Enchanting Butterfly Baby Shower

The Invitation

     Well, since I won't be posting any new party pictures till Halloween, I thought why not post some previous party ideas...
     The most recent party was actually a baby shower that my friend Kristi and I hosted for our other friend, Carla.  We sat down with the Mommy-to-Be and asked her all sorts of questions.  This of course, we called our consultation, trying to be all professional.  But, really it was just to get to know Carla better.  Especially, for the fun games I had ideas for.  She did have a few requests, like making the theme about butterflies, since that is what the new baby girl's name, Vanessa, meant.  She also wanted to play the measure the mommy's belly game.  And we HAD to have brownies and chocolate chip cookies, which we were happy to accommodate her with.  Never say "No" to a preggo with a sweets craving.  Besides those three requests, we were given free range of what to do whatever we wanted.  So I ran with it.
     Sometimes, I have to see something such as a picture, colors, fabric, anything that gives me some inspiration on a theme or an over idea for a party.  Kristi found this beautiful box with vibrant bold colored butterflies....we knew this was what we wanted the shower to look like.  So from there, we just took those colors and tried to create a whimsical enchanting butterfly world meant just for Carla and baby Vanessa.  I think everything turned out amazing.  From the decorations to the table scape to the food to the games, everyone loved everything and the Mommy-to-Be was blown away.

The Table Scape

     For me, the best part of a party or shower is the reveal! That is the moment that really touches my heart.  I love watching their face as they take in all the hard work that went into making their event so special.  And of course....it IS all about the details!  I also believe keeping everything secretive.  We didn't even give Carla one of her own invitations to her shower till the day of.  Didn't want to spoil the surprise.
     One piece of advice I can offer is hire a photographer for big parties/showers when you have to play hostess.  Usually, I am the one taking all the pictures along with playing hostess, cocktail waitress, chef, and clean up crew.  So if you can, find some one to take pictures for you.  One less thing to stress out about.  For this shower, Kristi and I decided to do just that.  One of our friend's, Samantha, is a photographer and all her pictures turned out A-MAZ-ING! (After I got all the edited pictures, I made a photo book on Shutterfly and we gave it to Carla as a special surprise.)

Caprese Bites

Spam Sushi & Butterfly Pasta Salad

Brownie Bites

     As far as the food goes, we kept it quite simple.  We had hot wings (another one of the Mommy-to-Be's favorites), pasta salad (made with bow tie pasta to look like butterflies), Caprese bites, and Spam sushi (definitely a Carla thing, since she is from Hawaii).  For dessert, we made brownie bites dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with butterfly sprinkles (one of the requests), butterfly sugar cookies, pineapple and cherry skewers, and of course......vanilla cupcakes with chocolate chip cookies baked inside topped with chocolate frosting (a little spin on the whole chocolate chip cookie request).  All I can say is: Yumm-O! I posted the cookie and cupcake recipes for those of you who like to bake because these were a BIG hit!

Recipes:
Sugar Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Butterfly Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Mommy Scramble Game

Beautiful Butterflies

A Guest's Painted Canvas Decoration

 You can't attend a baby shower without playing some of those fun games, right?  Of course not!  We did do some games, but not the cheesy guess what baby food it is or what candy bar is in the diaper or taking the clothespin for saying "baby" or "mommy" or whatever word.  However, we did do the measure the Mommy's belly game as per requested by Carla.  We also played a pass the prize game which was really cute, a Mommy scramble game, and we got a little crafty by painting little pictures of butterflies on canvas, that will serve as decorations for the new baby's room.

Painting a canvas     

    Overall, the shower was a lot of fun from conception of the theme and decorations to preparing the food to enjoying the actual day with all Carla's friends and family.  I can't wait to do another!

Butterfly Decorations

Vanessa Banner    

Butterfly Diaper Cake

Photography by Samantha Lovett Photography