Cactus Themed Baby Shower

With one of our monthly dinner girls about to give birth to her first child, I decided to theme our monthly dinner in her honor with a little baby shower.  She and her husband are decorating the baby's room with light pink and cactus (inspired by Palm Springs), so I went with this theme for the evening.

Invite:  The party decor and invitation used shades of greens and pinks.  I created the invitation on Photoshop with cactus images I found for free online.  I love that they look like watercolor, and they are soft colors.  Seemed perfect for the arrival of a little baby girl.

Decor: I made this easy cactus banner with my Cricut.  I just taped the cactus onto a pink ribbon.  I switched out the "O" of my HOME sign with a ceramic cactus I found at Michaels.

I had some fun creating the centerpiece for this party because I don't own any cactus plants (real or artificial), and large cactus are a bit too expensive to purchase, so I made them myself.

I started with a diaper cake made to look like a cactus.  This was quite a challenge to figure out how to do, but I think it turned out cute. I rolled 4 diapers for each section and put a skewer in the middle to keep all the sections together and in a straight line.  The green ribbon hid the rubber bands I used to keep each bundle together.  I stuck a skewer in each side and slid a single diaper (rolled up) for the arms of the cactus.  The homemade pink fabric flowers are attached to hair clips, so they can definitely be used for baby Cora in the future.

Next I made cacti out of cardstock.  I used my Cricut to make two types of cacti and pink flower pots for them.  I filled a small bowl with tissue paper and topped it with rocks for the inside.  I also made the sign with the cute saying on Photoshop to add to the table decor.

For placecards, I made these rock cactus flower pots. I bought the pots and the rocks at the dollar store.  The pots were 3 for $1.  I painted them white and then painted the larger rocks three different shades of green.  Once they were dry, I added the white paint.  The name card I designed to look like the invitation.

For the napkins I cut out a cactus and pink flowers and just set it in on each folded napkin.

Wine labels are always fun for me to design.  It was a little hard to come up with ideas to combine cactus, babies, and wine.  These are the best I could come up with, but they made me smile.

For wine charms, I cut various types of cactus out of cardstock and lightly glued them onto my wine stem.  Simple and cute.

Menu:  We started with chips and salsa.  I bought a cactus cookie cutter and cut green tortillas into cactus shapes before baking them to make some cactus-shaped chips to place along with the black tortilla chips.

The mom-to-be is a on a special diet with gestational diabetes, so the main dishes needed to be something she could eat.  After asking her husband for suggestions, I found out that my friend had been craving lettuce wrapped tacos, so that is what I decided to serve.  We served this dish buffet-style, so guests could put whatever toppings they personally wanted on their tacos.

I roasted some peppers and green beans to serve as a side, and heated some black beans for those guests that could have them.

My friend's husband also said she had been craving cheesecake.  I looked up several recipes for cheesecake that was Keto friendly (no carb).  I decided to make these, but I made them without the sauce and only a strawberry cut like a flower on top.  I didn't do the sauce because I put them into these cupcake wrappers.  I printed the cactus pattern on green cardstock and then cut them out and assembled them.  I used a cardstock stand to hold them up high, and I knew it would be too messy with the sauce, so I just left that out.  The guests really liked them.  Just a tip if you are planning to make these...use cupcake liners.  I didn't the first time as it wasn't mentioned in the recipe, and I couldn't get them out of the pan!  I had to make a second batch with cupcake liners.

Favor:  I originally ordered cactus candles to give as a parting gift, but they were too small for the dollar store pots, so I went to my local nursery and bought live cactus plants.  They were a bit more expensive that I normally spend, but a cute party favor.  I planted them in the dollar store pots I painted light pink.

It was fun to come up with the sayings that matched for the cactus/baby theme as I wanted each one to be different.  My favorite was "Sometimes I wet my plants" and "I will never desert you."

What a great time we had showering Maria and her baby with a little love.  Can't wait to meet Cora!

Brown Bear Brown Bear Birthday

Our daughter just LOVES the Brown Bear Brown Bear book.  She recites it all the time as she sees birds in the sky or ducks at the park.  I thought it would make a perfect theme for her 2nd birthday.

Invite: I found the image background online and added the text to it.  The fonts I used were "Return to Sender" for the colorful shaded words and Comic Sans for the white text.  I printed these and then added bright colored card stock behind them before sending them out to guests.

I always like my kiddos to dress in theme if possible.  For this party, I found some Brown Bear Brown Bear fabric on Etsy and purchased one yard.  I bought the coordinating fabric, ribbon, and buttons at Joann's.  My amazing mother sewed this beautiful dress.  She is so amazing, she even did it without a pattern!  Thanks Mom!! Oh...and isn't my daughter just the cutest in it! Just loved it.

Entry Decor:  I made this entry sign with a little help from my 4 and 6 year old.  I basically cut up a white poster board into 5 pieces and gave the kids paint.  They each got 3 shades of their color.  Then they painted randomly all over the piece of poster board.  Once it was dry, I made patterns of the animals from images found online and cut them out.  I glued them together and put them on the sign, but this method gave the animals the same look as the ones in Eric Carle's book.  The letters I cut from my Cricut.

I made these centerpieces for each of the tables.  I made the wraps on the vases using Photoshop and
printed them on card stock.  I filled the vases half full with gumballs to add color.  The animals I ordered off of Amazon.  They were part of our birthday gift to Jenna. I made simple tissue paper flowers for the top.  It was a windy day, so I did have to tape the flowers down.

I made a Brown Bear Brown Bear birthday banner. I couldn't find the brown bear paper, so I used an image I found online and used Photoshop to make it a wallpaper.  I then printed it on card stock to use as the background.  The letters were cut with my Cricut.

I already had various colorful napkins from past parties, so I decided to incorporate all the colors into Jenna's birthday.  I designed the napkin rings on Photoshop.

Party Activity: Besides a jumper outside, the only activity I had was for the kids to create their own Brown Bear, Brown Bear book. The kids really enjoyed creating their books.

I had the necessary animals, googly eyes, yarn, etc. packaged in individual Zip-lock baggies.  This way those kids that didn't want to make their book at the party could just take the baggie and paper home.  I also had a box of the "common" materials in the center of the table.

Here is my daughter's finished book before we put it all together.

These are the directions I placed inside each Zip-lock baggie.

Menu: I served Hot Dogs with all the fixings - chili, cheese, onions, jalapenos, avocado, pickles -- whatever the guest's wanted to add.

I also made bear shaped peanut butter and jelly with a bear cookie cutter I found on Amazon.

 For sides, I served various fruits to match the colors of the book.

I couldn't forget Goldfish crackers alongside other chips.

I saw this fun cake online and just had to try it.  It was actually very easy. I adapted the recipe I found online a bit.  I made three 9 inch round cakes.  I used two for the head and the other for the ears.  The nose is an upside down cupcake.  The eyebrows are a mini chocolate donut cut in half lengthwise and then covered in the frosting. The eyes are Wilton's chocolate melts warmed a bit in my hand.

I also made cupcakes.  I used Photoshop and my Cricut to create the cupcake toppers.

Favor:  Aside from the Brown Bear book craft that the kids got to take home, I also made small bags with Chocolate Teddy Grahams inside.  The tag I modeled after my invitation and created on Photoshop.

I found a chocolate lollipop mold of a brown grizzly bear at Calico Cake Shop in Buena Park, so I couldn't resist make chocolate bear lollipops for the kids as well.

It was a super fun birthday party for our little girl.  She had a blast.  After the event it was:

Mommy, Mommy...what do you see?  Sleep, Sleep..calling to me!

A "Pop"pin Out Party

Since my daughter's due date was the day before Thanksgiving, the monthly dinner girls decided THEY would plan the December monthly dinner. Little did we all know, Miss Jenna arrived 2 weeks early, but the plan was already in place, so we stuck with it.  This dinner party was so much fun and no stress for me!  Some super creative ideas the girls came up with as they hosted a She's
"Popped" Popcorn inspired dinner party.  Here's a photo of my little girl... (isn't she a cutie!)

I am a HUGE popcorn lover, so this theme fit perfectly with my likes. I also "popped" Jenna out after only 3  1/2 hours of labor and only 25 minutes after walking in the hospital, so the theme truly did fit my experience!

Decor:  The table was set with a white tablecloth and popcorn related centerpieces. The main centerpiece was a popcorn ceramic bucket that I received as a gift years ago.  The girls filled it with tissue paper and then popped popcorn on top.  They placed a scalloped vase on each side tied with a red ribbon and filled with popcorn kernels and a tea-light.

At each place setting, the girls used a piece of red and white striped scrapbook paper as a place mat, a red napkin, and a typed menu.

The place card was these super cute popcorn bags filled with popcorn!  Yummy and cute!  The bags were purchased at Michaels.

A side table was set up with two huge bowls of popcorn and salt shakers filled with various toppings.  The four seasonings were cinnamon and sugar, cocoa, Parmesan cheese with Italian salad dressing powder mix, and the cheese packet from a Macaroni and Cheese box.  My favorite was the Italian seasoning...so yummy!  The girls placed favor bags for guests to try out different kinds.  We realized quickly that the toppings didn't stick without butter, so we melted some butter to sprinkle over before adding the seasoning.

Added decor:  The girls had a small baby shower for me a few weeks ago, and each guest made a onesie for Jenna.  Iron-on material was adhered to the back of fabrics and the girls cut out the designs of their choice for the onesie.  My girlfriend, Michelle, the host of the shower, then sewed around the edges to finish each one and make it so they could be washed and not fall off.  She brought these to the monthly dinner and we hung them up as added decor.  I absolutely LOVE this idea for a shower, and I cannot wait for Jenna to wear these cute onesies!

Menu:  The menu was also popcorn inspired. We started with a green salad with "baby" tomatoes. Instead of croutons, we had garlic Parmesan popcorn.  The garlic Parmesan popcorn was delicious on the salad as well as by itself.  To make it, you air pop popcorn and then mix it in a zip lock bag with Italian seasoning packet, Parmesan cheese, melted butter, and a little bit of granulated garlic powder.

For the main dish, we had popcorn crusted chicken tenders, popovers, and "un"popped corn.  The popovers really did look like giant popped popcorn, and they tasted great.

For dessert, we had Nutella "Pop" Tarts.  These were made with short dough, which is like a sugar cookie dough, but a little flakier.  Nutella was placed in the middle and a second rectangle placed on top and glazed with egg wash before baking.

Favor:  The favor was popcorn balls on a stick.  These were like Rice Krispie treats, but made with popcorn.  My friend also added M&M's and peanuts to it.  As you can see, my oldest daughter dug right in and finished it all!  The tag attached to each one read, "Thanks for "poppin" by for the party."

This was such a fun party.  The girls, especially my good friend Deanna who did all the cooking and most of the planning, created such a neat dinner and theme.  The food was delicious, and I absolutely love the creativity.  Baby Jenna and I thank you!!