The Last Inning Baseball Baby Shower

My friend Danielle is one of the sweetest people I know. I just love her! Anyway, she's having a little boy next month (and totally teasing me by not telling anyone what his name will be). This past Saturday was her shower that another friend, Liz, and I threw. It was really fun! I didn't get many pictures as I was taking care of shower stuff during the shower and the ones I got aren't great, by any stretch of the imagination. But, here's some of the details. We ended up getting glass beer steins (at the Dollar Store) and silly straws as favors and they doubled as the container for the root beer floats. We tied ribbons on the handles. If I had more time, I would've made a cute thank you tag and added cotton candy (that I bought and forgot in the cabinet) in a bag inside.

For decorations, we made toppers for the cupcake using the Stampin Up scallop punch, the 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches with different colored papers and labels printed with the Danielle's Last Inning logo a friend made for me. I used the left over paper from cutting out the banner. I made a diaper cake for the centerpiece of the gift table. It turned out really good but I didn't get any pictures of it - sorry! I used the same fabrics I used for Danielle's flower baseball corsage and wrapped it in red tulle. The bow at the top had a covered button with the baseball centered in the middle. Here are the baseball fabrics I used.  (I used a navy/orange/teal stripe, a navy solid and an orange mottled solid.)

For food, we made a nacho bar with different nacho toppings and different cheeses. We also had fruit kabobs and popcorn in fun popcorn boxes. I was planning to make corn dogs, but it was so hot I really didn't want to turn on the oven! If I'd had more time, I would've made a few more food options like potato salad, etc. But, the food went over really well and the fruit kabobs were a great looking way to add some interest to the food table, as well as separate out foods that people might not like. For example, Danielle doesn't like strawberries (a texture thing) so I made sure to make kabobs without strawberries. I don't like pineapple so I made some without pineapple, etc. I stuck the kabobs into flower forms at the bottom of this footed dish and put limes around the edge of the floral foam. It looked really good! Everyone loved them :)

We played two games: the purse scavenger hunt and the right-left game. Both were a bit different than what we were used to and it was a fun time. It was especially funny to see that some people carry around 5-7 chapsticks/lip gloss! No wonder we women have back problems and headaches so often ;)


My mind is always going a mile a minute when it comes to planning parties, so I don't think I'll ever throw one where I won't be thinking of doing something different (or in addition to) the next time. But, I really enjoy planning them, especially for good friends. It's always fun to me to find ideas and put them together into your own signature event.



Anyway, I had a good time planning and a good time at the shower and I think Danielle did too. To me, those are the most important parts of a successful event.

PS-Danielle's husband Craig e-mailed me after the event thanking me for throwing the shower and saying that Danielle came home with a smile on her face. What a sweetie! I can't wait to see both of them as parents. That little boy (whatever his name is) will be very loved ;)

Readers Weigh In: Baby Shower Favors

I need your opinion again ladies!  I'm getting down to the wire and the baby shower is next Saturday.  I've got most of the details ironed out (or at least written down), but I'm stuck on the favors.  Here's a few of my ideas:

Personal Apple Pies - I found these William's Sonomoa Pie Molds via a Google Image search that found the image on the new-to-me blog Darlin' I.  This blog looks so fun!  I can't wait to poke around her archives a bit :)  I like the above pies, but I also thought about making round pies to look like baseballs, or pies in jars.

Peanuts - Something like the above, but homemade packaging and using the colors I've used for everything else for this shower.

Cracker Jack - I haven't seen Cracker Jack around lately, but I'm sure I could find it somewhere.  I'd probably throw a cute band of colored paper around the center with some ribbon and a cute label of some kind.  They're not telling anyone the baby's name.  Wouldn't it be funny if they named him Jack? ;)

Baseball Cookies - I'm not sure I could make these look very good myself, but I did consider buying something like this.  You can find these here.

Big League Chew - I was thinking of getting a pouch of this for each guest and adding a tag that said "Thank you for attending to Welcome Danielle to the Big Leagues!"  Too cheesey?

I think those are my best ideas.  I'd love it if you weighed in and let me know which idea, combination or variation of ideas you like the best.  I'd even love to hear from you if you have a better idea...Thanks Ladies!!

A Girly Diaper Cake and a Baseball Banner for a Baby Shower

I had a baby shower for my cousin Lindsay this past Saturday.  Through a series of unfortunate events, I missed the shower.  But, here's the diaper cake I made as a gift.  I don't think Lindsay reads my blog, so I doubt she'll see this.  If she does, I hope this makes her a bit more excited about diapers ;)  (If you're Danielle, don't read any further!)

In other baby shower news, the he baseball baby shower is in less than 2 weeks, so that's about the only thing I can focus on now.  The invitations are out and the RSVP's are coming in.  I'm tweaking all of my printables for different things and finalizing centerpiece ideas and gift ideas.  My friend Brigett cut out a bunch of shapes and letters for me with her Cricut and I made this banner.

I really like how it turned out!  I might end up making another banner for the kitchen island that says "Concessions!"  Anyway, so far we're going to have a nacho bar, hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, lemonade, iced tea, root beer floats, and cupcakes.  Anything that's totally baseball that I'm forgetting?  I think I'm going to make personal apple pies for the favors...I mean, what's more American than baseball and apple pie, right? ;)

PS-So far the baseball ticket invitations have been a hit!

A Baseball Baby Shower Invitation (Ticket)

It's difficult to post about the baseball themed shower I'm planning because my friend Danielle (the mom-to-be) also reads our blog (Thank you Danielle! I'm so thankful for supportive friends!).  However, I figured since she would see the invitations anyway, it was totally okay to post them. 

I blacked out the more sensitive information, but you get the idea.  I used a real Detroit Tigers ticket image I found online for inspiration and then tweaked it to my own information and graphics.  The funny thing (and you computer graphics people will likely be HORRIFIED) is that I did most of this with Microsoft Paint.  (My geeky husband is likely gagging right now!)  If I were to do it again (which I think I will) I would use GIMP.  I love GIMP because it's free and it's like a very light version of Photoshop.  Plus, it works with Linux/Xubuntu, which is what I run on my netbook. 

Anyway, what do you think?  I think I'll mount them on some light teal paper with some navy accents, but I like how they turned out.  I have SO many ideas for this baseball themed shower.  I love baby boys, baseball and my friend Danielle, so this should turn out really fun!

Have you planned a baseball baby shower?  Got any tips for me?

Update: I've linked to the following linky parties...go check them out!