Throwing a Baby Shower

Using my best friend Angel's blog post about how to throw a baby shower, I got to work planning my friend Aime's baby shower.  I've never really spearheaded any type of party.  I like to decorate- give me some tables and I'll make them beautiful.  But coming up with a budget, food, invites, and knowing where to place something like the gift table is daunting.  That's why I became a florist and not a planner!

I went with a beachy/surfer theme, since Aime was born and raised in Hawaii.  Best part, it's gender-neutral, and she's not finding out the sex until the big day.

Aime's dear mother in law offered her lovely home as our party spot. Thanks Carla for everything!

I was on a budget, and managed to scrape everything together for a few benjamins and some change.  What I found myself doing a lot was envisioning something super fancy and fabulous, calculating the cost, FREAKING out, then figuring out how to do it myself for cheaper. Champagne taste, beer budget, fo sho. For example, I picked out gorgeous letterpress  invites online, but ultimately turned to etsy to buy a customizable template, and print them out myself.

At first I pictured dozens of beach balls and flower pomanders that look like beach balls hanging from the trees... then I remembered I'm afraid of heights and have no assistants to help me, so I threw them in the pool instead.

 

For the table decor, I used containers left over from my old florist days- bamboo plates and mismatching recycled glass vases, accented with coral and starfish.

The day before the shower, I went to Mayesh to pick out some tropical flowers. Tropicals are striking in small amounts, and I wouldn't have to worry about them wilting. 

As Sisi and I strolled through the mart, a florist had rented out space there to prep a wedding.  She was slaving away on hundreds of delicate hydrangea garlands. IN 90 DEGREE WEATHER!  I could just feel the stress.  One of the hardest parts about being a florist was keeping the flowers alive in the summer.  So much is beyond your control, and you're just praying that the thousands of dollars worth of flowers are still alive by the time you arrive on site. In the moment, I did not feel at all jealous.  I'm happy just to be a flower dabbler for now.

 I facebooked asking for fun, kitschy tablecloth ideas.  Thanks Melissa for suggesting beach towels!  It added the perfect pop of color and texture to the tables.

Notice the little Hawaiian rubber duckies! Aime had actually registered for these after I purchased them as decor.  A happy coincidence!

This was a late morning shower to avoid the blaring California sun, so we served simple brunch fare- quiche and pecan sticky buns from a local bakery, fruit salad, green salad, and yogurt parfait.

 

Our friend Jen's mother in law created these hilariously cute cake pops as party favors.  This woman is truly a supermom- she's a lawyer AND a nurse AND a Martha Stewart Jr.
 

Although I had my mind set on fancy cupcakes from Sweet and Saucy Shop, I had to go the more modest route.  I made these brownie/cupcake combos and decorated them with tropical toppers. 

Here's me and the adorable preggo!  She's using the same midwives as I did, and I know she'll be an incredibly graceful mama.  Cheers to Baby Nagel (who is probably a boy, as predicted by all the Asian ladies at the nail salon.)

*photos by the dad-to-be, Corby.