First things first, baby showers can cost a pretty penny, the more you create and plan yourself, the more you will save and it will be much more personal. This baby shower came together so seamlessly. It was a magical, fairy wonderland. The first step is, to figure out what your theme will be... We chose whimsical woodlands, full of flowers, greenery, tiny animals, fairies and a beautiful array of colors. Second most important, is to set a date and get the invites sent out. I purchased custom invites from Etsy and they turned out beautiful. As the host, the weight is on your shoulders to present an epic baby shower, the key is to not get overwhelmed with the amount of things to get done. Take one step at a time, stay organized and you will see, it surprisingly comes together at the end.

Main Decor:

There are so many different ways to decorate a sweet little space. Here are the details of my personal design. The easiest decor is hanging baby clothes with clothespins. I use twine, simply tie it in a bow at both ends with enough line to hang in a curve. Using the clothespins, hang the clothing one by one on each shoulder. Start in the middle of the line and continue spacing them outwards on each side, to keep it symmetrical. If you have leggings or bottoms, you can use pins to pin them to the tops. You can do the same with adding little shoes to the pant legs, which is absolutely adorable.

At the end of each of the clothing lines, I tied two tea light mason jars together and had them hanging with flameless candles.

It is fairly simple to buy a few bundles of flowers and arrange them yourself. We used hydrangeas, pink roses, baby's breath and cut our own greenery from around the house. We also used mason jars as vases, in which we already had. See my photos, or look up pictures on Pinterest for inspiration to replicate. It is much less expensive to arrange them yourself and it brings a refreshing ambiance to the space.

I also used my house plants and set them all around the area. We used the party favors for decor as well; succulent filled baby food jars. You can see them in detail below; gifts. Along with live greenery, we purchased a couple garlands to place above the fireplace and behind the diaper cake table. In between the garland, we placed flameless candles, tea light mason jars, fairy castles, and figurines. We removed the original home decor and placed, flowers & preowned crystals.

The entrance consisted of a large chalkboard with the, "don't say baby game" listed on the board. See below under games for details. We pinned a piece of twine and clipped the clothespins to it hanging next to the board.We also added the faux flowers to tie in the theme. They were purchased at Michaels, keep in mind you can find coupons every single day on their website.

Below the chalkboard was a gift, also used as decor. A fawn rocker, we tied a ribbon around the neck and placed flowers to brighten it up. Utilize any of the gifts to use as decor!

To view the amazing custom diaper cake <---in detail, click the link! The tables "tutu" skirt, was handmade with tulle. I purchased quite a large amount of pink tulle from Beverly's . You will need about four times as long as the length of the table you are using. First, lay a pink plastic table cloth down and then roll out a bit of the tulle. Have your pins ready, start bunching the top of the tulle together and pin it, move 3" and bunch the material again and pin it, until you have gone around the three sides of the table. Play around with the material until you get the look you're going for. We placed a decorative deer on the table as well and added flowers and ribbon around its neck. The deer was purchased from Pier 1 Imports, as seasonal decor. Keep an eye out, as they always have new items coming in like this. Also displayed on the diaper cake table, a picture of an ultrasound in a filigree frame. We purchased a small bouquet from Michael's and placed it in an antique vase we already had. This is where you should have a bowl or vase to place the diaper raffle cards, for those guests who brought diapers. For details on the diaper cake raffle/game, see below games. Lastly, we lined the table with the succulent party favors, in which will be in detail below, as well.

Dessert Table:

Where do I even begin? So much love and craft went into this masterpiece! First, the redwood rounds, the redwood cake stand, and the elk shed horn which was converted into a stand with redwood rounds for a donut tower.. Yes, a donut tower people. The father to be, cut the redwood slabs and built the cake tower by hand, along with everything else. The shed horn is really special, if you don't know what a shed horn is... Every year deer and elk shed their entire rack (horns) and they grow a newer, larger set each year. This shed horn was a treasure found somewhere in the mountains, to be reused and crafted into an art piece. We used doillies on the redwood and placed donuts from the local bakery.

The next best part of the dessert table was the scrumptious goodies, that were placed throughout the three tier cake stand. The cake placed on the top tier was made by Natty Cakes and we personally added the floral throughout the top of the cake. On the bottom two tiers, my sister Brittany baked and frosted, four different kinds of cupcakes; red velvet, strawberry, lemon and vanilla, with cream cheese buttermilk frosting. She takes custom party orders, for future inquiries. The greenery was delicately placed throughout the tiers of cupcakes as well. We used the tiny chalkboards as displays for each items.

Next are our three tiers of sweet treats. At the top, handmade cookies designed and decorated by The Cookie Lady. The "acorns" were homemade by Brittany Ingram, using Hershey's Kisses, Mini Vanilla Wafers, and Butterscotch Chips. Delicately place each piece together using chocolate frosting. Lastly, our Hedgehog Donuts, made with donut holes, frosted with chocolate frosting and dipped in sprinkles. CUTENESS OVERLOAD!

To wrap up the dessert table, we had Homemade Lemon Bars, Salted Caramel Cookies and Cake Pops. Lollipops were placed in a wooden container and rock candy sticks were placed decoratively with moss in a glass jar. The decor consisted of a deer skull and antler mount. The flowers & foliage were designed by Brittany. The faux greenery light strands were purchased from Pier 1 Imports along with the hedgehogs and squirrels. The lights looked so beautiful, it added the perfect touch as they have multiple options, to flicker, dim and shine. The pine cones were crafted from the yard, the tips were hand painted and dipped in pink glitter.

Food Table:

Our food table was hosted by my mother's catering company, Two Gals Catering, where everything is homemade, message me for inquiries. The baby shower appetizers consisted of:

Potato Salad <--- Link to Family Recipe
Macaroni Salad <--- Link to Family Recipe
Bean Dip & Chips
Egg Salad Sandwiches on White Bread
Ham, Turkey & Roast Beef Sandwiches on Sweet & Sour French Rolls
Chicken Salad Croissants
Salami, Proscuitto, Olive & assorted Cheese Bites (cheddar swiss, havarti, gouda)
Salami, Cream Cheese & Dill Pickle Bites
Spring Mix Salad w/ Raspberry Vinaigrette
Caprese Bites
Fruit Salad

Games

It's not a baby shower without games! There are so many games to pick from, you can find inspiration and other ideas on Pinterest. Our first game was, "Don't Say Baby", basically everyone gets a clothespin when they arrive and if you hear anyone say baby, you get to take their pin, including any they have accumulated from stealing other peoples. Whoever has the most pins at the end wins a prize!
Our second game was "How Many M&M's" were in the jar? Super simple, I counted about four bags of candy and placed them in a see-through jar, printed up a sheet and the guests got to guess how many were inside. The closest amount won a prize. If you're curious there was 364!
The next game was, "How Big is Her Belly". The guests cut the length of twine, they thought the size of her belly was. Then, I measured her belly, made a strand and measured everyones. Surprisingly, someone was dead on the size and they won a prize.
The Diaper Raffle, if a guest brings a package of diapers, they get to be added to a raffle. One raffle ticket is chosen and they win a prize.
Writing on diapers, grab a diaper and write on the booty, take mom and dads minds off of late night doody.
Lastly, we had a custom dreamcatcher printed from Etsy, the guests got to make their thumbprint like feathers, with three different colors of ink and then signed their names. Now the dreamcatcher can be framed and hung in the nursery.
For our prizes, I made succulent arrangements, they got one of the arrangements and a choice of a candle, or a bottle of wine!

Gifts:

Gift Opening: Keep in mind, this part takes some time. As much as your friends and family love you, they don't want to be there all day. So start the gift opening within an hour of the shower starting. As the mom to be is opening the gifts, the host should be writing down what they are opening and who gifted. It is always a nice gesture for the mother to send thank you cards after the shower. These notes will help her remember what she received and who to thank.

Party Favors: I personally feel like it is always nice to give a gift that people will enjoy and not just stash away. I used hand crafted baby food jars that I found on eBay and propagated my own succulents to fill them. Learn more about succulents on my blog.