I shared the invitation and the food in a previous post, about a baby shower I threw for my friend Katie. Now, I will share some of the decorations and activities.
We hung this sign up on the garage door that directed guests to go around the side of the house to the back yard.
As guests walked back, they started to see evidence of the nautical theme with these cute luminaries that I ordered from Oriental Trading Co.
We put a picnic table near the entrance for guests to drop off their gifts.
I put out some small diapers and a bunch of sharpie markers. We instructed guests to write a note to the new parents that they could read during a midnight diaper change. Some notes were sweet and encouraging, some were funny.
Instead of a guest book, we asked guests to add their fingerprint to the tree. Katie and Todd now have this hanging in their home were they can be reminded of all the people who love and support them.
We created a photo booth backdrop using pvc pipes and a flat bed sheet. I hung a bit of fish netting and a cute red, white and blue pennant banner on to it. I found a collection of props to use including a skipper hat, a sailer hat, chalk board, and some paper cut-outs.
There we are with our dear friends shortly before they became parents.
Brothers!
Sisters!
This is one of my favorite photo booth shots. Clearly the guests got creative and had tons of fun.
Another activity was onsie decorating. I used Rit Dye to dye some of the onsies red and some blue. I used my cricut to create a bunch of freezer paper stencils that we pre-adhered to the onsies. And buy hanging them up, they served as an activity and a beautiful decoration.
Towards the end of the party, DH and I went over and started removing the freezer paper to reveal the finished onsies. If you look closely, you can see that I attached tags to the onsies. We did this so that guests could sign the ones they painted and Katie and Todd would know who made them.
Katie’s sister brought this wreath made out of cloth diapers and cute socks as a gift and a decoration.
After the gifts were opened, we put out the favors on the now cleared off gift table.
The favors were wrapped up packs of gourmet cookies. I found these bags on Oriental Trading and printed labels to match the invitations.
The cookies were all home made. My mom and I made brown butter salted caramel cookies, chocolate sandwich cookies (based of this recipe), heath chocolate chip cookies and m&m chocolate chip cookies. Each pack had two.
Here are a couple more shots… not of anything specific, but of the party as a whole.
It was a very hot day, so several of the guest lined up under the misters to cool off and watch the gifts be opened.
And here are my two guys! My cute little man in his sailor onsie that I found at Old Navy and my hot hubby who was so incredibly helpful throughout the entire party planning and throwing process.
Within about a week of this party, Katie and Todd got a call that a ten month old boy needed a home. Shortly after, a newborn girl was placed in their care as well. They are blessed with a full home and full hearts. And as their friend, I am so very happy to be a part of it.
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