Baby Shower Planning Part 1

I had the pleasure of planning a baby shower last week for a co-worker. I had originally wanted everyone to come to my house on a Saturday afternoon but some serious scheduling conflicts had arisen and the only free Saturday was 6 days before the mom-to-be's due date. We didn't want to risk a cancellation due to an early delivery so we planned the shower for after work last Friday. I want to share some photos of the event and some of the ideas I used to make it fun, sophisticated, and easy!

Invitations:
Because of our scheduling conflicts we ended up picking a date that was fairly short notice. I decided to use evite.com to send my invitations in order to maximize the time people had to shop and prepare for the shower. Paper invitations would have been cuter but evite worked out just as well and can even be customized with your own photos, clip art or scans.

Decorations:
Our conference room at work is actually a great space with big bright windows, clean lines, and ample room to move around. However, I wanted my guests to feel like they were at a party and not a meeting or even happy hour. I asked everyone to come in "party attire" and wanted the room to have on party attire too! I started by cleaning the room as best I could and breaking up the 4 tables that make up our conference table which fill the entire middle of the room into 2 separate banks of tables pushed up against the walls. This left the center of the room totally open. I covered them with cheap disposable white table clothes. One set of tables for gifts and games and the other held all the food and drinks. Next I found some super cheap ($1) paper lanterns in the clearance section of Michael's. They are marketed for kids to paint and decorate. Then I made these Martha Stewart tissue paper balls to hang from the ceiling. They sell kits of these at Michael's but I figured I have tons of tissue paper, I could probably make them myself. Sure enough Martha had instructions on her website. I will say that the large and medium balls turned out best. The small balls (1/3 of a large ball) were not so great. I hung them from the ceiling over my 2 sets of tables. SOOOOOO CUTE!!!



Drinks:
I decided to have a signature drink at the shower and wanted to go with a traditional punch. This Rose wine punch is a recipe that I got from my friend Katie years ago and served it at my wedding and at other summer parties in the past. I brought my punch bowl in from home and we drank it from wine glasses sporting my new wine charms. I provided GUS (Grown Up Sodas) for the mom-to-be and anyone else who wanted a non-alcoholic beverage although the wine punch is mostly juice in case you were wondering.


Here is the punch recipe:
Rose Wine Slush Punch
1.5L of Rose wine (2 standard bottles)
1 Can frozen orange juice
1 Can frozen white grape juice
1 Can frozen lemonade
1.5 Cans of water
2 Liter bottle of 7-up

Thaw the juices and combine them with the wine and water. Mix together in a large container and freeze through (do this the day before). Once frozen break up into chunks and put into your punch bowl. The wine prevents this from freezing rock hard. Pour 7-up over the top, stir and let thaw until it is a slushy consistency. If you don't have a punch bowl I am told you can scoop the frozen mixture into a cup about 1/2 to 2/3 full and then pour 7-up to the top. Give it a quick stir to combine. You may need more 7-up for this method.

Food:
It is always best to keep party foods simple and tasty. All of our food came from Whole Foods and was purchased the day of the event. We decided to offer some build your own brioche sandwiches as our centerpiece. Here was the menu:
-Split mini brioche rolls (with a couple flavored sandwich spreads)
-Thin sliced meets and cheeses (salami, prosciutto, grilled chicken breasts, cheddar, and Jarlsberg)
-Antipasti Platter (olives, mini mozzarella balls, artichoke hearts, roasted red pepper, and pepperoni slices)
-Cheese and mini toasts (Camembert and goat cheese)
-Fruit salad
-Tossed green salad (Spinach, Romaine, Candied pecans, dried pear, balsamic vinaigrette, and crumbled blue cheese)
-Cake for dessert
The best part was that people could add almost any of those items to their roll to make a sandwich or eat them separately. Everything was devoured by our guests. Do remember your mom-to-be's dietary restrictions. She isn't supposed to eat soft cheeses, cured meats, and many seafood items. Make sure she has some food options. We made sure our guest of honor had a salad set aside with no blue cheese, we provided her with chicken breasts for her sandwiches and some hard cheeses so she wouldn't be left out.




At this point the room was pretty much ready for the party. More tomorrow!