New website coupled with news of being pregnant turned out slightly detramental for the Note to Self blog, but I'm back up and at it, with fun news to share!
I entered my third trimester of pregnancy this week, expecting our first child, a baby girl named Hazel Alice Heany. My husband and I love that her initials will be HAH! So we celebrated miss Hazel's impending arrival with a nouveau baby shower - a co-ed BBQ baby bash - a first for many of the men there, but judging by the kicked keg of Troegs Sunshine Pilsner and late staying guests, we deemed it a success for both sexes.
The games were kept to a minimum. There was a baby picture name game where guests brought a copy of a baby photo and hung it from homemade "photo chandeliers" and then wrote their name on a slip of paper with a numbered sticker attached. The sticker was then attached to the back of the photo, and the name slip dropped in a box for creating the "master answer key" later once all guests had arrived. It was a great way for guests to get to know each other, and a cute decoration for the shower too!
The other two games were shower classics - guess the length of ribbon to fit around mom's (and dad's) waist. And baby gift bingo, always great to give folks something to do during gift opening. (Another great thing about the co-ed shower was having another set of hands to open gifts to expedite the long process!)
The menu:
- Barbequed pulled pork sliders
- Maple and brown sugar baked beans with apples
- Utz Gourmet Medley chips & fancy French onion dip
- Watermelon and feta salad with basil (that's it, sprinkle with olive oil, S&P)
- Also served: herbed lemonade with basil, dill & mint, a cheese platter, crudite, fruit salad, plus my Granny's deviled eggs and coleslaw
But the cake was what had everyone swooning! Jasmine Clouser of Couture Cakery in Camp Hill created the cutest cake for us, based on the decor theme of the shower, which stemmed from fabric bunting that I made to announce the baby's gender (and name) - and that photo was used for the invite to the shower. When guests arrived, they walked out into the backyard canopied with hundreds of the same fabric pennants! It was playful, yet sophistaicated. I just can't deal with all the "babyish" baby stuff. You'll have to ask the friends and family who spent countless hours making all the bunting in the "sweat shop" that was my craft room if it was all worth it!
My mom also got crafty and created paper pinwheels with the same fabric made into flower centers to echo the vintage button molds Jasmine used inside the pinwheels on the cake. Inside, raspberry buttercream added a touch of pink to the moist white cake. A sweet ending to the celebration for our soon-to-be-born baby girl! We're due Sept 12, so stay tuned for more details (like nesting and the nursery)!
