Baby Shower Hostess: Can This Just Be My Job?

I seriously wish I could host showers for a living. I love it! Don't get me wrong-I still love teaching. But I had such a great time throwing my sister-in-law's baby shower that if somebody actually paid me to do this stuff, it would be amazing!

A few weeks ago my friend Brooke asked me what the theme for the shower was, and honestly, I hadn't given that much thought. So after a few moments of silence I told her that the theme was 'Classy'. In fact, aside from the baby decoration on the cake, it couldn't have looked less like a baby shower! It's not that I'm anti-baby or anything. I just wanted the shower to reflect the poised and sophisticated woman that Kate is. 

Of course I could not have done it without the help of my fellow co-hostesses, my sister Jill, my mom, and my aunt Terry! 

Terry suggested we hold the shower at her place of employment, Persimmon Ridge Golf Club, which is beautiful and spacious. Having it at Persimmon Ridge also meant we didn't have to worry about making the food, which was a huge relief.

Jill and I visited many stores before we came upon these adorable pink and green gingham invitations from Staples. Jill designed and printed the invitations and then together we tied the little ribbons with the monogrammed tags to them.

My mom is the most talented woman I know so we left the table decorations to her. Kate's favorite flowers are hydrangeas, peonies, and gerber daisies, so Mom found silk versions of each these in shades of pink. She put pink crystals at the bottom and tied pink tulle around each glass vase.

Mom also had the idea to print baby pictures of Micah and Kate on parchment paper and place them inside larger vases. Persimmon Ridge had the octagon mirrors that we placed under the vases to create the simple, whimsical center pieces.

I have to give a shout out to Pinterest, without which I would not have found such adorable ideas for decorations and activities. Kate loves pennants and I wanted to make one that had my McNugget's initials on it. I searched "pennants" on Pinterest and found these perfect (and free) printable pennant letters!

They looked great on the mantle, along with the flower arrangement my mom made and the baby pictures of Micah and Kate, if I do say so myself!

Pinterest also led me to these precious "Wishes for Baby" cards by lauren makes, which were also free to download and print!

Our friends and family members wrote the sweetest wishes, and I'm going to bind them into a book for my little niece!

Once I had collected all of the cards, Kate drew one out for a prize. We did the same thing with the thank you card envelopes that I had everyone write their addresses on (to save Kate time).

I'm not big on shower games, mostly because I just don't think they're necessary. But I found the game "Name That Baby Tune" online, and I knew most of our family would have fun with it. I created a mix of 15 songs that each had the word 'Baby' in the title, and played snippets of each. Players got a point for having the title correct and a point for naming the artist correctly as well. Songs ranged from The Supremes' "Baby Love" to "Baby Got Back" by Sir-Mix-A-Lot.

The winners of the game and the drawings were awarded Target gift cards because, like my cousin Angie would say, no one needs any more candles!

Of course the teacher in me wants my McNugget to have books aplenty so I included a blurb at the bottom of the invitations that went like this: Help us build our little lady a library and sign your name to a book instead of a card if you like! I'm happy to say that many people participated and that my niece now has a plethora of reading materials for her nursery!

I got her one of my favorite books, Goodnight Moon, and found the matching bunny rabbit. I also found the idea on Pinterest to wrap the gift in a receiving blanket instead of paper. It turned out great!

The shower was a huge success, mostly because Kate got many of the items she needs to welcome baby EEM to the world in July!

...like these pink and white polka dot shades from Aunt Jackie.

Now that the shower is over, all we have to do is wait. It was a lot of work, but so much fun and totally worth it! I can't wait to meet the precious baby girl in that sonogram picture.