Once Upon a Time Shower

One of my best friends in the world is pregnant with her second little one. I got the privilege of throwing her a little sprinkle shower and I had a ball doing it. Her mom had suggested a children's book theme which was perfect! My husband and I are naturally book junkies and we give everyone children's books for almost every holiday. Plus we got boxes of books passed down to the girls from various members of our family, so we had a ton of supplies.
First objective was to create a menu. I tried to pick items that I knew that the mama was really enjoying throughout her pregnancy. The number one item was chicken salad, but  also shared some pasta salad, cheese and crackers, fruit, meatballs, goldfish and cupcakes. Then I sat down in front of the bookcases in the girls rooms and pulled out the best book associated with the food. Some of these were just lucky finds, others I got a little help from the internet.

We had a few activities which involved children's book themes too. One of my all time favorite children's books is The Giving Tree. I have read this countless times at camp to campers. This was perfect for the party. I painted canvas blue and then painted a tree trunk. I cut out leaves from various colored green scrapbook paper and asked the party goers to leave little comments on the leaves for the baby. The instructions that I read suggested using double-sided tape after placing the leaves on the tree I have learned that the tape isn't strong enough and that Elmer's glue is a better choice. It turned out really lovely.

For other activities I also printed out a children's book quiz  with the answers from here and the winners got prizes. We wrote silly sayings on diapers to amuse the parents as they change those stinkers too. Simple.

Around the house I decorated with books. I printed out The Keep Calm sign below from Google images (and I felt pretty hip about) and I printed out covers of Golden Book series and created a book banner. I simply whole punched two wholes on each page and strung a ribbon through them. That I hung across our sliding glass doors. I placed books around the house in tables and even in the bathroom. 

  I set up a couple of tables. We know that they are having a baby boy so I added those touches here and there with the blue table cloths and the baby boy picks on the cupcakes. Each table had a center piece that included a book and stuffed animal that is associated with the character of the book. We were also going to decorate book plates for the baby books that each person was asked to bring in lue of a card. The invite had ABC's on it which was perfectly fitting for the theme.



 

For the party gift I had two. I made bookmarks with a little baby boy charm and a sticker on the back that said Once A Upon Time Baby Shower with the date and name. And I made these little baggies of gummy worms which was a great suggestion from the grandma to be. I had these avery circle labels and I made them online through their program. It is super easy to use and it was easy to place on clear baggies with gummies.

Overall it was a great shower and it was super fun to put together. It was a fun and easy theme for me to run with. My one girlfriend made a bookshelf diaper cake which was adorable. Books are such a big part of our life with our girls. We read to them everyday multiple times a day and pretty much Vivian has a book in her hand most of the day. It was so fun to use this theme and the very best part is that in a couple of months we will have a new little baby boy hanging out.

Lydia's Princess Extravaganza!

For the past year Lydia has been loving to play dress up! She loves to throw on hat or heels and prance around the house. When she's done most of the time she says, " I just want to be Lydia." At some point this year her dressing up focused a little more on princesses and we invested in a used lot of costumes from eBay. Best purchase we ever made. Hence, it seemed natural to have a princess dress up birthday party. Most of Lydia's little friends are girls and so there we have it. Some of the things we have learned over the years of kid parties is be sure you have something for them to do beyond just running around and keep things simple i.e. food, décor, less is more idea.

I tried to do just that. A couple of highlights. I saw this on pinterest and then for the life of me couldn't find it again, so I winged it and I think it turned out well. This is just colored paper and double sided tape.


We had some extra streamers from other events so I wrapped up the center chair which is typically a captains chair to be her throne. I love balloons and I typically order a dozen for $10 at the Party City by our house. They only last 8 hours, so I order a few days early and pay, then pick them up the day of the party. I wanted things to look fancy so I pulled out only white and clear dishes.

It is hard to see here, but we made fruit wands. Using a cookie cutter we cut watermelon stars to top skewers of grapes. Super cute! I put them in a vase to add a little fancy. I used to really dislike plastic table cloths but last party I learned the beauty of throwing out the plastic table cloth.

Our main activity was the bounce house. It was awesome! However it was hot and we had to be sure to pull the kids in every 30 minutes or so for drink and air conditioning breaks. A Funny Business which is a family own and run inflatable company was amazing. They were more than accommodating and were really great at making sure we were happy with out order.
We ordered a cake from Publix. Lydia picked it out. It was so cute and all the toys on she was able to keep. The little castle opens up to store the princesses. It is hard to read but they added Happy Birthday on the walkway on the cake which actually required a very long conversation with the bakery folk. You would be surprised.

In between the bouncing we brought our princes and princesses inside. They played with the Little People castle and other pink toys to perpetuate the royal nature of the event.
We also decorated foam tiaras with stick on jewels and stickers. After they were finished they were able to prance around wearing their new head gear.

Lydia changed dresses a couple of times during the day. First she was Sophia and then she was Cinderella. After party she wore her pink hearted fedora and pink poodle purse.

For our party gift we gave out golden books. We decided that so often the goody bag is just as expensive as one usable item so we strive to continue this practice for the future. We had 2 books Princess and the Pea and The Blue Book of Fairy Tales. I added some thank you stickers on the back.

 

It was a great day! We had tons of fun!