A Birdie Baby Shower

This past weekend, I helped host a baby shower for my sweet sis-in-law. She's super special, so her friend and I gave our best efforts to make it just perfect.

My kitchen table was covered with serving dishes and decor for days leading up to it, and Brian was annoyed by my crafting for weeks, but I must say, it turned out pretty perfect.

And that means a lot coming from me. I'm rather anal and can't seem to plan a party without thinking of every single detail.

If you remember, I revealed the invitation to you here. Bird-themed for a sweet baby girl named Madison.

We tried to include a little bit of everything.

Delicious bites. Simple decor. Small (but noted) details. Personal touches.

The menu was simple. The shower was a "brunch" baby shower starting at 10:30, so we decided on a yogurt bar with various toppings, breakfast casserole muffins, sausage balls and mini quiches.

Yogurt toppings included blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, pumpkin granola, almonds, chocolate chips and a cookie stick.

The drinks were cherry limeade (recipe here), lemonade and water. I served them in wine bottles and kept them cold in a metal beverage tub. The dessert table included cupcakes from Cupcake a la Mode and chocolate "bird nests."

 

Some of the small details incorporated were favor treat bags adorned with custom bird tags (more details below), a clothesline of bird onesies using twine and clothespins, decorated mason jars for utensils, and mason jars as cups. And pink paper-striped straws. I don't care if these are everywhere right now, can mason jars and paper straws get any cuter?

Note: I found that Wal-Mart had the cheapest mason jars. I believe I paid $8 for a case of 12.

All the food was labeled using clothespins, glue dots, and custom made tags. Both tables were decorated with paper pinwheels of all sizes (tutorial here).

I prettied up the chandelier by hanging paper birds and pinwheels with twine.

I also used the cutest wooden bird house on the top plate of a tiered server, purchased at Hobby Lobby, which now serves as decor in my house.  

Small birds nests made with plant filler and jordan almonds gave the table just the right touch.

A custom-made banner that said "Baby Madison" greeted guests in the front room and was hung on the fireplace mantle.

A 4x6 framed print instructed guests to fill out advice cards. Print read "It can be practical or it can be sweet, let's share words of wisdom or advice about the one we are waiting to meet!"

An 8x10 framed print accompanies the food table that read "First we had each other. Then we had you. Now we have everything."

Bird nest favors were made using this recipe. To my surprise, they were super easy and pretty fast! The hardest part was dropping them into the individual bags and tying the tags.

I purchased strawberry cheesecake jelly belly's from Amazon, purchased the treat bags and raffia ribbon at Hobby Lobby and made the custom tags that read "Thanks for filling the nest" and "tweet tweet."

And....that's it! Thanks for letting me share all the details with you.

I'm a little sad it's over because I had so much fun crafting, designing and making things for this shower. Good thing Big Boy has a birthday coming up.

On to the next party.