I was so delighted to have the chance to throw a baby shower this afternoon for my friend Julia, who is a member of our community group. She is expecting her first baby and wanted a book shower to begin building a library for her little one. This was probably one of my favorite showers I've thrown, given how much I love children's books. I found a collection of Dick and Jane books (not vintage, but a reprinted compilation of a few different books) and used that as my starting point for the decor. I decided to go with a red & aqua color scheme since Julia opted not to find out if she's having a boy or a girl.
The shower was held in our backyard and it was so sunny that it made it difficult to get shots that weren't totally bright. What you can't really see is that I made a red/aqua bunting with the words 'welcome baby' cut out of the Dick and Jane book. I made tissue paper pom poms to go on either side of the bunting and it made for a very cheerful greeting.
The shower was held in our backyard and it was so sunny that it made it difficult to get shots that weren't totally bright. What you can't really see is that I made a red/aqua bunting with the words 'welcome baby' cut out of the Dick and Jane book. I made tissue paper pom poms to go on either side of the bunting and it made for a very cheerful greeting.
For the tables I cut out images from the Dick and Jane book and folded them into cones, which I filled with shredded pages from another Goodwill book and a fork & knife. I should mention that it took me a good week to get up the nerve to cut these books up. It just feels so wrong! At one point I told Mark he may have to do that part for me, but I ended up just going for it.
I had intended to purchase flowers to go in the mason jars, but I ended up running out of time to get any, so I quickly changed course and made these. They are just jars filled with more shredded paper, another Dick and Jane image and a portion of a poem that I really love. It read:
"You may have tangible wealth untold;
caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you never can be --
I had a Mother who read to me"
-Strickland Gilliland
I tried to keep the food simple, just a kale salad, some fruit and veggies, cheese and crackers and a cake. Nothing too fancy. I used old Scrabble tiles to put a sign by the food that said "have some". I also used Scrabble tiles on another table that said 'gifts', obviously so that people would know where to put gifts.
Here's the happy mom-to-be!
One of the cool things about this shower is that I didn't know 80% of the guests. It was really neat getting to meet people from Julia and Elliot's families.
I had only one game, a quiz about classic children's books. Elliot's mom won and she received a set of book plates that I had printed from a template I found online.
Our friend Heidi brought her 4 month-old daughter, Mabel, and she got lots of love from the guests. This is Elliot's grandmother holding her.
Julia, myself, Heidi and Elliot's mom Leslie enjoying time together:
Gift time! Julia received some wonderful books and her little one is sure to have hours of enjoyment listening to the many stories contained within them.
Such a lovely day!
