Simple, girly and chic.

What could be better than a pretty baby shower that celebrates everything girly, from flowers to cute little tea sandwiches.  This could possibly be the best tea party ever and all to celebrate the arrival of a wonderful little girl.  Enjoy!

Simple Chic Tea Party for a Baby Shower

Details. Details. Details.

I'm a big fan of Etsy and found most of my inspirations from there, please enjoy.

1.  Invitation:  This wonderful shabby chic baby shower invitation is designed and created by katie-did designs.  Best part is that you can buy them as a digital file and print them yourself or have the shop print it for you.

2.  Tea cups:  What tea party would be complete without these beautiful cups?  If you don't have a collection of your own, maybe someone you know has some you can borrow.  Or you can always have each guest bring their favorite tea cup...  Or check a local antique or thrift store for a good deal.  Luckily my mother has a collection that I can use, as long as I promise not to break any!

3.  Flowers. Flowers. Flowers.:  A few bouquets is all you need, and nothing too fancy after all you want it to be simple chic.  Some of the best deals that I've found are Costco (huge bouquets for not a lot of money), Trader Joe's, and the local Farmer's Market.

4.  Poms decor:  A little  touch of whimsy that you can hang from anywhere, courtesy of PomLove on Etsy.

5.  Tea sandwiches:  Check out any of your favorite recipe websites, books, etc.  My FAVE is FoodNetwork.

6.  Earl Grey cookies:  Seriously what better cookie could you find for a TEA PARTY?!  I found these lovelies at Whimsy & Spice on Etsy, again.  If you would prefer to make the cookies you can always search online for a recipe.

7.  Cupcakes:  I'm really obsessed with cupcakes lately and would plan to make my own.  What I love most about those in the picture is the colors, PINK and TURQUOISE... perfect for this party!  I love the contrast of the two colors and they both go so well with everything else planned, very chic!

8. Display towers: SERIOUSLY perfect for this party! Tea cups and coordinating vintage china used to create wonderful cupcake towers/tea towers found on Etsy (yes, again) at High Tea for Alice.

9.  More cookies:  This time I chose the beautiful and elegant cookie that is french macaroons, YUM!  These beauties are made by The Whimsical Spoon and they are another perfect addition, and once again courtesy of Etsy. I chose two different colors for the variety of both flavor and color.

10.  Fabric bunting:  With a bunting you get some added whimsy and a gift for the mother-to-be all in one. How perfect would this bunting be in a little girls room?!  And you can always get it in the colors/theme that the parents have planned for the new babies room.  I found this wonderful bunting at Starlit Nest on Etsy, the buntings come in many different colors and sizes.  REMEMBER, you can always make your own if you would like and have a little sewing experience.  Here's one I made for the prince's Elmo inspired birthday party.

I hope you found something inspirational as I did with all of these goodies!  I can't wait for the next party I get to plan, so until then!

Love

Steph

 

Needed relaxation.

After the busy day I had yesterday, I am definitely enjoying a lazy day at home today! 

Carter's party went fabulously, and we are so thankful for the friends and family that came to help us celebrate our little prince turning 2!  We had delicious food, if I may say so myself, and great company...  here's a recap of how the party went.

We started off with opening presents...  yes, presents! Carter could hardly contain himself while we were waiting for everyone to arrive.

**Lesson learned for Momma and Daddy- Save the toys for last (after we opened a toy he wanted to play with it, rather than opening the rest of his presents and then playing with all of his toys, I know typical for most kids).

Next came dinner, baked spaghetti with italian sausage, french bread, and salad...  YUM!

Then dessert, the moment I was waiting for.  First I had to set up the beautiful dessert table and then take pictures, pictures and more pictures, all while the kids were practically begging for cupcakes.  I was very happy with how the completed table turned out, see for yourself.

Last, but not least, it was time for Carter to blow out his candles...  he did such a good job and had so much fun with help from his cousins and best friend, I hope to post a video soon.  ADORABLE!

And finally, a picture of our prince, our love, our everything!

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Now time for the details!

I had so much fun making so many of the decorations for the party, I can't wait for my next opportunity to plan a party!

1.  The outfit-  A cute button up striped shirt from Target paired with his special Birthday Edition tie made by me, and in red of course because it was an Elmo themed party.

2.  A Happy Birthday banner made by Grandma Cathy and myself.   I first printed out the outline of the letters for Happy Birthday Carter from the comput,r in the font I wanted, and then I colored them in to look like the letters on Elmo's World.  Grandma then cut all of them out while I was glued them to a piece of art paper that Carter had drawn on earlier that day (this part was not planned, but was perfect and personalized the banner even more.)

3.  I made the fabric bunting with two fabircs that I happened to find on sale one day, and they just happened to go with the colors of the party...  PERFECT! 

4.  We bought a few Elmo decorations including some balloons, cupcake liners, dessert plates and tablecloth.

5.  We chose to have the simple table decoration of a picture of our prince in a bold and fun frame that matched the green color we had chosen for decorations.

6.  Dinner table-  We planned for the food we served for dinner to be all of Carter's favorites, spaghetti, salad with ranch dressing, fruit and veggie trays, and french bread.

7.  The Dessert Table

• I made cake pops, in red and white candy coating, that I displayed in a plastic popcorn tub that I picked up at the dollar store... perfect since Carter loves popcorn. 
• I also made all of the cupcakes, I chose to make two flavors and did them in both regular and mini size.  The flavors were Cookies n' Cream with vanilla cake and Strawberries n' Cream with strawberry cake and drizzle...  my favorite was the strawberry. 
• I found some really cool paper straws that I got in red and aqua. I then knew I wanted clear glasses for the milk and chocolate milk, which looked really cool with the paper straws. I really would have liked to get glass milk bottles, but I felt the $12 for the 200 cups (one word...  Costco) was a much better buy than the $30 for 6 bottles, especially when I needed at least 20.  And in the end I LOVED the look of the glasses with a colorful straw!
• Carter's cake-  Made by me again; nothing too fancy, but more importantly... made with LOVE by Momma!

I had such a great time planning and excuting this special party and I hope you enjoyed it, too!  Until next time!

Love

Steph

Busy! Busy! Busy!

Today is guaranteed  to be a BUSY day for me!  My prince is having his 2nd birthday party and I have to make cake, cupcakes, tidy up the house, pickup the chairs we are borrowing from friends, get ballons, decorate, and get the food ready, so I'll make this short and sweet.

Had a wonderful night with the little family and Grandma and Papa!  Had dinner at the The Rock in Lynnwood, Barrett had two "Bucket"s and is hurting a tad bit this morning.  The pizza was delicious and Carter did fairly well during dinner, thanks to Ariana at the table next to us.

Exciting pictures and blog to come tomorrow!  See you then