Baby It's Cold Outside

This past weekend I had the honor of hosting a baby shower for my brother and soon to be sister in law. It was held at the beautiful Ellis House and Equestrian Center in Minooka, Illinois.

With it being the end of January, an impending possible blizzard the night before the shower seemed appropriate, but we lucked out and only had light snow showers and hardly any accumulation. So with that the party was a go (and people might actually show up)!

The invitations were from Zazzle. They have such a wide variety of options and add ons it was hard to settle on one design, but with the time of year and the weather, this one felt appropriate for the occasion. I added two cards, a diaper raffle and bring a book. As a former teacher and current nanny, the importance of books and reading to our little ones is so important to me. I thought this was a great way to start baby Adalynn's little library and she'll also have some keepsakes down the road.

Ellis House is set way out in the open fields of Minooka with nothing but farms and open roads. It was absolutely beautiful driving up the long winding drive to the house turned event center. Now, this picture obviously isn't from the winter but it gives you and idea of the setting, and you can use your imagination to picture it all covered in snow.

As you walked in, guests were greeted with a hand lettered Welcome sign as well as an agenda for the days activities. I will be making a blog post about that DIY project in a few days, so check back here if you're interested!

As you continued through the long hallway the Welcome table was set up to drop your diapers, enter the raffle, learn about the pacifier hunt, and see what the hashtag for the shower was.

The beautiful hydrangeas were from an online florist The Dollar Hydrangea. If you ever need A LOT of flowers I highly recommend them. They come delivered to your door, they last a long time, AND you get 50 stems for around $60 (depending on the time of year). I'll put a link here for you get your own!

In the dining area each table was set with a crisp white table cloth, blush sequin table runner, gold charger and gold and white plates. The napkins were a dust rose velvet made into a bow with gold glitter washi tape as a napkin ring.

Everything is plastic, the chargers are from the dollar store and the plates and silverware are from Target.

As guest continued past the dining room they entered the back part of the house where the kitchen and activity area were. Here I had set up a sweets table, an appetizer table, headband station, Night time diaper station, and a photo booth area.

These beautiful cookies were made by a dear friend of mine who is a teacher AND a mom! I don't know how she does it, but these cookies taste just as good as they look! You can find her on Facebook at Sweets by Scahill.

Can you believe this is a Costco cake??? I'll be sharing this DIY Costco cake hack next so stay tuned!

Across from all the activities you will find a beautiful stone fireplace. The staff at Ellis House keeps the fire going during your function so you don't have to worry about it. Being that it was cold and snowy I thought this was a wonderful addition to the shower.

And these two chairs I refurbished, I thought, would be great for our He Said/She Said game and also opening gifts. (Do I here potential blog post?? FYI the fabric is painted with chalk paint... I know right!)

Above the fireplace was a piece I made for the baby's nursery. I custom ordered her name in wood from Etsy. The flowers and the hoop were from Michaels. I'll link the Etsy shop here.

I was hoping to have a fun and relaxing baby shower for Nicole with out all the games. She is not a fan of being the center of attention. I also wanted a little interactive game with the parents to be, So the He Said/ She Said was perfect.

A few other parts of the shower were of course the gifts and cards, but I also included a coffee and hot chocolate table set with tea cups and saucers for anyone that needed a warm drink. I had Olive Garden cater our lunch and we just had a simple raspberry punch for drinks.

The guests had fun at the photo booth station, taking pictures with a Polaroid camera and their phones of course. I on the other hand did not take a single photo the entire day! Thank goodness for my best friend Danka. She came to help me out and took pictures of everything! I couldn't have done it with out her. My aunt and uncle came early to help finish setting up. My uncle helped to prep and plate the appetizers and my aunt brought her highly requested and sought after brownies. Nicole's mom cut all of the games out and her family friend cut all the tags for the favors. It was a mad dash to get everything done in time, but we did it!

It was so much fun putting together this shower for Nicole and Tony. They are a blended family and once they bring this sweet little girl into the world they will have eight kiddos. He has three, she has four, and now they have one together. It's wonderful to see them so happy.

And as always any time I get to spend with my little brother is always a good time.

As guests were leaving the shower they made sure to take their party favors so they can celebrate with Nicole and Tony once baby Adalynn arrives sometime in early March.

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us! I can't wait to meet my new niece!