Circus Baby Shower Details

For the detailed post explaining all our fabulous decor, food and entertainment: Big Top Baby Shower

Guest of honor rocking her "Mom-to-be" top hat

Welcome table with vintage circus alphabet guest book

DIY party hat and polka dot bucket of antique ice cream scoops

Close up on our big top.

DIY baby's name banner

DIY pink and gray popcorn boxes and fresh popped popcorn

Sundae Bar! Pickles & Ice Cream!

Cotton Candy!

It wouldn't be a circus without cotton candy

Oh, Yeah she's been to the circus

Big Top Baby Shower

My sister-in-law is having a baby this fall. When I heard the news my first thought was "I'm going to be a real aunt!" quickly followed by "Baby. Shower." I called up my partner in crime in the spring and started hatching this plan. My neice's nusery is circus themed so we decided to run with that. The nusery colors are: "Lot's of pale pink, bright red, cocoa brown and rich cream (like french vanilla ice cream) as well as mixed metals (pops of gold, silver, oil rubbed bronze, etc)." Pretty. Much prettier than the primary colors most people use for anything circus related.

I was party planner and co-host for this shindig. I was hosting with Bekah my favorite crafting buddy. I went through a wide range of overcomplicated design ideas for invites (pop-up baby elephants, mailing a box of animal crackers with messages attached, etc), but in the end simpler was better.

The tent doors open to reveal all the party information in circusy font. They were a hit. Mama-to-be framed it and hung it on the nursery wall. I secured a talented friend to do photos early on (all photos in this post were taken by guests/me). We agreed a circus menu of corn dogs, popcorn, cotton candy (we rented a machine) and sundae bar were the way to go. As for decor the one thing I wanted most was to make a big top in her living room.

For that I enlisted Daddy-to-be and his ladder. I used pink and grey table clothes to match the adorable popcorn buckets Bekah made.

The last one is one of my favorite pictures so far. Mama-to-be rocking her guest of honor top hat. I asked Bekah to make it and she cleverly re-purposed her hat from my Mad Hatter Bridal Shower. She covered it it animal print paper and added red buttons of varying sizes as accents for a pop of color. It also had a sign on the front that said "Mom to Be". Perfect! Standing under the big top with her top hat in a sea of pennant banners. Just how I wanted it to be.

Bekah and I both made pennants in nursery colors (mostly her), but I did make one special one with the baby's name on it.

I borrowed Riley's circus animals and such for decor on the sundae bar. I also made circus signs for toppings. We had all the usual goodies (sprinkles, hot fudge, etc) and I insisted on a large jar of pickles as well. I used my left over peanuts to make a border on the table and velcroed little stuffed circus animals to things. I even borrowed antique ice cream scoops which we put in a polka dot bucket. The toppings were in alternating pink and grey bowls. It looked so nice when it was done.

I scored a vintage circus alphabet book to serve as a guest book from Etsy. I also made these "Welcome to the Circus" (for guestbook table) and "The Greatest Show on Earth: Parenting" signs.

For entertainment I had everyone guess the number of peanuts in a container, gave them 5 minutes to make as many words as they could from the baby's name, guess the belly circumference with yarn, we put celebrity parent/baby names on everyone and had them find each other, they did Mad Lib advise/congratulations pages for the new parents and played circus themed charades. For prizes Bekah picked up circus themed stamps and stationary.

I declare this party, a success! Go team. Congratulations, Mommy & Daddy!

All Those Babies

Remember what I said about when you aren't ever having anymore babies everyone around you picks up the slack? Here's your photographic proof. These are two of my four (that I know of) friends that are currently pregnant. I have two people in my life with new babies and countless friends I only connect with on social media having babies.

I went to my second baby shower this week today. It was in the party room of building on the beach. It was a beautiful view. I left Riley napping with Mike and went. There I was with a lovely view of the beach, in a room full of mommy friends and no kids. It was surreal. I couldn't help, but think how surreal it was to finish conversations and plates of food in peace. Not only that, but soon there would be twice as many kiddos running around when we get together. Whoa.

Sometimes I'm sad and jealous, but mostly I look at them and feel awash with relief. I don't know what would have happened if Riley didn't already have a sibling. I love what siblings do for each other, but I couldn't have done pregnancy twice. I am awe of my friend carrying their babies to term and taking care of potty training two year olds! Super. Heroes.

Baby Showers & Diaper Cakes

When you're never having another baby everyone around you picks up the slack. I have two baby showers this week. Two. The first is for one of Riley's dance teachers. She's having a little girl. D. and I got all excited to do a diaper cake in the colors of the baby's nursery. We were thinking something like this.

We gathered some small baby items and outfits. Then we scheduled a nap time diaper rolling/assembly session. By the time I arrived at her house I was knackered! So we discussed it and threw the items into a cute gift bag instead. The best of intentions...

When we got to the shower there was a super simple diaper cake or more accurately diaper bundle. Something like:

Only the one we saw had the wipes box on the bottom, rolled diapers on top and a baby blanket tied around the whole thing. It was cute and simple. I was kicking myself for not trying something like that. The shower was brief, but exciting. The girls will miss their teacher (she's one of three). Now, I'm chomping at the bit to give this diaper cake thing another go. The baby shower for one of my mommy friends this weekend, however, is no gifts. Boo!

It's her second baby so she's asked people to make a charitable donation instead. It's very big of her, but I was just explaining that when women get excited about something they shop. "Oh? A baby!! Look out Target." It's fun. I don't get all the hype about not having more than one shower either. Every baby should be celebrated equally. Although, baby stuff does accumulate quicker than anything else on the planet. Anyway, there's more impending showers on the horizon so I'll be cooking up the best diaper arrangement until then.

Maddy's Baby Shower

Five days post op I squeezed my swollen hip and tired bones into my "big jeans" and went to a baby shower. Maddy is due in February to Mike's cousin's wife. Get that? I just say my cousin's baby, it's less confusing. I digress, it was a very special shower. Lara, Mike's sister, and some of Mommy-to-be's co-workers got together and threw a spectacular Harry Potter themed shower.

The food was all from the books. Butter beer, chocolate frogs and cupcakes with little owls on them among others. The presentation was stunning. I brought my camera, but didn't take a single picture. Failure. It's the fatigue I can't concentrate to the end of my own thoughts. Anyway, the tables had maroon table cloths and the signs to identify the food were written in beautiful Harry Potter font. There was a display with an owl and stacked books and wands. Even the favor bags looked like brooms.

ABC Family just happened to be doing a Harry Potter marathon that night too. We all wore white owl name tags and the pens for filling out the baby games had feathers attached to look like quills. It was really well done. I love a theme. We played the standard games not saying baby, guessing how many pieces of candy were in a bottle and baby word scramble. All the games that involved writing were glued onto black card stock which had hole punched at the top for maroon and gold ribbon.

She got the usual baby shower haul gift-wise, but her invitation requested everyone pick a children's book and write a message to Maddy inside instead of cards. It was so interesting to see the choices and a little emotional to hear the inscriptions. Maddy's one loved little girl. I gave her two owl clipies on headbands (headbands for now and the clips detach for later). I also gave her two onesies "stormpooper" in black and white and "mischief managed" in pinks. I got all of those things on Etsy: Geeklings and Craving Cuteness respectively. For our book we chose one of Riley's favorites that we got from the library recently. It's called The Witch Who Wanted To Be A Princess. It's a great story about being yourself and also Harry Potter appropriate.

It was an amazing shower. Gold star ladies. It was totally worth dragging myself out of the house newly surgeried. I'm so excited to see the Harry Potter nursery finished. I'm just excited all the way around. See you soon Miss Maddy.