Hear Ye! Hear Ye! A Baby Shower Fit for a Prince or Princess...

Think Pink! or Think Blue!

1) Make the cake in the shape of a castle, or create a diaper cake that looks like one. You could also do a pillow with a crown, or a frog cake! Simply Sweets                                           Piece-A-Cake

2) Spray paint sand castle molds to be used as centerpieces.

3) Make or cover pillows to look like a pillow that a crown would be presented on. Remember fancy fabrics, cords, and tassels really make the look!

4) Add frogs around the room for a fairy tale feel.

5) Make crowns or purchase some from a fast food restaurant. Paint them or decorate them. They can be used to put around vases or pots of flowers.

6) For a princess party, add shiny confetti, jewels and sparkles. You can also add pink feather boas for a girly addition.

Quack Quack! A Duck Baby Shower

Guests will be waddling to a baby shower with these ducky ideas!

1) Float rubber ducks in blue punch.

 

Your Complete Party

2) Fill vases, fish bowls, or other clear glass containers with white styrofoam balls of various sizes. Place a rubber duck (of an appropriate size) on the top.

 

Hostess with the Mostess

3) Float blue balloons in the air.

4) Place blue vases with yellow daises, tulips or roses on tables as centerpieces.

5) Buy ducks of all kinds during Easter when they're easy to find!

6) The illusion of water can be made around ducks on a table by using blue decorative marbles or blue basket fill.

7) Laminate large orange duck feet and secure them to the floor with a sign saying "Waddle This Way."

8) Neatly fold and stack white, yellow or blue towels and place them on a table with a rubber duck on top.

9) Use a wash tub as a cooler to serve drinks out out.

10) Use smaller washtubs with basket fill or even real water and rubber ducks as centerpieces. Add bottles of lotion, bath wash, etc. to the centerpiece for a complete bath time look. The bottles can then be given to the mom as a gift.

11) Create a cake that looks like a bathtub or pond and "float" rubber ducks on top. If you've created a bathtub, don't forget the bubbles!

 Harlow's Bakery

12) Serve all yellow food: egg salad, lemon fingers, lemonade, deviled eggs, chicken noodle soup, etc.

Monkey-in' Around... Monkey Themed Baby Shower

The idea of decorating with monkeys has several options-- sock monkeys, brown cartoon monkeys, a full jungle theme or monkeys with bananas. You have to decide what branch of the tree you want to climb!



1) Decorate with bundles of bananas. Then, send some home with any guests that will take them!


2) Decorate cupcakes to look like cute monkey faces!! Or make a large cake in the shape of a banana!


3) Have small bowls of the banana candies (bought separately in candy stores) on tables for guests to enjoy during the shower.


4) If using sock monkeys, use browns, whites and reds. Incorporate the use of an old red wagon, or small red bicycle. Stars, stripes and polka dots work well also!

5) If using monkeys with bananas, create a rich feel with chocolate brown and yellow!

6) If using brown jungle monkeys, you may want to create a color pallete-- such as blue and yellow! http://www.modmonkeypartysupplies.com/

7) If using a full jungle theme, embrace the use of animal prints, palm trees, and all jungle animals-- giraffes, lions, hippos, elephants, etc.

8) Check out Oriental Trading for items such as these palm trees, or this inflatable monkey.

Thing 1, Thing 2, Or Does Horton Hear a Who?

Who doesn't just love Dr. Seuss!?!? Here are some fun ideas to really embrace the creativity of Dr. Seuss into your party!

The party should be decked out crisp red, blue and white! Polka dots, striped and solids work well for this theme. Each table in the room can be decorated for you favorite books, as well as foods inspired by different stories!


1) Serve devilled eggs with green filling! (Green Eggs & Ham)

2) Find your local teacher supply store for Dr. Seuss signs and wall hangings! You might also find pencils, bookmarks, or other items that make great favors!

3) Decorate cupcakes in red wrappers with blue fluffy cotton candy on top. (Thing1 Thing 2)

4) Use mint savers and red gummy savers in an alternating pattern (two of each) to look like the Hat from The Cat in the Hat. Set them on top of a white covered cookie-- maybe a white chocolate covered chocolate cream cookie. These can be used to decorate the top of a cupcake, or just as cute snack!

5)Stuffed animals that are Dr. Seuss themed are often sold at Kohl's department store. Also, look at garage sales, toy stores, and remember to ask all of your friends---especially those with kids! These can be used to enhance an adorable centerpiece.

6) Borrow, buy or check out Dr. Seuss books to set up around the room!

7) Buy a set of Dr. Seuss stickers or print off small pictures of themed graphics and create picks for food or cupcakes by adhering them to toothpicks.

8) Fluff, boas, and cotton balls in blue or pink can be used to create the idea of Horton Hears a Who or Thing 1 Thing 2.

9) Paper lanterns or balloons can be hung from the ceiling for dramatic polka dots! Also, scrapbook paper can be cut into various shaped circles and set on the table around the centerpiece.

10) Companies such as Oriental Trading sell hats that look similar to the "Cat in the Hat" Hat. They would make cute party favors! Or could be used as decor!

11) A fish bowl of sweedish fish or a similar candy could be used for "One Fish Two Fish."

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Party Planning--- A baby shower!

Trying to plan a baby shower on a budget?? Here are a few things that might help!

1) Buy a little at a time. Instead of buying everything for the shower at once, but a few things every time you go to the store. It will be much easier on the pocket book if you spent $5-$10 every week instead of $100 or more at once! Buy things that will keep well and store them in a safe place! One idea is to get a tote and keep it accessible to add items as you find/buy them.

2) Purchase items at discount stores. All your party supplies don't need to be purchased at a party supply store. Try dollar stores, dollar sections, Wal-Mart, Big Lots, etc. They have great deals! You can purchase things such as streamers, balloons, table cloths, basket fill, place settings, and more and save a big hunk of change! You will definitely want to check the durability and quality of some of these--- you don't want Aunt Betty trying to eat cake with a broken fork!

3) Plan early. Decide on a theme early in the game and plan quickly. This will allow more time to buy in advance and to shop for good deals! For example, if the baby shower will be in the middle of the year or later and you know you're hosting a bunny or duck themed shower, you can take advance of Easter deals for some decor or favors.

4) Use games as part of your gift. If you're playing a memory or pricing game, use the items to memorize or guess the price of as part of the gift you're giving the mom-to-be. Use a game that incorporates baby bottles to start off the mom's needed supply.

5) Utilize some of the decorations as the gift, also. You can hang a clothesline full of baby clothes, display clothes as a centerpiece, decorate with stuffed animals/books, fill baby bottles with tissue paper or candies, and more. Get creative! Centerpieces definitely make the atmosphere of the room, but you can still save money on them!

6) Add some pizazz to your table by placing a piece of colorful scrapbook paper that corresponds with your themes/colors at each place setting. It's cheaper than place mats and can be tossed after the shower. Also, shop for cheap material (by the yard or in the scrap bins) that matches or looks good with your colors or theme and can be used to spruse up your tables!

7) Design your own invitations (and other necessary paper products.) Design companies can charge as much as $2 for an invitation, so they can become a big part of your budget. Take a few hours to learn a design program such as Photoshop or something as simple as Microsoft Picture It! Premium (found on most Dell computers). Then look around online for an inspiration of what you want your invite to look like, decide on a size, create a design, buy some cardstock and envelopes (found at an office supply store) and you're ready to go!

8) Make your own food! Some caterers will charge $5 or more a person for a shower's meal--- and most budgets won't allow for that! Make ham salad/egg salad sandwiches, serve veggies & fruits, chip and dips, cheese ball and crackers, etc. Of course a cute baby shower idea is to serve a themed meal-- all the same color, baby themed or baby sized.

9) Use the theme of the nursery as the theme of the shower. Then ask the mom if she has already purchased decorations that can be used to help decorate the shower.

10) Make your own cake-- or cupcakes! A bundle of cupcakes can be dressed up by placing them in a shape that correlates with the shower--- a fish, a monkey head, a baby's rattle, a duck, a teddy bear, flowers, etc. You can also decorate each cupcake to look like a cute baby's face!

11) Host the shower from your home or privately owned facility instead of renting a hall or banquet room. Of course, the area will need to be large enough for your guest list and have a flow that will work for a party of this nature.

Cakes

In the past couple of years, I've been experimenting with cake decorating. I only have a few pans and a few tips to fit my one piping bage. I haven't taken any classes (only read tips online), and really have no experience (or talent for that matter!! haha), so the cakes aren't professional by any means. I really have no desire to ever become professional, but it's just a fun hobby----and its cheaper than ordering a cake from a bakery for someone's birthday. For several of my friends and for my fiance Cameron, I've made their cakes as their birthday presents. And hey, being able to make birthday cakes for my children will be kinda fun later in life!! :)

Just recently, I've come across amazing recipes for the cake and icing that I've been told makes it take just like a cake from a local bakery..... so that's exciting!

With each of the cakes, I try to find an interest of the birthday person. Some are movie themed, some are decorated with the person's favorite colors and others are done for their age (Budweiser for a 21st birthday).




This was the first cake I ever made. I used just a box cake mix and a can of icing (that I dyed blue). I didn't know how to pipe a border around the edge, so I dyed sugar and sprinkled around the cake. I found these little "Finding Nemo" figures at a local dollar store (for $1 a piece) and colored some icing for seaweed and coral.






I think this is my favorite cake that I've made. My fiance Cameron is a huge movie buff and enjoys anything that has to do with film. I was able to get a roll of actual movie film from a family member that worked at a movie theater. The film that touched the cake had to wrapped in plastic wrap because of the possibilities of the coloring and chemicals soaking into the icing. The movie reel is just a round cake, covered in gray icing, and with 5 chocolate cookies pressed into it to make the "holes." The popcorn is a square cake cut in half and stacked. The popcorn is real popcorn mixed with marshmallows and butter (as if making rice krispie treats) and formed into a mound at the top of the cake. The stripes are made from pull-n-peel licorice.


This is the most recent cake that I've made. My fiance turned thirty and to mark the milestone, I spent a while trying to decide what would be the best cake idea. I decided to create a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. It's made from two stacked square cakes, covered in gray icing everywhere except where the star would go, which was filled with red icing, and trimmed in yellow. I made a few speckles (like how the real walk has) from white jimmies.