I’m going to be an aunt! After three years of being the only one in the family with kids, my girls are going to have a cousin! One of my sisters {G} is expecting her first little boy this October. I can’t wait to meet him next spring when we next travel to Florida! Even though I hadn’t been home from the hospital a week when she announced she was expecting, I offered to plan her baby shower. Every new mama deserves to be spoiled! I think her star themed boy baby shower turned out super cute, and so I’m sharing the party, and my planning tips with you in today’s post.
We set the date for July, and I got to work. When they found out the baby’s gender (a boy!!!), she looked at themes for the nursery, and then I had free reign from there. G picked stars, which made me smile because that’s what the Godfather and I chose for Princess H since we weren’t finding out gender in advance. Stars are so perfect for a boy or girl!
Location and Menu
Since we were going to have somewhere between 25-30 guests, and I was planning long-distance, we decided to host the event at a restaurant. A friend of G’s recommended we check out a restaurant by Fort Lauderdale Beach. It turns out the restaurant she recommended is part of a group of restaurants, with so many options for spaces. The event planner suggested this lovely outside patio at one of their restaurants, and it was perfect! I was very happy with S3 as a location, the food and staff were wonderful, and would totally use them again for future events.
This cauliflower was a favorite!
With a beautiful location booked, it was time to focus on decorations, and dessert! The savory part of the meal was easy to select since we just used the restaurant menus.
Decorations
Since the location was already naturally beautiful, I decided to focus on a few statements for decorating. This is a great way to decorate for a shower on a budget, or when planning someplace like a home or restaurant that already has existing decor. Choose decor that catches your eye, and then place it in strategic points around the location to make it look fully decorated.
I opted to skip centerpieces since we were serving dishes family style, and instead placed star print and navy balloons near the dessert table and entrance. G requested large letter balloons that spelled “OH BOY”, and we placed those along a large blank wall towards the back of the space. I forgot to plan for the beautiful Florida sea breeze though, so the letters didn’t really stay in place often. Next time, I’d wrap the balloon strings around long thin dowels to keep them straight, or turn them into a banner.
Because the patio was set as a corridor, I used a large table along the back to set up the dessert table and provide a focal point for the decorations. A dessert table is a beautiful addition to any event because it doubles as decoration and dessert or favors! Since I had a long table to fill, part of the table was for desserts and the other part was a candy bar and DIY baby shower favor station. In terms of decoration, the table was an immediate focal point, and along with the balloons, made the space look naturally decorated.
The Dessert Table and Favors
My original plan was to order some desserts and bake the rest, but you know me and desserts. I ended up baking everything myself! Here’s the menu:
- Blue funfetti cake made with my popular white cake from scratch recipe
- Cupcakes in blue funfetti and chocolate salted caramel (chocolate cupcake recipe here, chocolate frosting recipe here, caramel sauce here)
- Tahini chocolate chip cookies from David Lebovitz
- Walnut brownies (adapted from here)
- Rice cereal treats (basic recipe here) with Celebration by Frey pearls (from their new all-natural colors line!) mixed in
I used Celebration by Frey Sixlets and candy stars to complete the cake decoration, and tie in the desserts with the candy bar. As if I planned this. 😉
The candy bar was the easiest part of the DIY portion of the baby shower because I used the right candy. Celebration by Frey makes an amazing line of chocolates, candies, and gumballs in all sorts of colors. They even have a line called “MixLicious” designed especially for busy party planners! Basically, they pre-mixed some of their more popular candies in assorted themes so you just open, pour, and you’re done. It just happens one of their themes has stars and is blue. I just opened the bottle, poured it into my glass apothecary jar, and I was done! So easy. Since we had limited time to set up at the venue, I was grateful for shortcuts like this. You can find Celebration by Frey products in craft stores, grocery stores, and online through retailers like Oriental Trading.
I placed mini scoops next to the jars and set out favor boxes. Everyone had so much fun creating their own custom mix to take home. Personally, I don’t care for favors that people may or may not use later, so edible is always the way to go in my opinion. Isn’t this candy bar just gorgeous?
Other Details
The cake topper was custom designed by my friend Melissa to match the invitations I purchased from Shutterfly. We played 3 games, 2 from store bought kits, and the other using the mardi gras necklaces you may have noticed in some pictures.
That game is called “Don’t Say Baby”. Each guest gets a necklace when they arrive, and for a certain amount of time in the shower, guests are not allowed to use the word “baby”. If someone says “baby”, the first person to notice claims their necklace. The person with the most necklaces wins. This was a new game to me, but it was so much fun! Even though the group was a mix of people with and without children, everyone got into this game. In fact, a few people specifically started baby-related conversations just to try and make others slip up! This is a great “first game” because it gets people talking.
If you’re here because you’re planning a star themed baby shower, I hope this post gave you some great ideas. <3
I can’t wait to welcome the newest addition to our extended family in October, and I’m so blessed to have been able to celebrate the parents-to-be by planning their shower.
I want to help you plan your own little soiree with the help of Celebrations by Frey! Enter below to win $50 worth of Celebrations by Frey products to help you make your next event legen-wait for it-dary. 😉
