out and about with Allison: a baby shower (x 2)

From Allison:

Photos 1-5: a driveway supper / couple's baby shower

Photos 6-12: a tea baby shower

"I just celebrated a dear friend's pregnancy with two brilliant showers. The first: a driveway supper shower, complete with a night sky full of stars. It was a couple's shower for Courtney Rowson and her husband, Carter. The event was held at Amy Pastre's home, the momma-to-be's business partner at Sideshow Press. The soiree was thrown by Sandy Lang (a writer) and her beau, as well as Amy and her husband. They threw a magnificently relaxed dinner shower to honor the expecting parents. A long table was set up in Amy's driveway with a simple tablecloth, potted plants, and a few oil lamps. We started the evening off with a pomegranate soda cocktail, spicy-sweet pretzels and almonds, and sliced pears and cheese with honey. For supper we feasted on roast pork loin with pancetta and sage, sweet corn, an arugula and endive salad with roasted brussel sprouts, and a white-bean and tomato salad. Yum! For dessert Amy and Sandy made a delicious banana cake with rum banana sauce and ice cream. There was also plenty of wine. Everything was served family style. Placecards were made from from birch bark...so simple, classic and casual. I cannot take credit for these magnificent photos, however. Sandy's fiancé (and co-host), Peter Frank Edwards, captured them. The evening was perfect- and the perfect way to celebrate the growing family tree of our friends Courtney and Carter!

The second party, a Tea shower, was given by a few of Courtney's girlfriends at my friend, Boo's, lovely home. The invitation was absolutely adorable...a tea bag attached to a custom Sideshow letterpress creation. Genius! The shower was complete with assorted tea sandwiches (smoked salmon and caper, herbed goat cheese, and cucumber and mint), fresh figs with honey, blue cheese and walnuts, and mini cupcakes. Instead of hot tea, Boo created a refreshing iced herbal tea made with Earl Grey. And of course Rosso Bianco champagne, Courtney's favorite (it was her third trimester)! I couldn't resist taking a picture of my gift, wrapped in Snow & Graham paper. Instead of watching the mom-to-be unwrap all of the gifts (which can take hours), all of the guests picked a gift and unwrapped them at the same time. Then we went around the room and showed Courtney her baby's new clothes and toys. Much more fun for everyone!

Both parties were lovely. As I walked away from each engagement, I realized how important friends are in my life. I have such an amazing vantage point of getting to see all of my friends' children grow up--I'm feeling very blessed and lucky, indeed. There will be so many more fun parties in the years to come!

Until next time...party on!"

Thank you, Allison! I adore all of these great ideas, thanks for sharing. -Sara

gen says...(a modern baby shower)

From Gen:

"I hosted a little baby shower for my dear friend Tarah last week. Tarah is about to have her second child- and she wants to keep the baby's gender a good ole' fashion surprise! So, without any dictated theme, I looked for inspiration that would pull my 'modern baby' shower concept together. I fell in love with one of Sara's invites- the dot stripe invitation had the simplicity, playfulness and upbeat color palette I was looking for. It also coordinated with some great make-up bags (I already had) that I wanted to give as party favors, so it felt meant to be.

Once the concept was determined, the rest seemed to fall into place...I just played off of the color palette of the invite and the idea of mixing assorted dots, stripes, and a few other favorite patterns to bring the party to life.

Of course not all things are planned...and in my last minute, day of the party rush, I decided to add a 'Hello' yellow bird card to the mix as a way of adding a little sweetness to the concept. Of course this unexpected addition, I think, is what pulls it all together, and gave a 'voice' to the party.

The food, I kept very simple and light, since I knew we would to save room for sweets! I made a lovely Canadian-Bacon Strata that was easy to prepare the night before. I paired it with a delicious spinach and lemon salad.

We finished the brunch with a little sugar...of course cupcakes, assorted donuts, and a sweet little mini cake topped with a candle and placed on my favorite green pedestal- which played perfectly off the dot theme! And yes, I couldn't resist matching the beverage choices to my color palette- I just adore the packaging of this Genesis beer.

It was a very sweet afternoon of relaxing with wonderful women...and a perfect way to celebrate such an amazing mom and friend!"

Thanks for sharing another wonderful occasion with us, Gen!

shower perfect! (a baby shower for twins)

I'm in love with every single detail of this absolutely perfect shower. I plan on copying each idea in some way in the future! The flags in the rice krispies? Love it. The onesie cookie favors with personalized packaging? Can't get enough of it. The color palette? So sophisticated, yet baby appropriate.

You will not be surprised to know that the hosts are two very talented ladies- one, an art director and stylist for J. Crew, and the other a food stylist for Martha Stewart. I hope you are as inspired by this lovely shower as I am!

A description: 

"The shower was held at Elizabeth in the Nolita area of NYC. They have an amazing back garden with a retractable roof that was so perfect for our springtime luncheon. The food is great there, too! We made a "Double Trouble" garland out of mixed printed fabrics and had cute "Twice as Nice" napkins made. We put together a tonal-colored sweets table with french macaroons, homemade onesie cookies, M&M's, sour peaches, orange tic-tacs and a cake from Billy's Bakery (my fave in NYC). Ashley baked and iced the adorable onesie cookies and we packaged them in celo bags with "We heart Courtney" tags with our mixed prints coming through the hearts (look familiar?). We had two fabric-covered boxes...one said, "Name the babies!" and the other said, "Wishes for the Baby Mama!"...with notecards and pens for the guests' messages. We color copied our printed fabrics (from the garland) onto paper and used them for our toothpick flags that went into the rice crispy treats. We enlarged baby pictures of the expecting Mom and Dad and scattered them throughout the tables. We decorated our vases with our mixed printed fabrics and ribbon."

I would imagine that momma-to-be felt showered with love. Thank you for sharing, guys! This is one of my all-time favorites.

baby book shower

This my be my favorite baby shower ever! The House that Lars Built never disappoints with her bold, bright creations. For more of this balloons and books baby shower go her to website (here).

reader question of the week

reader question of the week:

"My best friend moved to the other side of the country about 6 months ago, and we're having babies a week apart from one another. I would have thrown her a baby shower if she still lived here, and I've heard of mail/long distance baby showers but wouldn't really know how to put one together. Thanks for any thoughts and help! -Jen in Utah"

Jen- your question reminded me of two things you should look at: 1) We did a story at the Kids magazine about a baby shower by mail- it's on the Martha Stewart website here.  2) Brooke at Inchmark recently did a post about 'sunshine in a box' to some Northern friends here. In a bit of irony- that is Brooke in the bottom picture from the MS story!

To submit your query for question of the week, email me at hickspapergoods(at)yahoo(dot)com

bird-themed baby shower

I'm loving this adorable bird-themed baby shower! Check out those coconut nest cupcakes and centerpieces. Not to miss is the weird, slightly disturbing, possibly funny but definitely intriguing 'birth the baby' ice cube game. Would definitely be a conversation starter, and most likely get people laughing, if nothing else! 

super cool baby shower

Remember that awesome Star Wars party? The same mom is preggo again, and it looks like she has cool friends, too- who threw her a rockin' baby shower. Check out all the details right here. I'm especially fond of the quiz (top photo).

rustic baby shower

I'm totally smitten with this 'rustic baby shower' from imprintables. It had me at the burlap tablecloths. Combined with the 'shinier' elements like glittered silver letters and coral-colored drinks, I find the whole set-up simply divine! More here.

baby shower with color scheme du jour

Another pretty aqua and red baby shower right here!