to cook what you can eat. Adorable! Hope my boys are like this at 12!

Gracie said...

They did such a clever job with your shower theme! What fun! And your nephew is precious: for a kid to be that aware of the needs of others is a sign that he will be a kind and selfless adult.

Anonymous said...

WOW! I was so amazed reading your post. It must be a wonderful time for you to be with all your lovable ones surrounding you. Yummy variety dishes. Beautiful baby dresses and books:)

San said...

Oh, what a fantastic baby shower, Lisa! Your family and friends did an amazing job. How wonderful to surrounded by so much love.

Amber said...

Those onesies are AMAZING!!! They really did a fantastic job throwing this shower and are so so crafty! Also that is a super super sweet story about your nephew. What a great kid!

So glad you and Baby S got showered with so much love <3

Leigh said...

What a beautiful shower that they threw for you! Love the book idea too- you will always use/read them again and you most likely won't with cards (though I still have all ours from our wedding/showers)