Even though Carolyn is one of my best friends, we know each other because our husbands have been friends since middle school. So when I was starting to think of ideas for Carolyn's shower and also think about who would be on the guest list, I thought it would be perfect if Jason and I hosted a couples shower for Carolyn and Jake that included the boys' friends and their wives.
I wanted this shower to really reflect both Jake & Carolyn and when I saw this on Pinterest...
...I knew a Baby Barbecue Party was just the theme!
I started with
the stationery
since it is after all my line of work, and everything evolved from there.
the stationery
since it is after all my line of work, and everything evolved from there.
When doing the decor I knew I wanted to stick with the chalkboard and baby blue for the colors, use the gingham pattern and the footprints throughout and incorporate some of Jake & Carolyn's favorite things like Burgers, Whiskey, Cupcakes and the Letter 'R'.
Here's how it all came together:
the DECOR.
The decor was a lot of DIY and a few a store bought items, like the adorable balloons from The Corner Balloon Shoppe. Instead of going through everything, I'll just let the pictures do the talking.
I also made a slideshow of Carolyn's bump pictures and other cute photos from throughout her pregnancy and had it playing on the TV.
the FOOD.
Carolyn loves burgers, like really loves them! So I didn't even have to give a burger bar a second thought. We had burgers, buns, toppings, potato salad, pasta salad, chips, deviled eggs, and a baby bassinet fruit basket handmade by yours truly.
the DRINKS.
For beverages we served bottled water, beer, wine and two different punches - one safe for preggos and one NOT safe for preggos {which included some Barcardi Wolfberry}.
the Cupcakes.
Out of everything I did for the shower I was absolutely the most proud of the cupcakes that I baked and decorated myself! I even made the frosting from scratch (thanks for the recipe and tips Kelly!) What you need to understand is that Carolyn LOVES cupcakes, so they were a neccessity and also that I don't bake. I don't bake at all. I'm so bad at it. When I do bake I am either with Carolyn or she is on speed dial to help me through it. Needless to say, it was a pretty big frickin' deal that I made these on my own AND THEY TURNED OUT!
the GAMES.
PRICE IS RIGHT: Jason gave me the go ahead for ONE shower game and it had to be something that the boys could get in to. The Price is Right is my absolute favorite shower game and I thought it would be perfect! I bought some must have essential items for new moms, new dads and new babies. Then I listed all the items on a super cute game card and each guest had to guess the price of each of the items. Whoever's total came closest to the actual total won and Jake and Carolyn got to bring home all of the stuff.
DIAPER RAFFLE: On the invitations I included a cute little poem asking each of the guests to bring a pack of diapers and then everyone who brought diapers got to enter their name in the raffle and before we opened gifts we announced a winner!
the PRIZES.
Sticking with the BBQ theme, we gave away some fun BBQ accessories in a super cute lantern.
Inside the lantern was: Barbecue Sauce, Liquid Smoke, BBQ Spice Rub, a Can Koozie and Corn-on-the-Cobb Holders.
the FAVORS.
For the favors I really wanted to do a Jake favor and a Carolyn favor...which turned out to be simple! Whiskey for Jake and chocolate for Carolyn! J Thanks to our amazing designer at work I was able to have her create custom labels for the Jack Daniels bottles and "R" labels for the baby food jars. I really love how these turned out and they seemed to be a hit!
the GUESTS.
the DECOR.
The decor was a lot of DIY and a few a store bought items, like the adorable balloons from The Corner Balloon Shoppe. Instead of going through everything, I'll just let the pictures do the talking.
I also made a slideshow of Carolyn's bump pictures and other cute photos from throughout her pregnancy and had it playing on the TV.
Carolyn loves burgers, like really loves them! So I didn't even have to give a burger bar a second thought. We had burgers, buns, toppings, potato salad, pasta salad, chips, deviled eggs, and a baby bassinet fruit basket handmade by yours truly.
For beverages we served bottled water, beer, wine and two different punches - one safe for preggos and one NOT safe for preggos {which included some Barcardi Wolfberry}.
the Cupcakes.
Out of everything I did for the shower I was absolutely the most proud of the cupcakes that I baked and decorated myself! I even made the frosting from scratch (thanks for the recipe and tips Kelly!) What you need to understand is that Carolyn LOVES cupcakes, so they were a neccessity and also that I don't bake. I don't bake at all. I'm so bad at it. When I do bake I am either with Carolyn or she is on speed dial to help me through it. Needless to say, it was a pretty big frickin' deal that I made these on my own AND THEY TURNED OUT!
PRICE IS RIGHT: Jason gave me the go ahead for ONE shower game and it had to be something that the boys could get in to. The Price is Right is my absolute favorite shower game and I thought it would be perfect! I bought some must have essential items for new moms, new dads and new babies. Then I listed all the items on a super cute game card and each guest had to guess the price of each of the items. Whoever's total came closest to the actual total won and Jake and Carolyn got to bring home all of the stuff.
DIAPER RAFFLE: On the invitations I included a cute little poem asking each of the guests to bring a pack of diapers and then everyone who brought diapers got to enter their name in the raffle and before we opened gifts we announced a winner!
the PRIZES.
Sticking with the BBQ theme, we gave away some fun BBQ accessories in a super cute lantern.
the FAVORS.
For the favors I really wanted to do a Jake favor and a Carolyn favor...which turned out to be simple! Whiskey for Jake and chocolate for Carolyn! J Thanks to our amazing designer at work I was able to have her create custom labels for the Jack Daniels bottles and "R" labels for the baby food jars. I really love how these turned out and they seemed to be a hit!
No matter how cute the shower, it's not complete without guests. Jake and Carolyn have some amazing friends a great family and I'm so happy that so many of them were able to join us and celebrate Baby Boy Roe!
It was such a fun day celebrating Jake, Carolyn and Baby Roe. It was so special to put together this shower for them and I really hope they loved it.
