Early last year, I, with the help of my lovely friends, threw a pink themed baby shower for my cousin! It took me a long time to organize, mainly because I wanted to DIY everything (fueled by nonstop Pinterest searches, of course), but the end results and the smile on my cousin's face made all the effort worth it :)
The cake:
I used fresh strawberries for both the cake base and the icing (I didn't need to use pink dye for the icing!), because I wanted to harness the flavor of the actual fruit instead of relying on artificial flavoring. The cake was a bit denser than usual due to the added sugar (the strawberries I used were on the tart side), but it was so lovely to look at and the icing was so delish - I was very, very, very tempted to eat it by the spoonful. Not the greatest idea since I used 100% butter. Mmm.
The cake topper:
I cut up tiny baby clothes out of printed board paper (about $1 each at Joann) and attached matching pink felt shapes to the back to weigh it down. I used cake dowels to anchor the clothesline, clipped the baby clothes on, and voila! A super cute, inexpensive and specially-made cake topper to celebrate my future niece's birth :)
The banner:
Pictured below is the actual spread for the dessert table. I cut out letters from copy paper then pasted them onto the rest of my pink board paper. It's pretty easy and definitely less expensive than pre-made banners at party supply stores :)
The sweets:
My giveaways were marshmallows and pretzels dipped in pink dye-tinted white chocolate, plus strawberry flavored cookies. Tip: white chocolate tends to harden really fast, so I added a few drops of vegetable oil to the melted chocolate. That gave me enough time to dip and swirl the marshmallows and pretzels into the chocolate then press gold sugar onto them. I then put the goodies into little plastic baggies and gave them out at the end of the party :)
My co-host (and owner of the house where the party was held) also bakes on the side, and she whipped up vanilla cream cheese cupcakes in an instant. Sooooo good!
The Extra Decor:
From the stack of differently-hued pink board paper, I cut up and pasted together these huge paper flowers, which I placed all over my co-host's living room.
The Games:
I had a bunch of games and activities for both the adults and the youngsters.
-Stick the pacifier on the baby. I drew a cartoon of a sleeping baby on copy paper using markers, then drew several pacifiers for each contestant.
-Guess the celebrity baby. Pretty self-explanatory, I used my tablet for the before and after pictures.
-Draw a baby's face on a paper plate. The twist is you put the plate on top of your head, and the cutest (or probably the better word would be comprehensible) drawing wins.
-Write your wishes for the baby. I cut out stars from plain pink board paper, then placed them on a table with a pen and a bowl for the stars that had been written on. You can compile them in a scrapbook for the mommy-to-be after the shower.
-Guess the number of cookies in the jar. This one's for the kids and it kept them occupied for a while. Also works with gumballs, chocolate kisses, etc.
All in all, we had a fun and memorable day. If you're going to plan for a similar party, just remember this: don't sweat the small stuff! Make the best out of any bad situations that will surely pop up (nothing is perfect, after all), and just have a great time with your loved ones :)
Have a blessed day!
<3,
