Party Details

The shower that my mother and I threw last Saturday has received much fanfare, the likes of which I am reticent to admit, makes me as giddy as a school girl. Without reservation, I exceedingly adore when a plan comes to fruition.

As promised, here are the links for many of the items I used for the shower. I cannot say enough how wonderful the inauguration of Etsy has been to stay-at-some party planners such as myself. I have never been unable to find an item that I am looking for at a reasonable price. Brilliant.

Without a doubt the shining beacon of the shower were the drinks. I chose to spend the majority of my planning and preparation time here. We purchased Mason jars to fill in the gaps from our current stash. Side note: how excited was I to read that Ree shares in my Mason jar love!

I purchased twine from Sweet Treat Supplies in yellow and white, and tied it around each Mason jar so that we could attach a simple tag from Staples for everyone to personalize their drink. Hands down the straws were my single immaculate inspiration for this party. They were my first purchase and the theme just snowballed from there. I used So and Such as they had them available in packs of 50. I wanted to display the mason jars in a way that would be easy to get to, and when I found this yellow tray at Michael’s on clearance, I was sold. We served a simple home-brewed iced tea with the option to add lemon or mint fresh from the garden, and store-bought sweetened lemonade. Bottled water was also made available.

     

The other grand inspiration that I had for the shower was to ask guests to consider bringing a book for the baby. I knew that my sister had very few children’s books (if any) and thought this would be a great idea for them to grow their library. I was greatly influenced by Martha Stewart’s recent baby shower feature, and the idea of a bookplate stuck with me. I found Cari of Interprintations who was able to create a label for me that remained elegant and tied in with our theme.

I displayed them on a bookshelf and had the guests write a message to the baby and affix them on the inside cover of the book. This will make for a unique and lasting keepsake.

Cari also made the menu card for me. I wanted the shower to exude elegance and this added a wonderful finishing touch. I framed it in an extra IKEA Ribba frame I had lying around. My sister now has it for her scrapbook for the shower.

In regards to food, the other large focus was on dessert, specifically the presentation of dessert. To save time we purchased a gallon of Rita’s Water Ice in lemon, but then we scooped individual servings into clear plastic cups and adorned them with a sprig of mint (again from the garden) and re-froze them until dessert time. We served each guest so that the water ice wouldn’t melt too quickly in the mid-day sun. I purchased these adorable scalloped baking cups from Smidge & Pinch to dress up the cupcakes.  

My mother baked a lemon raspberry cake which I made a bunting for based on this tutorial. It was incredibly easy and made a large design impact.

The decorations were by and large simple and easy. I found a great company online, Hometown Evolutions, which sold decorative paper lanterns in both yellow and white. I was pleasantly surprised to learn they are a local company! My Dad hung the lanterns throughout to create a defined party space.

The balloons were unintended but actually complimented the deck quite nicely.

My grandfather made a homemade sign for my bridal shower as well as my sister’s, and since he crafted one for my baby shower he also wanted to create one for this shower. He did a great job and we displayed it out front to direct the guests to our backyard.

The chalkboard was a cheap find at AC Moore and the bowl to house the chalk was one of my dear Anthropologie latte bowls. I love those things something fierce. I’ll be printing out the pictures that we took of each guest’s prediction and giving them to my sister to also include in her scrapbook.

Each place was set at the long tables with china, a napkin, silver, and two games tucked under the plates for after lunch. My one regret is that I didn’t think ahead and purchase natural pencils to lie at each place instead of the garish blue pens. The checkered envelope on top of the plates is another perfect coincidence. I had purchased a box of thank you cards from Target at the beginning of our planning stages and lo, and behold, the envelopes were yellow-checked. An aesthetically pleasing plate if I ever saw one. The guests wrote their address on the envelope and I collected them so that my sister can more efficiently get the thank yous in the mail.

I am a frugal mama and believe in saving where you can. This party was no exception. I had a gift certificate to Tiny Prints and so I used that towards the purchase of the invitations. At that point our theme was not yet solidified so I purposed to find one that was elegant and simple without an overarching theme. I chose this invitation.

From my trip to view the Martha Stewart taping, Miss Darcy Miller herself had gifted each of us in the audience with a gift certificate to candy.com. I readily used that towards our favor components and would highly recommend them in the future. They have literally every piece, shape, size, and color of candy you can imagine, and they give you the option of shipping with a cold pack to keep the candy intact.

It was a fantastic shower that maintained elegance and grace above all.

A fitting tribute to the mother, indeed.