Samantha's Baby Shower

I had the honor and pleasure of co-hosting a baby shower for Samantha this past weekend. This was my first time throwing a baby shower, and I could not have done it without the help (so much help!) of my friend and co-host Carolyn. We were both really pleased with how everything turned out. I thought I would share a few pictures from the shower in case anyone out there is currently planning one. Carolyn and I both got a lot of great ideas from the internet; I have no idea how people planned these things before it existed.

Samantha designed the invitations herself, and they turned out so cute! I love the idea of bringing a book instead of a greeting card. I guess that's just the librarian in me.

The shower was at two in the afternoon, so we just provided snacks rather than a full meal. We served cupcakes from the Cup (Lemon Drop and Samantha's favorite, Confetti), cheese, crackers, pita chips, hummus, dried fruit, cashews and strawberry shortcake. I'll be sharing my shortcake recipe with you guys very soon!

For beverages, Carolyn made a delicious white sangria and I made raspberry lemonade (again, recipe forthcoming!), so we had a little something for everyone, pregnant and non-pregnant alike.

Carolyn froze little toy babies in ice cubes for everyone to put in their drinks. Whenever the ice melted, each person was supposed to shout, "my water broke!" Of all the activities we planned, people seemed to get into this one the least, so I might skip it next time.

We also played a game with necklaces fashioned out of ribbon with a pink pacifier on the end. If a person was caught saying the secret word (baby) they had to give up their necklace.  The person with the most necklaces at the end of the shower won a small prize. We also had onsies to decorate with fabric markers and stencils. Unfortunately, I did not get any after photos of the decorated onesies. They turned out really cute!

Another game/craft we did involved cutting out features (eyes, noses, mouths) from photos I took and of Samantha and her husband and pasting them onto blank baby faces. The results were pretty hilarious. Samantha's baby will definitely be more attractive than any of these ladies.

We held the shower at the Old Orchard Gallery in Webster Groves, which was the perfect space for a medium size group (about 20 people). We were allowed to bring in our own food which was an added bonus: its surprisingly hard to find a venue in St. Louis that doesn't require catering. 

Myself, Carolyn, Samantha, and Samantha's Mom at the Shower

One element you definitely do not want to overlook when planning a shower is a good playlist. It just makes the atmosphere a bit more fun. I went a little overboard and created a 6+ hour playlist on Spotify of songs about babies, girls, and baby girls. You can listen to it here. If you are looking for more baby shower ideas, check out the Pinterest board Samantha, Carolyn and I created.

Overall, I think the shower was a great success. I'm so excited to meet the new addition to Samantha's family in just a few weeks!