Baby Shower on a Budget

A few weeks ago we received a call from WCIU "The U" issuing La Di Events a challenge.   They challenged us to plan a gender neutral baby shower for 8-10 guests on a budget of $100. We were asked to use items that are already in our homes and items that are affordable to buy at the store.  We were up for the challenge!  The "Baby Shower on a Budget" segment aired this Wednesday November 3rd on the WCIU morning show You and Me this Morning. Enjoy the video!

Scroll down to learn more details about the products used in this segment.

Tablecloth

We used a twin bed sheet from Target!  The twin sheet will fit an 8 foot table.  If you have a round or oval table you can use a fitted full sheet!

Advice and Wishes

This is a great way for guests to share their advice with the mom to be.  We cut up pieces of scrap booking paper that we found at Michaels.  Place the scrapbook pieces on a dish or tray you have in your home with a pen or a small point permanent marker.  For the advice and wishes sign we printed out the words on the computer and glued it to a piece of folded scrapbook paper.  You can set out any clear vase you have in your home for the guests to place their wishes in.

Food

The best way to save money at a shower is to not schedule the party at a meal time.  I would recommend 3pm.  This way you can just have a few items to eat and save money on food.  For the segment we cut up fruit and placed them in glasses I had in my home to make individual portions for each guest.  This also saves you money because you do not have to buy plates for the guests to put their food on.  We displayed the fruit on a dish I had in my home and to add some flair cut a piece of scrap booking paper to line the dish.

Guest Seating

It is always nice to incorporate your guests in the shower.  Ask each guest to mail you a baby photo to be used at the shower.  Place each photo in a picture frame, these we found at the dollar store.  Place the pictures at each guest place setting so guests can find their seat.  It also will be a great conversation piece.

Flowers

I was so excited when I found these sundae dishes at the dollar store.  They were perfect for our baby shower theme.  We used the sundae dish as a vase for flowers.  The flowers we purchased were from Jewel-Osco and we chose flowers that were affordable and matched our theme, mums and carnations.

Cupcake Stand

To make this cupcake stand we took one of the sundae dishes turned it upside down and glued it to a plate from the dollar store with ceramic glue.  Now you have a very chic and affordable stand to display your homemade cupcakes at the shower.

Cupcake Flags

Cupcake flags are very popular but you don't have to spend alot of money on them.  You can make then yourself.  For these flags we traced a tea light candle for the circles on scrapbook paper.  Next we cut out the circles and taped a toothpick to one of the two circles.  Last we took some stick glue and glued the two circles together.  For a finishing touch we added a Wilton baby foot sticker.

Drinks

For the drink we chose a traditional lemonade.  To add to the look we sliced up 6 limes and added them to the lemonade.  We displayed it in my Colin Cowie drink dispenser.   This was not included in the budget because I have this already in my home.  But you don't have to use a fancy drink dispenser you could use a pitcher or a punch bowl you have at home.  You could also pour individual glasses for guest to take.

Coasters

Instead of playing games at the shower you can set out these baby shower trivia coasters by Wilton.  This is a great way to still add some fun to the shower without playing multiple games.

A BIG thank you to WCIU and You and Me this Morning for asking La Di Events to be a part of their morning show.

I loved spending my morning with Jeanne and Melissa!

I hope you enjoyed the "Baby shower on a Budget" segment on You and Me this Morning.  I know I did!!

For more details on items we used in this segment or our planning services please contact us here.

Operation Give Thanks

Interested in hosting a party and giving back to a good cause?  Have you heard of Operation Give Thanks?


Here is all the information for you to get the know this great charity:
Operation Give Thanks is a nation-wide fundraising campaign to help Operation Shower continue their mission to throw amazing baby showers for military families to ease the burden of deployment.

Operation Shower gives back to our military families through parties, so can YOU !
Operation Shower is asking people across the nation to host a party, big or small, between now and the end of the year to raise money for Operation Shower. What a wonderful way to express your gratitude and thanks at this special time of year — and have fun!

Their long-term goal is to reach every military base in the nation. Their short-term goal is to raise $50,000 through Operation Give Thanks to enable them to shower over 200 more moms-to-be ! That’s right, if you raise $250 for Operation Shower, that helps them to throw a full amazing baby shower with gifts for a military mom to be whose spouse is deployed!

If you decide to host a party, please email  lena@operationshower.org or amy@operationshower.org and they will help guide you and provide more information!


Download their Fundraising Event Handbook here for more ideas.


To help you get started with a party theme some of the top party professionals have joined to offer free Printables!

Their last shower for military moms was in Washington, DC was their first “ A Star is Born” themed party. Whether it is a baby shower, dinner party, birthday party or bake sale everyone wants to be a star! So,they have provided ways in which you could provide your own “star” related event on behalf of Operation Give Thanks.

If you are interested in this theme, follow the links for Paper & Cake, Paper & Pigtails, or Parties By Hardie. They are offering free printables for this theme!

These free printables give you a great start on your next event.  The printable designers are asking that you please donate whatever you can afford in return for using the free printables.

Happy Planning!!

Baby Girl Shower

Last week I shared with you the invitations we designed for my good friends baby shower. Today you will be able to see all of the other elements for this custom designed baby girl shower! We started with a color palette of light pink, light green and white. The invitations were based on a bedding collection from Serena and Lily.

After the invitations were designed, I sat down with my very talented Sister in law, Tiffany Burdick with The Petal Boutique to design these gorgeous floral arrangements.

The floral we picked for this pink, green and white color palette were light pink stock, Trachellium, mini green hydrangea, green tea roses, Queen Anne's lace, green hanging Amaranthus, mini pink carnations, and pink titanic roses.

I love how fresh and sweet the flowers looked, perfect for a baby girl's shower!

We chose to arrange all of the flowers in square white ceramic vases

All of the linens were purchased from The BBJ Linen Store, and custom sewn to fit each table.

Our Mommy to be wanted a sweets table to be a part of her shower. The requests she had were funfetti cupcakes and one of her favorites powdered sugar brownies.

I have to warn you these next few pictures might make you hungry! I am a huge sweets person and had to hold myself back from stealing a few bites of my sweets table creation before the guests arrived. Although since I made most of these treats I was able to do a little taste testing along the way...shhhhh.

Great view of the entire sweets table. It included Nana's apple cake, Oreo balls, chocolate chip cookies, mint meltaways, Trinidad's, chocolate covered pretzels, funfetti cupcakes, snicker doodle cookies, and powdered sugar brownies. Yummmm!

Oreo Balls! These are such a fun treat for any occasion. For this event I chose to dye the white chocolate drizzle PINK! For the recipe of this yummy treat contact me here.

Chocolate chip cookies!

Powdered sugar brownies, hungry yet?

We had three different drink options for the guests, water, ginger ale punch and the raspberry lemonade shown here. Love this drink dispenser by Colin Cowie. It has a separate compartment for the ice so it keeps your drink cool but it does not get watered down! Genius!

We couldn't have a baby shower without the food. Veggies, fruit, cheese and sausage, mixed green salad, Cole slaw, potato salad, Italian beef, and pasta were on the menu.

When the guests arrived they were asked so sign into the guestbook and leave a wish or piece of advice for the mommy to be.

Loved this one and had to share it. It says "What happens at Grandmas, stays at Grandmas"

Here is Jenny our mommy to be!

She was blessed with so many gifts we almost couldn't see her!

Look at this humidifier!!! Adorable!

Once the gift opening had started the guestbook was used to record all the gifts that Jenny received.

We had one boy in attendance at the baby shower. Little Baby Austin, Jenny's nephew. So sweet!

Jenny was smiling the entire shower, especially when she received this dress! I had such a great time designing and participating in this shower. I just can't wait for the little "diva" to arrive!

Custom Invitations

Take a look at our custom invitation designed for my dear friend Jenny. It's a Girl!!This invitation was inspired by the bed linens of Serena & Lily
We are able to design on the front and back of all invitations
Insterested in having custom invitations made for your next event?
Contact us here.


This is a shot of the invitation with the linens and floral. All floral pieces were designed by my very talented sister in law Tiffany from, The Petal Boutique. Check back next week for the full Post on Jenny's Baby shower, including linens, flowers and a custom designed sweet station!

To see more photographs of this invitation and others visit our photo album on facebook.