I do things last-minute. And do my best work in the middle of the night when all the people I could be chatting with are sleeping. That being said, if you’re attending an event I’m hosting, it’s safe to assume that I have hardly slept in the 24 hours prior. It’s who I am.
So, today I’m sharing how I threw together all the decorations for a baby shower in 24 hours.
I didn’t choose the theme of the shower, Ahoy! It’s a Boy, but I do think it was an adorable choice. My co-hostesses/besties picked the theme, invites, and menu, then trusted I’d pull together all of the pretties in my own time. (God bless them for knowing me so well.)
I’m not anti-party stores in the slightest, but I really struggle with buying a bunch of pre-made decorations for parties. I don’t want pictures from events I host to look like everyone else’s. So, I stayed away from Pinterest and let my own brain get creative.
My mind pushed me toward a fully traditional nautical vibe with lots of red, navy, yellow, and white. I bought lots of craft paper from Hobby Lobby in those colors and started visualizing how to use the space during the party. We hosted at a friend’s townhome with lots of natural light, a great elevated deck, and a massive, lengthy island that takes up the bulk of the indoor space. I knew my challenge would be extending the theme throughout the long space and somehow up to the deck.
Banners and pennants seemed smart to put throughout and up on the deck, so I got started trying to recreate the alphabet in nautical flags (one for every letter!!) and binging “Schitt’s Creek” while I crafted. I love the way those turned out and I think they brought the theme to every space we used to host in. The pennants made it all feel cohesive, as did the custom banner I made with our Mama-To-Be’s last name on it.
As for activities, party guests were sorority sisters that knew each other well so formal games seemed unnecessary (plus, I don’t love them). Our expecting mama’s mother, step-mother, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law all were able to attend, too, which was really special for her.
ALL of us enjoyed using Sharpies to write late night messages on tiny diapers for the new parents to enjoy during middle-of-the-night changings. It’s so fun to come up with clever, punny notes to write with everyone and diapers are expensive for new parents! So making this is such a given for baby showers, in my opinion.
I also bought and borrowed nautical props for have a little photo booth available for guests. Those were a total hit after presents were opened and I loved seeing all the guests getting into it and posting their cute pictures on Instagram.
To bring the theme to the buffet table (the giant island), I pulled out little Mason jars I had, chopped up some floral foam to fit inside, and stuck skewers with DIY paper anchors, cute nautical sayings, and lifesavers on them into the jars. I wrapped the foam in yellow paper to hide its green color! The skewers doubled as photo props at the end of the party.
I’m currently obsessed with balloons as party décor. I really only love the gigantic circular ones, but balloons in general make it seem like the host/hostess went out of their way to prep for a party and are such a simple way to extend a party’s colors/theme throughout a space.
I started my sugar cookies way too late and was up until 3ish meticulously icing the little flotation device/lifesaver beauties. Say what you want about my lack of sleep (and planning), but themed sugar cookies elevate the theme of a party every time! And my aunt’s recipe is amazing. I then use an AllRecipes icing recipe that I adore. Themed candy was also fun to snack on and eventually bag up for guests for their treks home.
Lastly, including the mocktail (strawberry lemonade, sprite, chopped strawberries; you can also swap out everything strawberry for raspberry) we know our guest of honor loves was a fun way to incorporate a drink that was able to be enjoyed by everyone.
So, have you thrown a baby shower with this theme? If so, how did you decorate and extend the theme to the celebration space and festivities? Although I did it all in the 24 hours prior to the party, this was a fun one to dream up and execute for our sweet, beautiful Mama To Be.
