I’ve already told you guys that I didn’t miss having a sister growing up, mostly due to the entity that was “Me’NRonda” (Ronda was my best friend who lived up the road and with whom I spent most of my waking hours growing up).

But now that I have a sister in the form of my brother’s wife, Hannah, I’m definitely not complaining about the fun, sisterly things I get to do. Things like planning a shower for my niece-to-be who’s due to arrive a month from TODAY (the fact that we’re exactly a month away from her due date occurred to me just as I was typing that; hence, the capital letters).

Yes, we are cutting this whole baby shower business a little bit close, but both Hannah and I have been all kinds of busy for the last several months, and this is when we could squeeze it in. So, just as long as she doesn’t go into labor before the 22nd of March, we should be good.

I didn’t really have a “theme” in mind for this shower other than lots of girly cuteness until I remembered the adorable Rifle Paper Co. garland I bought a while back.

garland1

It has the perfect shades of soft pink, green, teal, and gold for spring.

garland

And it comes with enough letters to do multiples messages like, “Oh Baby!” and “Sugar and Spice.”

Using it as my jumping off point, I put together an inspiration board for the rest of the party and thought I’d share it with you guys, so you can see what we’re shooting for.

shower collage

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Other than the garlands, I’m most excited about the chance to use my PIP china (I have both the teapot and the cake stand in the pic above). Shaun has been giving me pieces from the collection for special occasions (or even, sometimes, just because…swoon) over the last year since he gave the first batch as my present for last year’s mother’s day.  Of course, I plan to use them for special tea parties with my girls soon, but for now, they’ve been languishing unused (in some cases, unpacked) in my cabinets, and I can’t wait to pull some of the pieces out to use for the party.

I also already have that pretty pink and white fabric (that I plan to use to make curtains for my craft room…some day). I’d provide a link to it, but it’s sold out everywhere (believe me, I looked; and I’m not terribly surprised considering that I scored it on major clearance a while back for something like $1.60/yd). The aqua mason jars are already in my possession too, so I’m thinking that the rest will come together easily. My mom has been helping me find cute little decorative touches like little toothpick banners for the mini-cheesecakes I’m making and those pretty striped paper straws that just arrived on my doorstep yesterday.

We’ll use our “big room” upstairs for the party just like we did for Mandy’s shower for Zane. I have to admit, as much as I love all the fun colors up there, I’m suddenly wishing my house were shades of white and cream with natural fiber accents like burlap and jute. The color scheme for this shower would work so much better in a neutral house.

Buuuuuuuut…I suppose redoing my entire house’s decor just to match a shower might be a tad unnecessary and frivolous (ya think?). So, I’ll stick with what we’ve got and work whatever magic I can on the tables.

I’m actually really excited to get cracking on it all, but first, back to reality. Which is a day full of laundry + feeding/playing with the girls + cleaning + (hopefully) a sewing project I can show you soon.

Have you ever hosted a baby shower? Is there usually a theme? I’ve never hosted a “themed” baby shower, per se, since I prefer to focus on color combos, but I’ve seen some really cute ones on Pinterest.

Any suggestions for anything else I didn’t include? I’d love to work in more of the gold, but I haven’t quite figured out how yet.

19 Comments

  1. I did both of my daughter’s showered. they were both girls. first one was all about story books. we copied the fronts and used them to decorate and asked everyone to bring one book, preferably used. the second one was all about roses cuz she is named Emma rose.

  2. You have a great scheme going!! LOVE that banner, teapot and cake platter…it’s going to be a beautiful!!

    It’s so funny you mention thinking a “neutral” room would be so helpful for this shower: I truly LOVE your colorful home and admire so, so many of your unique touches (I just ADORE your kitchen cabinets), however, as we all know, we have to decorate with what we love to live with, and we had the blessing of having our kitchen remodeled this past Fall (which of course trickled into remodeling the whole first floor, staircase and the bedrooms…ei yi yi!!!!)

    ANYHOO, my point is, I chose what I love, which is tans, taupes, creams and black with accents of blue and room for any other color I choose throughout the year…as I looked around at the neutrals I love I actually thought “This is SO the opposite of what Abbie would choose!” LOL! I love the beauty of so many individual choices…God has created SO much amazing diversity in colors, styles, fabrics, art…all beautiful in all it’s differences 🙂

    I am SURE your shower will be stunning…can’t wait for the lowdown!

  3. Looks like you’ve got a great idea. I typically have a theme for showers. It helps in preparation. Btw, I recently discovered that we are neighbors…I think. You were in the race near me…I’m in Bullard.

    1. Oh, how fun! And by “near you,” do you mean that I was running next to you or that Bullard is near where the race was? I’m actually about 10 minutes South of Bullard in Mixon.

  4. I love Pinterest, for that reason. I love to organize parties, and making private or themed boards are so helpful! Love your theme that you put together. It all flows so well!

    1. I think that’s one of Pinterest’s best uses too! Thanks! I hope the party turns out as well as it looks in my head. 🙂

  5. Beautiful colours! My sister is pregnant and we’re organising a party for her. We don’t know the sex of the baby yet (still early days) but I adore these colours. Thanks for sharing! It’s going to look beautiful!

  6. Love your inspiration colors & board! That teapot is sooo pretty! I can’t wait to see what you come up with. I’ve done a few showers but it’s been a while. You could use some twigs spray painted gold in vases for some visual height and to add in the gold. Looks like a lot of fun ;))

    1. Thanks, Leigh Anne! And your branches idea is BRILLIANT! I have just the thing, and it also gave the idea to make it an “advice tree” where the ladies write things on cards and then hang them on the tree. Thank you!

  7. Sounds fun! Seriously love those straws! And … You touched on exactly why a house decorated (big pieces and surfaces anyway) in neutrals is the most flexible bet. Such a palate lends itself to every accent color, every event and every season. Honestly, I’ve always thought people should be the real color in a room and there are so many gorgeous ways to do neutrals with touches of color here and there changed out as your heart desires. Or…flip, the concept: busy color and pattern home decor theme? Keep the accents and event decor neutral. That would be lovely as well. Have a grand time with the shower!

    1. Yup, you sound like a neutral girl to the core, Lynley! 🙂 I’m definitely a color girl, but I do tend to choose subdued wall colors as the backdrops for the more colorful elements/accents in my home. I think the shower will turn out fine because the wall everything will be up against is pretty neutral. And yeah, aren’t those straws the bomb?

  8. I love that you are doing a “different” kind of theme for the shower, Abbie! What I mean by that, is that so often people do the rubber duckies, etc. and while I guess there’s nothing wrong with that per se, it just seems so cliche. Go creative mamas!

  9. I threw a bridal shower for my sister-in-law last summer. If there was a theme, it would have been “tea party.” We didn’t really have decorations. I have 3 sets of china and borrowed another set from my mom. I bought the cheapest muslin I could find to use as table cloths. We had about 10 tables and we mixed and matched the china place settings on each table. If anything, the china was the decor.

    I’ve got to tell you, though, even without garland and tissue poms, it looked really nice! I think if we’d had more decor it would have looked really over-done. I can’t wait to see pics!

I love hearing from you guys!