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!!