You Are My Sunshine Baby Shower (Gender Neutral)

My friend Stacey is pregnant with her first child and does not want to find out what the sex of the baby is ahead of time.  So when it came time to throw her baby shower, I wanted something gender neutral, but cute.  The "You Are My Sunshine" theme was inspired by the Hostess with the Mostess and was perfect because the main color for Stacey's nursery is gray.  I'm all about chevron prints right now, so they played a big part in the theme for the shower as well.

For decorations, I bought a five pack of white onesies and painted suns on them.  I couldn't find just the right sun stencil, so I ended up buying a circle stencil and then cutting out a rectangle in stencil paper to use as the rays.  I created the "My Only Sunshine" sign with a piece of particle board and letters from A.C. Moore.  I used the same gray and bright yellow for the sign and all of the frames. I bought the curved frames from A.C. Moore, as well, and painted them gray with a yellow chevron.  I found the stencil from Hobby Lobby.  I painted the chevron pattern the chalk boards and on the "Baby" sign, which were all from A.C. Moore (the Baby sign was a bright orange, so I had to sand it before painting it).

I created a chevron back drop with a piece of plywood, which I covered in fabric and used to hang the "You Are My Sunshine" Pennant Flag.  Finally on the food table, I hung a few yellow lanterns and some white tulle poms that I made and decorated with a couple of yellow vases filled with white mums.

For food, I served light appetizers, since the shower was in mid afternoon; Pesto Roasted Chicken and Mozzarella Finger Sandwiches, Pear and Gorgonzola Tartlets, Olive Spread with Pita Crackers, Sunshine Frosted Sugar Cookies and Salted Caramel Cupcakes.  The mom-to-be had been craving salted caramel, so I strayed from my usual butter cream frosting and went with a caramel frosting.  We served a non-alcohol sparking punch, wine and champagne For favors, we gave Red Velvet Cake Pops (mixed with cream cheese frosting and covered in milk chocolate) decorated with a Sunshine and Chevron ribbon.

For entertainment, we played the Celebrity Baby Name Game and Daddy Knows Best.  The prizes for the winners were Chalkboard Glass Containers filled with Caramel Popcorn.  We also participated in a Baby Pool, where everyone guessed the sex of the child, when he or she will be born, weight, height and provided name recommendations.
 

Gift Table; Chevron Print Fabric, Sunshine Onesies and "You Are My Sunshine" Prints in hand painted chevron frames

"You Are My Sunshine" Prints in hand painted chevron frames

Sunshine Onesies 

"You Are My Sunshine" Prints in hand painted chevron frames

Beverage Table; Chevron painted chalkboard

Mason Jars as Glasses, adorned in Chevron Print Ribbon and Striped Paper Straws

Chevron backdrop and "You Are My Sunshine" Pennant Flag

Food Table; Tulle Poms, Yellow Lanterns and delicious food

Salted Caramel Cupcakes with "You Are My Sunshine" Toppers

Food Station

Hand painted chevron "Baby" sign

Two simple yellow vases filled with mums were used on the food table

Sunshine Frosted Sugar Cookies

Game Prizes; Chalkboard Glass Canisters filled with Caramel Popcorn and decorated with Yellow Chevron Print Ribbon

Red Velvet Cake Pops

Sunshine Cake Pop

Curious George Birthday Party

For Grayson's 2nd birthday, we threw a small party for family and close friends.  But just because it was small, we still wanted to have fun with the decorations and food!  Grayson is enamored by Curious George, so we decided that he would be our theme for the party.  I found some really cute Curious George cakes on Pinterest and decided to go with a bright yellow cake with red and white polka dots and from there, the color palate was determined.  Grayson is allergic to chocolate, so we decided to go "all in" on the Curious George theme and make a Banana Cake (the recipe can be found here).  I used cream cheese frosting in between the four layers and then decorated with fondant, red and white striped straws, a "Grayson" banner and of course Curious George!  In addition to cake, we served "Man with the Yellow Hat" cake pops, banana smarties and Twizzlers.  Prior to the delicious desserts, we fed everyone Italian; baked spaghetti, turkey meatballs, mini pizzas, focaccia bread and Caesar salad.   

I bought three 4" x 6" unfinished frames ($2/ each) from A.C. Moore, painted them red and then used a stencil to paint yellow polka dots on the them.  I also bought an unfinished 8" x 10" frame and a "G" and painted them as well.  I bought a Curious George book and used some of the pictures in the book to go in the picture frames and for the bigger frame, I created my own version of the Hostess with the Mostess "Lets Go Bananas" sign.

Additional decorations included a hand made "Happy Birthday Grayson" Pennant Banner in red and yellows, Yellow Paper Lanterns, Red Plastic Swirls, Red and White Balloons, Mason Jars as glasses with red and yellow bow ties/ red and white striped straws and of course a Curious George stuffed animal and book.

The party was so much fun to plan and everyone enjoyed the food and decorations!    

Curious George Cake with Name Banner

"Man with the Yellow Hat" Cake Pops

The dessert table

Happy Birthday Pennant Banner

Curious George Dessert Table

Hand painted picture frame

Curious George Cake and other treats

Curious George "Let's Go Bananas" Sign and Bow tie Mason Jar Glasses

Curious George Birthday Party decorations

Curious George Birthday Party decorations

Princess Tea Party

Once again this year, my daughter wanted a "Princess" party for her birthday.  I didn't want to replicate the same party that we had last year, so I decided we would have a princess tea party this time.  We told all of the guests to wear their favorite princess dress or fanciest tea party outfit and hired a princess (from Fairy Tale Parties) to come to the party.  Princess Bluebell painted the girls' faces and then taught them how to do a special ballet dance.  She then gave each of the girls a tiara and home made fairy princess wand.

After all of the swirling, twirling and dancing, the girls were ready for some tea and snacks!  We served iced tea (in a tea pot) and also had pink lemonade on hand.  For snacks, we had ham and cheese finger sandwiches shaped like flowers, cranberry scones, whoopie pies, frosted sugar cookies shaped like tiaras and flowers and for the main attraction, a pink castle cake made by Fairy Tale Parties.

For party favors, we gave each guest a 3-dimensional chocolate tea cup and saucer (in addition to the wands and tiaras). The girls had a blast, so I'd say the princess tea party was a big hit!

This is the table where the girls sat to have their faces painted by the princess.  The wands, tiaras and favors were all set up here as well.

The castle cake made by Fairy Tale Parties

Each place setting consisted of a flower tea cup and saucer and home made cloth napkin

Tiara and Flower Frosted Sugar Cookies

Whoopie pies

Cranberry Scones to with the tea

And no tea party is complete without finger sandwiches.  These were ham and cheese shaped like flowers

Happy Birthday Pennant Banner made of cloth with felt letters

Flower tea pot to match the tea cups

Princess Carriage filled with hydrangeas for the Centerpiece

Hand made cloth napkins

Pretty Tulle Poms add a lot of character to the room.

Chocolate tea cups as party favors with thank you note shaped like a tea bag

Chocolate tea cups were put in white boxes and decorated with tissue paper flowers and princess ribbon