My decoration inspiration came from a book I had read on the journey to Ireland, called Little Earthquakes, by Jennifer Weiner. The inspiration didn't, however, come from the content of the book, but the book itself. I had finished it and knew I wouldn't have need for it again so I wondered what I would do to dispose of it. I could take it to the library or a thrift store, or...use it! I decided to use the pages of the book to create paper flowers and bunting. (Sorry, Jennifer. But I did thoroughly enjoy your book!) I began preparations over a month in advance because Noel and Heather went out of town for a week and some of my projects took some time and space (and we live with them.)
Her favorite color is blue, so even though this was technically a baby girl shower, I went with a blue palette. For my first project I needed to collect various shapes and sizes of glass bottles to paint the insides. You'll find the tutorial here. Although the instructions make it seem an easy project, I found it less than simple. It was time consuming to get all the sides of the inside of the bottle covered, then when it came time to use the vases (over a month later) I found that the paint was still wet in some of them! When I inserted some of the stems they made interior scrapes on the paint. womp womp. They were beautiful when I faced them just right though. I did varying colors of light blue then got some white and pink wildflowers from the side of the road [I haven't a clue what they're called.] I love how they turned out with the flowers in them. Note: do not put water in these vases. If you want them to last longer than the day, you can get flower stem holders at your florist.
I saw some chicken wire at a Euro store and thought...if I could only find a frame I could make a great focal point with photos of Noel and Heather as children, now, and ultrasound pictures. Very fortunately, a great friend of mine just happened to be the previous owner of a frame shop and has tons of frames. She gave me my pick and this one was perfect.
I went a little bunting crazy...and loved it! my dilemma was how to attach the paper to the twine. Gluing took forever, so I decided to sew them all. Then I had the task to put on letters...and it was at this moment I was so excited that I had decided to put my cricut on the crate we had shipped over from Oregon. This made phrasing the bunting a breeze. On the food tables I used words associated with pregnancy (crave, treat yourself, indulge, be good, hydrate) to label the bunting.
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| Don't worry, there were many more gifts than this...unfortunately I didn't get a picture with all the presents |
Heather was very excited for the shower, but was a little worried about too much attention being on her. I assured her that the only time she'd have all eyes on her was during gift opening. To avoid games that focused directly on her, I made a crossword puzzle with questions about Noel and Heather; 'dreams for baby Cammack' questions to fill in; and cards for the ladies to write prayers on for Heather to keep. I also had a Meal Train sign up sheet to bring meals for after the baby is born.
For food items I decided to incorporate some of the things Heather loves...gummies, yogurt and granola with fresh fruit, bagels & cream cheese, and maple donuts. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a [delicious] maple donut in Ireland, so I outsourced plain donuts at a local bakery and made the glaze myself:
1 1/4c. powdered/icing sugar1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3-1/2 c. pure maple syrup
dash of whipping cream (optional)
They turned out perfectly and we (Americans) were delighted for a taste of home! The other foods were a variety of chips, rice krispy treats (my mother in law's specialty) and I had my friend Ella instruct me on how to make her delicious apple cake. I labeled some of the items our guests may not recognize, like the strawberry cream cheese (mixture of cream cheese and strawberry jam) and the drinks, which were not only fun to create, but also tasted so refreshing.
