The original food plan wasn't working out so I had to come up with something last minute (read Friday night when the shower was Saturday.) I opted for something easy but also tasty and went with a Mexican theme. I stayed up way too late on Friday evening working on everything but I was so pleased with the way it turned out. It was so much fun showering one of my favorite Alaskan friends.
The invite:
I designed the invites in Illustrator and had them printed locally. The most time consuming part was cutting out the elephants I inserted with additional details. I've removed some of the details like names and addresses, which is why the alignment looks so odd.
The food:
Since the food plan had to come together quickly, I utilized some pre-made items that I would normally make myself, namely guacamole & salsa from Costco. I cooked up some hamburger meat and diced up chicken Nathanial grilled for me. The mom-to-be specially requested my Crunchy Asian Salad so we had that too. I set up a taco salad/ nacho station and and quesadilla station. My mom bought me a quesadilla maker when I was in college and it is used often!
My favorite food item was probably the fruit skewers I put together. I used an elephant cookie cutter for the watermelon.
I also made some jungle themed pretzel treats.
And finally got to use the beverage dispenser I got as a wedding gift.
Sarah, my sister-in-law, sent me the best punch recipe!
The games:
After eating, it was time for games. The biggest project from a time perspective Friday night was putting together an elephant match game. I traced and cut out elephants on sheets of scrapbook paper and wrote phrases associated with babies on the back. When a match was picked, the winner got a corresponding candy prize (i.e. hospital bill was 100 grand.) Except once I cut out the elephants, I realized they didn't look much like elephants. I knew I needed to draw at least an ear on each one, but the paper was too thick to be able to see my pattern. My brilliant husband engineered me a solution!
Using my phone's flashlight inside a Pyrex dish, I was able to illuminate my pattern and draw the elephant's ear in a consistent spot on each one.
I wasn't sure how to adhere the elephants to the poster board so he came up with something for that too. Double sided tape & the sticky part of a Post It.
That man is the peanut butter to my jelly. The ying to my yang. The solution to my crafting?
I forgot to take a picture of the completed game so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was cute & well received.
After the matching game, we played a pass the prize game. I found a cute poem on Pinterest with lines like:
"We are getting tricky now - here's a real humdinger. Pass it to the one with the most rings on her finger."
Prizes were also awarded while presents were opened (9th present for the mom-to-be's birthday, 8 minutes in for the parent's anniversary.)
After gifts, another hostess led a baby food game where the guests had to guess what kind of baby food they were eating.
I understand now why people choose to make their own food.
This was my favorite set of guesses.
Other:
I wanted the mom-to-be to have something special to remember the shower by so I bought Horton Hears a Who for all the guests to write a message in. I made a sign using the same graphics I used on the invite and provided some colorful sharpies.
I also used the invite graphics to make food labels since I always like people to know what they are eating.
I wanted to send each guest home with something too. I found cute treat boxes and filled them with animal crackers along with a note.
I made a colorful wreath for the door out of deco mesh but also forgot to take a picture of it. It was such a fun afternoon celebrating a sweet friend and her baby!
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