A little something for the mommy-to-be...

For those of us that are expecting, it's so much fun to get little gifts for the impending arrival. But it's also so fun to get a little treat for yourself, too! I recently did some stationery for my friend Courtney who is expecting her first child. The inspiration was her need for thank you notes for shower gifts, baby gifts, etc. We looked at a few options but ultimately she decided to go with the first one with the pram, seeing as she can use them after her little one is here, too. They are so fun I think I'm going to make some for myself to tide me over until I can use our little one's monogramed notecards (that are yet to be made) after she arrives safe and sound.

I think these would make a great shower gift or just a little "thinking of you" something for a pregnant friend or for yourself if you are expecting. And practical, too!

Baby on the brain...

For those of you who don't know me (or know our latest news), my husband and I are expecting our second child in June. And it's a girl! So I apologize for 2 baby shower posts in a row, but I guess I have baby on the brain these days. So— onto the post!

I was flipping through my Stationery Trends magazine last week and saw these adorable cupcake wrappers from Paper Orchid.

This reminded me a baby shower invitation I did a couple of years ago with my friend Totty from Boots & Totty. As you can tell by reading her blog, Totty is ridiculously creative, hip and has tons of cute, out-of-the-box ideas. She had seen a "modern nest" baby shower theme over at Hostess with the Mostess and passed the idea onto me to design the invitation. It's such a fun theme and definitely on the unexpected side for a baby shower, but anyone that has had a baby or is about to knows that nesting is all part of the process!

Here are some inspirational pictures to give you an idea of how great this party could look:

Check out the full post here, with all of the great details. And back to the cupcake wrapper, wouldn't it be the perfect nest for this adorable cupcake from Martha Stewart?

 

So tying this all together, here is the invitation we came up with along with the stickers to go in the books for the baby's library...

 And a few other birdie invites to look at, too...

 

And if you're not planning a baby shower anytime soon, I think the cupcakes and wrappers would be so cute for Easter, too!

March Madness

My friend Lindsay recently told me that her friend Kelly is pregnant with their 2nd girl and is due at the end of March. So to "man it up a bit" Kelly's husband put together a name-guessing March Madness bracket. They got a blank NCAA bracket and added a bunch of girls names to it (one of them is the name they've actually picked). All their friends put in 5 bucks, and each week the names will go head-to-head and whoever guesses the final name wins.

I think this is such a cute idea! That, coupled with the fact that my 2 year-old son refers to my pregnant belly as "Mommy's basketball" led me to thinking of ideas for a March Madness couples baby shower. As I was telling my husband about my ideas for the theme he wanted me to hold off on the post so we could actually host the party ourselves. Umm, hosting a party yourself in honor of your unborn baby girl? What would Emily Post say about that? I thought so, so I opted for the post.

If you are planning a Jack & Jill baby shower in March, I think this would be so cute. And of course you could have the games on in the background.

Here's what I'm thinking for the invite:

 

Of course you could do the baby name brackets. And if it's a "sex unknown" shower, even better, with boy names on one side, girl names on the other. You could either send these out with the invitations and have it lead up to announcing the winner at the shower, or if the couple is keeping the final name hush hush, have people fill them in when they arrive and the winner can be announced when the baby is born.

On to decorations. I love these colorful pennants from Martha Stewart.

I think they would be a great start in laying the groundwork for decorating a sports-themed party. I'm thinking to have them around the room in vases filled with colorful candies, sort or like this seen on Hostess with the Mostess. 

You can read her full post here. You could easily do this with a smaller bud vase though, so the pennants aren't swimming in the candy.

Speaking of candy, what's a sporting event without a concession stand? I love the thought of turning a candy buffet into a "concession stand buffet" with all sorts of colorful candy, candy bars, popcorn, pretzels, colorful soda bottles, and all of that would go great with hot dogs for dinner, right?

I found this pic on hubpages.com— How yummy does this look? I LOVE the colors, too.

I'm not really big on games at baby showers, but it is fun to have something to remember it by as the guest of honor. So why not have everyone autograph a basketball with a fun message for the parents to be? This pink ball would be perfect for a baby girl. And you could stick with the pink and orange color scheme!

 

If the concession buffet didn't cure your sweet tooth, how about a basketball cake? You can find the mold from Wilton here.

And before you send them on there way, how about a "Hope You Had a Ball" tag tied onto this yummy basketball cookie from our friends over at Icing on the Cookie?

Sounds to me like this shower would be a slam dunk! (Sorry, I couldn't resist...)