P-A-R-T-Y Oh My! ~ Lindsey's Baby Shower

I love friends and I love parties - and I love throwing parties for my friends! (Or, really, any reason at all!) Last July I threw three parties so only doing two this year is slacking (or relaxing...) Anyway, Cynthia and I threw a baby shower for my friend Lindsey's as-yet-un-named new arrival due in August.

As Lindsey doesn't know if she is having a boy or girl, I wanted to keep with a gender-neutral color palette. I found some cute cloth napkins at Target in green, yellow, aqua, and orange for $1.48! I stitched them together and then to duck cloth for stability and made a super cute table runner - it's somewhere under all that delicious food! Cynthia got the fruit for a fruit salad from Costco and it was seriously delicious!

Plenty of "As Seen On The Internet"'s in here - this is a cake stand I made similar to one I saw on Pinterest -  the cake pans were $2 each at the Community Hospice Thrift Store and the candlestick was from Michael's. I put it on with hot glue and it came off... then the last of my Krazy Glue for Crafts (which came out kind of filmy...odd...)... then spray adhesive... I know I keep threatening to buy Liquid Nails but I may have to in order to get this to stick! But on the plus side it was easy cleanup and storage being in three seperate pieces.

Another Pinterest item, these are cupcakes in an ice cream cone. I tried baking them in the upturned disposable lasagna pan with holes cut out (poorly, as in sliced with a knife then stuck my finger through... which I also cut...) but they were too long - I think that would work better with cake cones instead of sugar cones. However, Fiestaware, amazing stuff that it is, is oven-proof, so I simply stood three cones up in a coffee mug, poured them 2/3 full with cake batter (SLOWLY so you know they really fill up!), and baked on 350 for 18 minutes. Once they were completely cool I piped frosting in with a freezer bag with a cut corner, then Funfetti'd, then refridgerated until party time. They turned out pretty well for a first time/half goof!

I will take any excuse to use Chinese food boxes - these were filled with Starburst and tied up with ribbons in the colors of the party. We also played the shower game where everyone wears a ribbon pinned to their shirt and nobody is allowed to say "baby" - if they slip up they have to give up their ribbon!

I always volunteer to bring punch to a party - SO EASY! I get a gallon of water, pour a little out, add two packets of Crystal Light Lemonade, and some frozen berries! Also had a gallon of Milo's Sweet Tea (best invention ever!) and some water bottles. I wrapped them with cardstock and spray adhesive in the colors of the party - looks a little more polished than Sam's Choice labels.

Also did the shower game where you try to guess the size of the guest of honor's belly using crepe paper - we ended up tying it all into a bow and making Lindsey look like a present!

I am so blessed to have Lindsey as my friend! She is so fun and wonderful, and has been an amazing mom friend when I need to vent about the stresses of being a stay-at-home-mama, ask questions about "Is this normal?" or just make fun of someone else's parenting skills (we all do it... just not publicly!)

Cynthia, this party was a great idea - I am so glad you had it! Thank you for all your hard work and planning! Everything was amazing - now we can look forward to this new little guy (or girl!) making an entrance!