Archive | baby showers

a BABY SHOWER BRUNCH for mommy & babe

By Laura Panfilio on July 17, 2013 in baby showers, brunch, party TIME

I have this friend Christine. I love her. She is fun, free-spirited, eclectic, kind, a brilliant mommy and totally comfortable in her own skin. I adore my time with her (although it is very limited)! I have known her family since I was in middle school and now get to be connected to her through our husbands fire careers. Life has a funny way of coming full circle when you move back to the community you grew up in! So when baby number 4 entered her life I was thrilled to throw her a small shower (with the help of our friend Lacey and my sweet Mom & Sister). It was just a quiet brunch with a handful of friends and baby Henry {of course}! I hope it inspires you to celebrate someone you love!

::the Decor::

An eclectic mix of colors, vintage toys, cards and elements mixed with modern floral’s, decorative dishes & linens and delicious food! I just grabbed what my mom and I had and started mixing and matching. My sister was happy to help decorate but would have done it a little simpler. I wanted to make it really eclectic and felt comfortable really mashing up the patterns and colors of the place settings. I used a large roll of brown packing paper (they sell rolls at our Dollar Tree) as the base of the table instead of a table cloth. My Mom had a simple white & burlap table runner that went on top. She also had a mix of glasses, plates, tea-cups, miss-matched silverware and floral cloth napkins. I used her cute framed print of a little boy praying for the food table {along with little toys, blocks, bears and vintage cards & old books that I had around my house}. I always say that the decor for a party should reflect the person you are celebrating. Since Christine loves color and vintage elements {and is fairly eclectic & simple in her own decorating/gardening style} I knew it would work to take it up a notch or two for this little party!

…the Mommy’s special place-setting {just made with printed letters & scrapbook paper}…

…and fresh flowers in mason jars make everything more beautiful…

…I borrowed these tissue-paper banners from a friend who had just made them for her son’s party…

::the Favors and a special Gift ::
Tea
Wishes for Baby{here are some templates like mine on Pinterest}

Lacey came up with these cute favors. She used brown paper filler at the bottom of clear bags to cushion little tins of tea {Christine also likes tea…so this worked great}. She tied them with raffia to give them that natural/simple look. They complimented our table beautifully and everyone when home with a little treat! For a one more special gift for the Mommy and Baby I created a Wishes for Baby card that each person at the shower filled out. I put them in a small photo box and Christine went home with a personal card from each person at the party.

::The Menu::

Fresh Scones {with jam and lemon curd}

Madeline’s & Mixed Nuts

Small Doughnuts {mostly for decoration}

Greek Yogurt & Granola

Mixed Berries & Apple Sausage

Monkey Bread

Beverages {see below}

monkey bread…yum!

I love fruit water {I like to just slice up anything I have and toss it in there}. Yum! We poured orange juice for each place setting {champagne could be easily added} and of course had coffee and tea available in large quantities!

ashley’s baby shower {for a princess in the making}

By Laura Panfilio on March 20, 2013 in baby showers

Last year I got to celebrate my friend Ashley with a lovely baby shower. Her and my sister are kindred spirits and they always make me laugh when they are together. It was a delight to celebrate her. The decor was based around Ashley’s love of pink, country music, pearls and all things pretty! We all pooled our ideas, antique baby items & time to make it work! It was so much fun decorating & making it special that I wanted to share some of our ideas in hopes that they will inspire you!

Each person at the shower filled out a {Wishes for Baby} card that we gave her later in a cute box.I made my own template but my sister found the idea on Pinterest {so there are several ways to do-it-yourself}.

Ashley loves pink, so it worked out well that she knew she was having a girl {a princess in the making indeed}! If you want to make these {Paper Pinwheels} check out Pinterest and YouTube for a ton of tutorials. Also, you can look-up these favors {Cowgirl Cookies} on Pinterest to duplicate these cute favors that sweet Ann {the hostess and baby’s grandma} made for the occasion!

We used branches and blossoms for the main centerpiece {and hung these pearls and beads with fishing line}.

At the last minute we decided to put doilies & lace around this vase. They were hand made by the baby’s great-great grandma.

I have a few vintage baby cards that we pinned up on some twine with clothes-pins, along with some baby pictures of the mommy & daddy, around the room.

For the final touch we simply added a bunch of delicious food & punch to the scene {mostly brought by close friends attending the shower}and we were ready to part!

There were a ton of beautiful gifts for this little babe. My sister made these adorable onesies.

My sister laughs when I say this but one of my biggest goals when I decorate for an occasion is to have the decor reflect the people or person being celebrated! Hopefully we accomplished just that with Ashley’s country inspired, pink, pearl & lace shower extravaganza!

baby shower LOVE for lacey & baby

By Laura Panfilio on January 28, 2011 in baby showers, party decor

Recently My Mom, Sister and I got to throw a shower for our dear friend Lacey! As you can tell we love Lacey and we love throwing parties! It was a dessert shower with a monkey theme and a ton of people and it was just wonderful. We had a great time celebrating her little family and getting excited about their little baby boy (who will arrive on the scene in the next few weeks…wooohooo!) Fun was had by all!

Enjoy these pictures of our cute decor and all the beautiful and creative desserts people brought! I hope it inspires you to throw a special party for someone you love!

The tables were set with snacks for everyone to enjoy and of course monkeys (luckily we have a huge monkey collection around here so getting decor was easy). My sister made the cute little “burp cloths” on the tables and we used the fabric from those as our colors for the event.

Kirstyn (who made these cute tissue paper pom poms) and Ashley helped make it go off without a hitch and my mom was a trooper in the kitchen doing all the food prep!

We asked a few of her friends to bring desserts and they were all great (I sampled most)…thanks again ladies!

I made little place cards that said what each dessert was and who had brought it…making it more fun to “compliment the chef or shopper” (check out Laura’s homemade whoopie pies…yummy)!

Do you like Anne’s homemade monkey cookies and the little diaper cake that I made? It was cute and practical as it included 40 diapers, pajamas, bibs and wash cloths…and of course the cute little monkey on top (I’ll post instructions on how I made it some other time).

And no dessert party would be complete without Joanne’s ginger cookies and Kirstyn’s lemon bars…so good!

we had a fun candy table for favors (because Lacey loves sweets)

This was a spot for people to write Lacey little notes and fill out the “thank you card” envelopes with their addresses…one less thing for mommy to worry about.

We played a few games and opened presents in a fun “new” way. Each person around the room opened a present (all at once) and then stood up (one at a time) and said who the gift was from and showed the room what it was.