A Hot Air Balloon Baby Shower

Hello friends, it's been a while since I've checked in.  Pregnancy has certainly taken its toll on my productivity!  I'm a week into my third trimester, so only 11 weeks to go!  Which means I had better get the nursery finished (I mean started, haha!).  This past weekend my family had a baby shower for me, where I received lots of beautiful things for our new baby girl.  My sister and my mom tried to exclude me from all the planning and prep but since I am a party-obsessed control freak I forced my way into the project!  I did most of the decorations and I also made the cookie favors.  The jumping off point was the nursery theme-- hot air balloons and colors of pink, aqua and yellow.  My friend Nick designed the invitations for us.  He is a true graphic artist and drew all of the graphics himself, unlike some people we know (ahem.. me!).

The party was held at my mother's house.  The decorations followed the theme with paper hot air balloons in pastel shades and fluffy white clouds.  Pink and yellow flowers in the centerpieces completed the overall look.  Two of Mama's gifts for me were the gray glider chair and the white Jenny Lind crib.  They were set up in the main room and the presents filled the crib. :)  We decorated the bookshelf with my baby pictures.

I designed paper hot air balloon decorations using a tutorial I found on I am Momma, Hear me Roar.  I couldn't find striped double-sided cardstock so I printed my own stripes on pastel cardstock.  Then I cut out the hot air balloon shapes and sewed them down the center before unfolding them into a dimensional balloon shape.  I found a little box template online and printed it with basketweave and taped them together.  Then I hung the basket from the balloon with kite string.  We made some clouds using the same concept.  These were hung along with colorful pom poms.

Michael's mom shared some baby pictures of him, too, so we hung those on the banister.

For the centerpieces, I designed hot air balloon arrangements with helium balloons tethered with nets that I made from kite string.  The baskets we found in my mother's collection and filled with roses and daisies.  I think these turned out super cute!!

In the dining room we had the table filled with fruit and veggies, mini cheesecakes, sausage balls, ham biscuits and pasta salad.  On the buffet there were pink rose cupcakes and cream puffs.

Another centerpiece with a tiny basket of flowers! :)  

My sister made the scrumptious chocolate cupcakes (from scratch!) and yummy buttercream frosting.  She piped them with pink roses on top.  So pretty!  They are displayed on my pink Moser glass cake stand that I got from a friend a few years ago.  Any excuse to break out the pink cake stand!! :)

I made hot air balloon cookies for everyone to take home as a thank you.  It was my first time using royal icing to flood fill a cookie and I think they turned out pretty nicely!

After we had a little snack and some cake, we all settled in the living room to open the gifts.

I received an array of adorable baby things, some very useful baby supplies and equipment, and a beautiful quilt handmade by my friend in all the nursery colors.  Thanks Andi!  

My sister crocheted the baby a tiny hat with a flower. :)  Thanks Hannah!

After all the presents were opened, we made our way to the parlor for some crafting fun!  My sister bought lots of cute onesies for guests to decorate and she cut out tiny appliques for everyone to iron on the fronts.  We also had fabric markers for embellishing the onesies.  My brother-in-law Josh cut out and sanded a bunch of tiny wooden blocks for everyone to decorate with Sharpie markers.  We got a lot of cute designs.  I plan to seal the blocks with water based sealer so the designs don't get scratched off (eaten?) by the baby.

Another activity we had was "wishes for baby" for the guests to fill out.  I enjoyed reading everyone's responses, especially the kids who were so thoughtful and sweet. :)

Some of my favorites were:  "I hope you see the Disney castle."  "I hope you aren't afraid of Bandit."  "I hope you have red hair."  "I hope you learn to ride a horse," and "I hope you become as creative as your Mama."  I wish all of those things for her, too!  :)

Thanks to everyone for coming to the shower, for the wonderful gifts and the many thoughtful wishes and words of wisdom.  I am so lucky to have your love and support as we begin the journey into parenthood!  

And thank you to my photographer sister Hannah who forgot to be in a picture with me!  :)  

So now that the baby shower is past, you know what's next on my project radar... the nursery!  I will be back with progress reports as soon as there is some progress.  Aside from laundering clothes and blankets, I have made no progress. Haha!  I am hoping to start painting this weekend.  :)  Yippee!!

Stay tuned,