Last August my husband and I had lots of fun with friends and family at our baby showers (We ended up having two: one with family/relatives and another with friends and other loved ones).  And since technology has become really good at reminding us nowadays about past events and memories, I ended up scrolling through last year’s pictures; and it brought back such good memories that I thought to share some of the details with you!  We didn’t really have a specific theme for the baby shower although I was really aiming for using decor that was more old school, if you will; and I wanted it to easily feel/look like it’s a baby/kid-related event (since it is!) .  Don’t get me wrong – I’m a fan of really pretty, more sophisticated themes (especially those involving lace, pastels, and foliage); but I wanted us to really celebrate with our friends and family in an obviously childlike way ❤

This was at our ‘head table’ where my husband and I did not sit at all since we were too busy interacting with our friends & family =).  We just used our own Scrabble pieces, and the chalkboard frame was on clearance from Michaels (similar one here).

For the guestbook, I wanted to use something that’s functional; and since we had lots of people who celebrated with us, we used two pieces: Jenga block pieces and a rocking chair that people can sign (the rocking chair was on sale when we bought it).

For the table centerpieces, we placed rubber duckies (from the dollar store) on mason jars which were filled with stones and blue food coloring.  We also had baby’s breath on milk bottles, wood place card holders (similar) that held custom initial prints.  Each table also had various types of retro toys that our guests can play with during the party (e.g. yoyo, pickup sticks, viewmaster, all of which I got from the dollar store); we also had Perfection at one of the tables – that was by far the most entertaining game that people played!  We also had slips of paper where they can Guess the Baby’s Stats.  To this day I’m still actually not sure who was closest in guessing each stat; I should look into it and let the people know haha.

Since we knew we were going to have a number of kids at the shower, we set up a kids’ picnic table set where they can do some coloring (we printed out some free coloring pages on Pinterest); and we also had corn holes set up (not pictured).

We also had a few games such as having our friends/family guess how many pieces of candy there was on a milk bottle; and whoever guessed the closest got to keep the bottle full of candies!  We also had them use yarn to guess how big my belly was;  and the winner got a chalkboard mug filled with yummy treats!

The diaper raffle was a HUGE help for us – as part of our baby shower invitation for our friends and loved ones, we told them that one pack of diapers they bring would give them one entry for a raffle prize which was a $25 Amazon gift card.  Let me tell you, the amount of diapers we received lasted us for at least a solid two months — and for you mamas out there, you know that during those times you can end up doing 10 diaper changes per day easily!  Fortunately our son was not sensitive to the various types of diapers we received, so we were able to use what all our friends gave us!

While we had our diaper raffle with friends and other loved ones, we asked our family/relatives if they could give Joshua a book so that he can have a collection of books from the very beginning.  We are so glad we did this because it turns out that Joshua LOVES it when we read to him!  I mean, yes he still sometimes tries to chew up the pages but he really pays attention when we’re reading to him ❤

For display, we hung up some of his ultrasound pictures on a chicken wire frame (similar) and I custom-made Psalm 139 on a 24″x36″ frame (you can definitely tell it was custom-made because of a typo =P.  Having it printed at Staples cost less than $10!  So the possibilities of what you can do are endless (and cheap!) – I’m definitely going to be redoing this specific project to see if I can make it look better =)

One of my most favorite DIY projects from our baby shower has got to be the jumbo alphabet blocks that my mom and aunt did!  This was how we revealed our baby’s name at our first baby shower — and it’s awesome because it was part of the photo booth backdrop we had, and I plan to display it in his room too! We also DIYed our photo booth props which were made from foam.

 As party favors for our guests, we continued with our old school vibe by using alphabet block boxes that we filled with candy/chocolate. (The sign is from armommy.com). Easy-peasy!

For his cake, I made a bunting topper to reflect what we felt while being at his baby showers – that Joshua, even before he was born, was already so very loved ❤

Looking back, my husband and I are grateful for the encourageent, support, and love that they showered not just on our baby but on both of us – then and even now!  It seems so surreal to think that in less than a couple of months, we’ll have a one-year-old son!  Now we’re already in the process of planning his first birthday party and I’ll definitely be sharing the details about those too in a future post!

What detail(s) about our shower did you find most interesting?  Are there any special activities/features that you’ve seen/done yourself?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!