My baby shower!

I really wasn’t going to have a baby shower at all. Then I remembered I didn’t want a hen party and that turned out to be the best weekend ever so I changed my mind and decided to plan a very small, fuss-free baby shower where I would invite just a handful of girls for lunch.

I then got an idea of recreating my version of the below gorgeous garden party set up that I had seen on House Curious.

Image courtesy of House Curious

I sourced the pallets, bought an entire trolley full of cushions from Ikea and Hobbycraft very kindly sent me some absolutely gorgeous decorations. I ordered food, cake and flowers and we had a heatwave during the week so I was pretty excited and all set.

And then on the day it rained. A lot.

I woke up so disappointed, but me, my sister and two best friends got to work setting up plan B!

There is something so satisfying about creating a gorgeous set up when hosting a get together. In the end I was really pleased about how it all turned out, even with the last minute change of plan.

As we don’t know whether we are having a girl or a boy, I went for a gender neutral colour palette of white, gold and lemon. I was spoiled for choice with Hobbycraft’s selection of decorations. They have a whole baby shower decoration section and I mainly went for the Ginger Ray decorations which were all gold and white.

I had chosen these oversized balloons for the original set up, but they worked just as well indoors. I strung up this ‘baby shower’ banner between them and also added a few of these gold confetti balloons too.

These plates, cups and napkins kept up the theme whilst also cutting down on the washing up. Always a winner!

We didn’t do too much in the way of games, but we did paint baby grows which was so fun and I love that the little one has something bespoke to wear from each of his/her aunties!

I also had these advice cards and I love reading what each person put on them. My friends each bought a baby photo and we had to do guess the baby. I am AWFUL at this game and didn’t even recognise myself in some of the baby pictures my sister had dug out of me!

Food wise, we had a feast! To keep the work down to a minimum I ordered food from my favourite local cafe Damascena – there was so much of it. We all had two platefuls each, and then Will and I were still eating it all for lunch and dinner three days later! I ordered a cake from a little local place Bakery 30 – it was so good – lemon and blueberry with a vanilla frosting and three layers deep!

(Think it might be the last time I fit in to this dress judging by the bulging gap above the button!)

I made homemade lemonade and served it in this drinks dispenser. I can’t for the life of me find the recipe now, but basically I chopped up two whole lemons (yes, skin and all) and blended them in a Nutribullet with water and sugar and the juice of four more lemons. I can’t remember the exact measurements but if you wanted to make it, it could be done with a bit of taste trial and error I think! It was nice and tart so not to everyone’s taste but I loved it.

I also made up these individual cheesecake pots. I altered this recipe a bit, just simply chopping the strawbs and adding them in rather than creating the saucy bit as the recipe suggests. I served them in these jars which are amazing value and popped on these toppers to finish them off. They were so delicious.

And last but not least – the flowers. I have a bit of a love affair with another local business Isherwood and Co. I asked Jordan if she could source me some white and yellow flowers with lots of greenery. I couldn’t find an image of the type of thing I was after anyway but trusted that she knew my style and what I would want. Well – I was delighted with her choices! I picked up the flowers on the morning and took them home to arrange myself. I hope I did them justice.

Everyone gifted the baby a favourite children’s book to start its little library off. I can’t wait to get them all on display in the nursery, and even more so to read to them when they are a little bit older.

So there you have it. A not so fuss free baby shower after all but the most lovely afternoon spent with friends, enjoying being able to finish a conversation, eat with two hands and stay awake!

This little bump is so loved already – we are both so lucky to have so many wonderful ladies around us at this special time!