About two weeks ago, we had our baby shower celebration. It’s hard to put into words what a wonderful day it was for me. For a long, long time, I never thought Finn and I would have a baby shower of our own. I spent years attending showers for my friends and family members, always wondering if it would ever be our turn. And our time arrived! Here we are…almost 34 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby on the way. It’s an amazing feeling!

I showed some behind-the-scenes shots of the party on Instagram stories and was flooded with questions about the venue, food, games, etc. I figured I would put together a little baby shower recap to share all of the details.

Note: Talking about a party that happened such a short time ago feels pretty crazy considering how much has changed in the last two weeks. I’m grateful that the timing worked out for us and we were able to have a joyous occasion. I know other moms-to-be aren’t so lucky and had to cancel their celebrations. My heart goes out to those women. One day, when this is all behind us, we will appreciate get-togethers like this even more!

My Thoughts on Showers

Everyone is different, and for me, I wanted my baby shower to be a low-key and fun celebration. I didn’t want to play a ton of games; I didn’t want to open gifts in front of people; and I didn’t want my guests to be glued to a table the entire time. Instead, I wanted it to be a gathering where people could eat, mingle, and just have fun. I’m happy to say that’s exactly how it turned out. I know that’s not everyone’s style, but this felt right for us! We ended up serving brunch food and we had a full bar with a signature drink, the “Gin Finn”.  There was a lot of champagne flowing, and even though I couldn’t partake, I loved knowing that my guests were enjoying themselves! Plus, the bartender made me lots of virgin Gin Finns throughout the day!

The Invitation

I wanted the colors of our shower to coordinate with our future nursery. So we tried to stick with a sage and blush theme, throughout. I even found this dress to wear to the party that matched the colors perfectly!

Here’s the invitation we ended up creating for our baby shower. It turned out adorable and I saved a few extra for our baby book.

The Venue

When we lived in our condo, we got to know all of our neighbors really well. But we especially bonded with the couple who lived beneath us…Christina and Jonathan. They are amazing people with such big hearts and we have become close friends with them over the years. Back when we started trying to have a baby, Christina asked if she could throw me a baby shower when the time came. Of course, I said yes, not knowing that it would take three years to get to this day. When I told Christina about my pregnancy, she insisted that she still wanted to throw it for us. She worked with my mom to plan the entire day and they did a fantastic job!

Obviously, we’ve since moved from our condo and so have Jonathan and Christina. They moved into a stunning single-family home in Lincoln Park that really is the absolute perfect spot for parties.  It’s so bright, so big, and so incredibly gorgeous. I need to do a Reader OMG! home tour of the space this summer. You guys will love it!

The Decor

As soon as you walk in the door of their home, you’re greeted with a gorgeous hallway. We ended up propping up our large chicken wire frame (I got it at a flea market years ago and use it for our Christmas cards), on a console table and clipped baby pictures of me and Finn on there.

It was a cute and simple touch and I know our guests liked looking at all of the photos. It’s fun to see these and try to visualize what our baby girl will look like!

Scattered around the house, we placed pink and green flower arrangements (our shower colors). We used this florist and they turned out gorgeous. Plus, I then had fresh flowers in my home for the week after the party.

Baby Shower Activities

While I didn’t want to do any crazy baby shower games, I didn’t want our guests to be bored. So I had a few optional activities. First, we set up another chicken wire frame in the living room where guests could write wishes for the baby.

I found these cards on Etsy and had them printed at FedEx Office. We then left pens and clothespins for guests, so they could write their wishes for Baby Finn and then tack their card onto the chicken wire frame.

It was an easy activity that guests could do throughout the party whenever they had a few moments. And now we have the sweetest cards to keep in a special box in our nursery.

We also played ONE game that took less than 10 minutes. I’m not sure if this has a specific name, but we called it “the shoe game.” Essentially, Finn and I sat back to back and I had his shoe in one hand and mine in the other. Same for him. We had Christina read a bunch of questions and would raise a shoe for the parent we thought was most likely to go with that particular baby task. Here’s the list of questions we came up with if you want to use them for your baby shower!

• Who will change more diapers?
• Who will be the more patient parent?
• Who will be more nervous during labor and delivery?
• Who will take more photographs of the baby?
• Who will be quicker to call the pediatrician when the baby is sick?
• Who will be the strict parent?
• Who will be better at singing lullabies?
• Who will the baby look like?
• Who will pack the diaper bag better?
• Who will be faster at getting the baby into the car seat?
• Who will be first to want a date night without the baby?
• Who will function better with sleep deprivation?
• Who will get up with the baby more in the middle of the night?
• Who will work the most on potty training?
• Who will be more confused about how to assemble baby gear?
• Who will be the first to give her a nickname?
• Who will be the first to say a naughty word in front of the baby?
• Who will be more particular about the food she eats?
• Who will be better at dealing with toddler “meltdowns”?

It was a riot and I think it was entertaining for our guests. They got a little glimpse into what we’re thinking our personalities will be like as parents!

Our Succulent Station

I figured I had to have some sort of craft and DIY station since I’m the queen of DIY. It took me awhile to figure out what to do. The last thing I wanted was to have a craft where people didn’t really want to take their creation home.

Eventually, I came up with the idea to plant succulents and decorate the pots. Everyone likes a low-maintenance plant and guests could take their planter home as a party favor.

We bought these pots off of Amazon and my mom’s friend (who works in the floral industry) was able to get us the most gorgeous fresh succulents. We just put some moistened moss in the container and plopped the succulent on top.

I then picked up paint markers and washi tape at the craft store so guests could decorate their pots.

Guests had fun crafting away (hey, Kim!) and I loved that we could have a little DIY spirit at the party.

Party Favors

Besides the succulent, I also got little champagne bottles for guests to take home. You guys know champagne is my drink of choice, so I figured it was only fitting that guests bring home some champs!

I got these cute little tags that read “Pop It When She Pops: Have a Toast When Baby Finn Arrives” and we attached it with blush velvet ribbon. Always happy to share my love of champagne with others!

We lined them up at the front door, so guests could grab one when heading out the door.

Baby Shower Gifts

We were showered with so many lovely gifts for our baby girl. On the invitation, I asked guests to bring their gifts unwrapped and to bring a book instead of a card. We now have the best library for our daughter and each book has a special note from the gift giver. I can’t wait to rock her in the nursery and read all of these stories.

Lots of guests bought gifts off of our registry and had them shipped to our house ahead of time. This was pretty wonderful because baby stuff can be really big and we were worried about getting it all back to our house in our car. Then, some guests brought their gifts on the day of the shower. Overall, we were overwhelmed with the generosity of our friends and family.

Note: Since we had guests bring books in lieu of cards, it was hard to know who brought each gift! That was such an oversight. We should have had little stickers so guests could write their names and place them on their gift. I was able to figure out who brought us each gift, eventually, but it took a bit of investigative work on my part. Learn from my mistakes!

Baby Shower Fun

I know some dads-to-be don’t stay for the baby shower, but Finn really wanted to be there to celebrate our special day. I’m so happy he was there, even if he was one of only a few men. He had a blast!

There were a few times during the party where I got pretty emotional. Finn’s family flew in from Houston, my college friends drove in from St. Louis, and people took time out of their Saturday to be with us. Just looking around the room at all of the special women in our lives and knowing how supportive they’ve been during the hard times made me tear up. My daughter is one lucky girl to have such amazing female role models in her life. We are so blessed.

My mom and Christina did a fantastic job planning our baby shower and we are so incredibly grateful. A huge thanks to these ladies. It was a day we will never ever forget.

Now that our shower is behind us, it’s time to get all of these generous gifts organized in our baby girl’s nursery.

Casey