I’m excited to take you on a tour of a baby shower for one of my friends…

My friend, I’ll refer to her as D, has 3 boys.  She was expecting a GIRL, so I wanted to make the theme of the shower very PINK & GIRLY.

I added 2 pink bottles {gift for D}, some pink & white curly ribbon and tulle to this wreath I already owned. {all supplies purchased at Dollar Tree} {Used a pink pipe cleaner to attach to wreath}

As you come into our home, the first room you see is on the right, our dining room. {I haven’t decided on a different paint color yet, for those of you who know I have been wanting to change the paint color in here.}  I found the sign and thought it would be PERFECT for decor and to give as a gift.  D can hang it up in the baby’s nursery.

These poms {my daughter likes to call them puffs} are easier bought than made.  Believe me, it’s difficult to find tissue paper large enough in bright pink and lime to make them.  Let alone, making them is way trickier than you think. {mine were a major flop!}  I found these at Party City.  They came in a package of 3: one pink, blue and green.  I think they were around $6 a package…DH bought them for me.  Be warned, however, you have to fluff them.  These poms are popular and I know why.  I believe they add a fun & wispy atmosphere to the decor.

The reason you DO NOT see my dining room table with the food we served…I forgot to insert my SD card in the camera.  Please don’t make the same mistake I did.  I went around snapping LOTS of photos of the spread without my SD card.  I didn’t realize this until the food was gone.  Sigh…see…keeping things real.

Menu:

• Petite Quiches
• Watermelon
• Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
• Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Wafer Cookies
• Relish Tray – Black Olives, Green Olives & Pickles
• Vegetable Tray with cut up Petite Cucumbers & Carrot Sticks
• Pink Punch
• Cake

I made this above banner to hang in the entry of the dining room with scrapbook paper.  It’s as easy as cutting out triangles and hot gluing them to a ribbon.  However, the banner adds another special touch, which again, D took home to hang in her girl’s new room.

This metal tree adorns my small semi circle console table in the foyer.  I added these cute pink baby girl party favors.

I placed my vase into this small wicker baby bassinet for the floral center piece of the table.  All flowers, except for the hydrangeas were given to me by DH for Mother’s Day.  They still looked lovely so I added them with some hydrangea blooms I cut from my bush.

Do you see the pretty runner I used on my newly painted china cabinet?  It is a wall panel folded up.  It will be so cute hung in D’s nursery.  I am loving the chalk board on dishes scenario I have been eying all over Pinterest & blog land.  I bought a white plate at the dollar store, covered it with saran wrap, cut out a circle with a craft knife and spray painted some chalkboard paint {I already had} on the plate.  The paint bled a little bit, so I would recommend the chalkboard paint you use a brush to paint on instead of the spray paint. {fortunately you can’t tell in this photo}  I added the monogram of the baby’s name with chalk.

The rectangular plush ornament you see hanging is a cute door knob sign which states if the baby is asleep or awake. {another gift}

The cake was made by my talented friend, The Caker Baker.  She has skills!  So anyone local, look her up here.  Bonnie has been my cake maker for the last several birthday parties.  Not only are her cakes exquisitely decorated but they are magically delicious!  The best cake I have ever tasted!  Since I am a visual person, all I have to do is send her a photo of what cake I want and she will duplicate it!  The other special aspect included was the ability to use my beautiful milk glass cake stand.  It is a family heirloom {Thank You Aunt T.} and I was delighted to add the satin pink ribbon.

Pinterest was my friend in this baby shower endeavor.  I was able to use many of the ideas I have pinned in the past including the above balloons.  Take a needle and thread to sew the balloon ties for a lovely balloon garland without helium!  Below you will see I hung them to the entry way of our living room.

This table was dedicated to Wisdom & Wishes for D & her baby girl.  I gathered up some branches to add to a glass vase with white decorative rocks {$1}.  I used the Cricut to cut out the birds from scrapbook paper.  Guests wrote their wisdom & wishes on the birds which were attached to the branches using tiny wooden clothes pins.  The tiny clothes pins were in the craft section of Wal-Mart.  D took home the Wisdom & Wishes Birds.

On the above chalkboard paint plate you can see how the spray chalk board paint bled outside the saran wrap.  I will eventually repair this plate by buying some brush on chalkboard paint.  I meant to do it before the shower, but ran out of time.  Hey, it’s not perfect, but it’s good enough.  Fortunately, no guests pointed it out.

Above is D admiring the sweet, beautiful dresses for her baby girl.  I can’t wait to see them on her at church.

I love the name D picked out for her baby girl, don’t you?  Her name is Grace Joy, but they will call her Gracie.

The banner: in keeping with my love of chalkboard, I used some left over chalkboard labels for her first name, Gracie. {They were from my playroom closet organizing project}  I didn’t peel and stick the labels.  I just attached the label onto the ribbon using the small clothes pins.  The pink and purple pieces of cloth behind the name are baby washcloths {gifts to D.}  Since I didn’t have enough of the labels to do her middle name, I cut out some black card stock in the same size as the labels.  I still used chalk to write the letters on the labels including the black card stock.  Stencil letters helped me make the lettering for GRACIE accentuating her first name.  I wrote her middle name JOY free hand.

I want to say a little bit about D.  I admire her so much.  She is a rock star {not literally} Mom.  I appreciate her spiritual strength and dedication to her family.  She has been a wonderful friend to me and I hoped this baby shower somehow displayed my love &  gratitude for her.

I know sometimes people don’t hold baby showers for women who already have 3 kids.  But let me remind you, a baby shower is not primarily for outfitting the family of baby items.  A baby shower is a celebration.  It is a party celebrating a new life coming into the world.  Not only that, celebrating WITH the person with whom we care for.

After the shower was over D shared something with me.  This was her first baby shower.  She said her work held a luncheon for her before her first boy was born.  Otherwise, there was not a baby shower with a cake, games, etc. held in her honor for her previous 3 children.  When she told me this I was surprised, but grateful that a loving Heavenly Father inspired me to hold this special baby shower for her & Gracie.  Everyone deserves to have a baby shower.

Many of the decorating ideas you see in this post are not original.  This is important.  There is nothing wrong with duplicating good ideas.  If I see something I like, and think I can do it, I will do it.  Sometimes I add my own twist on the idea, but it is not wrong.  Ideas shared on blogs, Pinterest and other social media are there for this purpose.  However, it is crucial and polite to give credit to the original source of the idea.

Sources: Leslie from Goodbye, House. Hello Home! Kara from Kara’s Party Ideas {Thank You Leslie & Kara }

Grace Joy was born Monday, June 4th at 8:03 AM.  She was 7 lb. 2 oz.

Babies Bring Joy,