Krista's Baby Shower

This past Saturday on May 12th, I hosted a baby shower for my friend/esthetician, Krista Martindale.  Since this was her only shower for baby Zoey, it was very well attended.  I didn't know any of the guests except for Sandra.  Everyone was either from Mike's family or clients of hers that have followed her since she left InSpa.  30 guests had RSVP'd that they were coming. That's a lot of adults in our home. When we learned that many were planning to attend, we decided to use the whole house instead of just the upstairs.   

I wish I had taken pic's during the actual party, but was busy being the hostess so everything I have here are pre-party.  A couple months ago, I offered to host a baby shower for Krista.  She was thrilled and immediately excepted the offer.  Since baby Zoey is due July 4th, we figured mid-May was the perfect time. 

She had wanted a pink elephant theme, but we were unsuccessful in finding online invitations with a cute elephant.  We ended up choosing a different style, but I didn't tell her that I was on a mission to stick with the pink elephant's.  It was more difficult then I thought.  The first thing I found for her with pink elephants were these really cute onsies.  So between the onsies and elephants, I combined the two and was able to come up with some cute decor. 

We decided to have all the guests enter through the daycare entrance which is my downstairs kitchen.  I had it spotless and well decorated for the party.  Since I didn't know anyone that was coming, I had pink elephant name tags for everyone to fill out. 

When I learned we were going to use the downstairs too, I panicked.  I didn't know how I was going to decorate the daycare room.  My dear friend Kathy Griffard helped me out.  With her handy dandy cricut machine, she made die cuts for me.  (I told her that I would gladly exchange a home cooked meal if she would help me with creating the decor)  She totally came to my rescue.  I showed her the cute onsies that I had purchased and so from there, the creativity began.  She die cut for me elephants and onsies.  It was absolutely perfect!  We had the elephants towing a line of onsies.  I changed out my daycare bulletin board for a baby theme wall.  It worked out very well. 

Upstairs on the dining table, I had on display a diaper cake that I had made.  It was the first one I had ever done.  I think it turned out well.  Believe or not, those were the only diapers she received.  Mike's step-mother gave her 4-months of diaper service though.  (Totally awesome, yet expensive gift)

For the dessert, I made Spiked Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes.  They were gorgeous and tasted delightful, so they say.  I didn't eat any since they had Raspberry liquor in them.  Not much, but the frosting had a wee bit more.  They sure smelled delightful.  I also made elephant sugar cookies with a raspberry flavored buttercream.  I wanted to paint them like the stars and moons, but ran out of time.

I also provided a few cupcakes that weren't spiked as well, just in case.  Krista wanted to serve mimosa's to everyone.  Once everyone arrived and had their name tag on and their drink in hand, I had everyone go into the daycare room where I had 30 chairs set up in a circle.  We all introduced ourselves and how we knew Krista.  I then explained how the party was going to go.  (It's that whole RS thing in me.  I can't help it!)

We then went upstairs where I had a full spread luncheon planned.  I served chicken croissants, egg salad sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, my homemade potato salad, pasta salad, strawberry-spinach salad.  Also had a fresh fruit platter and fresh assorted veggies.  I forgot to take a picture of the cold raspberry soup!  It was so pretty and displayed in mini desserts dishes. 

After we spent about 45-minutes upstairs eating, we then mingled downstairs for games and gifts where we had more room to sit.  The shower lasted a few hours.  She received so many gifts I didn't think the party was ever going to end. 

It's my own fault that I cause clean-up to take so long, but I refused to use paper products. I got out the crystal dishes as I wanted everything to look as elegant as a baby shower could possibly get.

By the end of the day, I was truly exhausted.  Took about 4 hours for clean up.  Mainly because I had to wash everything by hand.  I don't regret at all.  The shower went very well.  Everyone was so nice and appreciative that I hosted a shower for Krista.  All the hard work involved with the details were all noticed.  I tried so hard to make it as nice as possible and not leave out any details.