This was the shower I thought I was throwing back in May, when I was ambushed by my MOH and BMs, who threw me a surprise bridal shower. So needless to say, the next time BM Abriel was coming home, we decided this was our chance to get all the girls together again and finally throw her a baby shower.
This is pretty much the same group of girls who are in my wedding party, plus another friend of ours and a friend of Abriel's.
We have all basically been friends since high school, and therefore all of our moms are friends, too.
My mom and I started planning, and decided that the menu would carry a Georgia theme (since Abriel and her husband now live there). We executed a super-yummy menu that included pork tenderloin, sweet Vidalia onion dip, peach salsa, salad with pears and candied pecans, cornbread, and crab gazpacho. Dessert included peach trifle and turtle cheesecake, and to drink we served sweet tea and peach sangria. Unfortunately, it seems that no one got pictures of the awesome spread, which is really sad, because it came together really well.
Everyone gathered at my mom's house and ate and drank and socialized, until finally we decided to rally the troops and play some games. I had put together two different "quizzes" for the guests to fill out. One was celebrity baby names, where I listed the baby names and the guests had to come up with the famous parent(s). This was a pretty successful game, and lots of fun to laugh at the weird names that some celebrities have come up with (Apple? Bronx Mowgli?). The second game was a baby animal game - I put a list of babies and a list of animals, and the guests had to match them. This one was kind of hard and people struggled a bit (like, did you know that a baby eel is called an elver?). But I think everyone enjoyed them and - what the heck - it's always good to learn something new, right?
After the games were done and the prizes were handed out, Abriel opened gifts. On the evite, I had reminded guests that she would be flying back to Atlanta, and asked people to bring small gifts or photos of bigger gifts. For the most part, people obliged, and I think she had a manageable amount of stuff to get back on the plane. They got some great gifts. I mean, how cute is this?
Born in 2010! The two little ones are our friend/BM Tina's little girls.
For the favors, I made Mason Jar Cupcakes - red velvet with cream cheese icing, and french vanilla with peach icing. I found the idea here and thought it was perfect. Dessert doesn't get much more Southern than red velvet cake, and they loooove their mason jars down there! I used box cake mix and a tub (or several) of Betty Crocker cream cheese icing. I made the peach icing from scratch with a recipe I found here (just the icing, not the cupcakes), but I substituted peach baby food for the fresh peach that I would've had to mash, puree, and beat to crap. Peach baby food just seemed easier, and in the end, I'm really glad I went that route. This was time-consuming and a bit complicated (it took me 4 evenings after work), but totally worth it. They were delicious. Again, it seems that no one got a photo of them, but trust me - they were adorable and really yummy. We displayed them on an antique high chair that my parents have, and encouraged each guest to take one on their way out.
All in all, a great day, and a nice break from the wedding planning. Especially since now that we're at the 3-month mark and our weekends are so full, I'm starting to feel like we're getting to crunch time. We need to schedule our final meetings with our vendors, and given all the other stuff we have going on this summer, plus my one-weekend-a-month serving on-call for work...we're having a hard time scheduling all the meetings! These next 12 weeks are going to absolutely fly by!
(all photos courtesy of BM Tina!)
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