Monkey Baby Shower Take 2!

February 5th we hosted a baby shower for my good friend Rachel who is due on March 22nd! She registered for a lot of monkey things, like towels and blankets, so we opted to throw together a monkey themed baby shower! Sound familiar?? Kinda like this one?  

The main difference between the two is that for this one, we had to prepare all of the food rather than get it catered. Mama to be can only eat gluten free, so me and my ladies put together everything gluten free!

We reused a decent amount of what I already had from Laura's shower! Figured I would share some more photos!

Above is the first gift bag I've decorated using my Cricut Expression! I used the Create A Critter cartridge!

The setup!

Centerpiece! Flowerpot and monkey came from the Dollar Tree, Coconut bowls and ostrich feathers were left overs from  Laura's shower!

Coconut bowls filled with nuts, chocolate covered raisins, banana chips, banana runts, and banana Laffy Taffy!

For the favors we poured soy candles into Earth's Best baby food jars, and adorned with ribbons! They came out fantastical, and they smell terrific!

We hung paper lanterns for decorations and made "palm trees" out of crepe paper. The baby shower plates are from Target

These are the appetizers I chose to make! I know penguins don't really fit the jungle/monkey theme, but they were way too cute to pass up! Cream Cheese Penguins recipes and instructions found here

 Mary putting the finishing touches on her amazing deviled eggs!

and Ashley's fantastical gluten free cupcakes!

We ate, then mama to be opened her gifts:

All in all it was a great day! She loved all the little details we put into the shower, and it made her even more excited for baby Ethan to arrive!

Linking up to:

Laura's Baby Shower - March 28th, 2010

After a month or so of going back and forth on decor and invite ideas, Laura's baby shower has come and gone. She absolutely loved it, and I got a lot of compliments on the color choices and the decorations. Figured I would share some pictures of it, as I found all my inspiration by peering onto other people's blogs :)

The food and gift tables as well as the banner that I had printed using graphics from My Grarfico - Alisha McConnell

Balloons - We had blue hearts saying "Baby Boy" a handful of Mod Monkey balloons, and some banana bunch balloons.

Plastic Coconut bowls filled with Banana runts

The Welcome posted I designed and printed using vistaprint.com

The favors - cleaned out baby food jars with the labels removed. Hot glued fabric and ribbon to the lid, and printed out labels. The jars are filled with pastel colored Sixlets candies, and more banana runts

The awesome frame my boss made! I didn't get a picture after we put the ultrasound picture in it though :(

The cake was delicious! Bought the sitting baby cake topper at Jo-Ann Fabrics, and the little stuffed monkey from Target's toy section

The centerpieces for the table. The planter pots doubled as prizes for the raffles we held during the shower. I wanted something that was reminiscent of a palm tree, but wasn't one of those tissue paper ones, so ostrich feathers took that place and I love love love how they came out.

A bundle of monkeys for the "head table" i.e. the family table.

Presents galore!

All in all the shower was a success! everyone had a great time and baby Luca has officially been showered! He is scheduled to arrive at the end of the month!

XOXO

-V

Baby Fever!

I just recently found out that I will be hosting 2 baby showers, one for each of my best friends (both were my matrons of honor at my wedding as well). I'm very excited to be an auntie x 2.

The first one will be for Laura, and is scheduled for March 28th. She is doing the Lambs & Ivy Cocoa Safari theme as the babys bedroom, and wanted a monkey themed baby shower. She also did not want much of anything blue. I know this makes her sound really picky, but she's not. Just didn't want the generic blue everywhere baby shower for baby Luca.

First off let me tell you. A monkey baby shower, not the easiest thing to find! All the monkey balloons and decor I could find were either for Luau parties, or birthday specific.

Then, in a google search, it happened.

I did a search for "monkey mylar balloons" in google, and lo and behold. Here it is. Granted, it has some blue in it. But it's more of an aqua. And it has the yellow and brown she wanted (she wanted green too).

Then for more searching.

I came across this blog.

www.hostessblog.com

And she had 2 posts for the "Mod Monkey" baby shower. One post had her decorations and setup, and the other one had a lot of downloadable pdf files for others to use (only for personal use, not for reselling)

So I downloaded the pdf files to see if I could make them use the colors she liked as well, since it was a lot of aqua and yellow.

Here is the finished product : a door sign to put on the outside of the door.

 

A HUGE thank you to Jenn at www.hostessblog.com for making a monkey themed baby shower possible for me :)

I personally love the way it came out. I think the colors all work really well together, and give me a lot of room to play with the rest of the decorations. I think she was envisioning paler colors, so I hope she will like this! Though I am still debating on taking the yellow circles out of the monkey and painting them brown to make it more uniform. I'm not sure. What do you guys think? 

I also loved her idea of using banana runts candies in the decorating, so I will probably do the same there.

Along with that monkey balloon, I also found this balloon:

So I will order a few of those for some whimsy as well. My work has helium tanks, so all I have to do is have them blown up there for $0.50 a pop. I'm also probably going to pick up some yellow flower balloons from the Dollar Tree, and then just some plain colored ones for more fun.

Dependant on the venue I want to host it at (still waiting on a call back from my village hall to see their rules and application process) I also wanted to make these in brown, aqua, yellow, and light green to hang from the ceiling.

Above picture courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

The part that I am stuck on is decorations more specific to a baby shower. Maybe an It's A Boy banner or a baby shower banner. I'm worried about this theme looking more like a birthday party than a baby shower.

Does anyone have any cool ideas for handmade banners? Or know of any websites that sell them? All I've been able to find is blue ones, and the occasional full on pastel one, but I want something a bit brighter.

Cut to a few hours later. I came across an AMAZING site with AMAZING graphics for purchase, and found an adorable monkey more suitable for a baby shower! If you are looking for fabulous graphics at fabulous prices check out http://www.mygrafico.com

Here is the door sign in the new design...

 

 now to choose which I like better!

Thanks!

Hope everyone is doing fantastical

XOXO

-V