My dearest friend, Kelly, is having her first baby next month and I had the pleasure of co-hosting a baby shower in her honor. We wanted this to be a wonderfully festive and fun baby shower filled with special touches and unexpected moments.
Since the invitations were the first thing that guests would experience, we wanted them to be perfect. It’s so true that your invitations set the tone for your event – we received lots of calls after people received these, so excited to see what was in store. I printed the invitations at home using our Quilted Frame Embossed Printable Party Invitations, then mounted them to blossom flat cards. Enclosed with each invitation was a paper t-shirt, along with a note explaining to guests that they should write a special message to Kelly and decorate their t-shirt in any way.
We asked everyone to bring their t-shirts to the shower where we clipped them to our clothes line centerpiece with miniature wooden clothes pins. It was wonderful to see what people created and it turned our gift table into a focal point. After the shower, I collected all of the t-shirts and will put them into an album for Kelly along with photos from the shower – something she, and the baby, can enjoy for years to come.
I was never a fan of shower games until I experienced Baby Jeopardy as presented by my amazingly creative co-worker (and baby shower hostess extraordinaire), Ann. I knew this game would be perfect for our shower – it brings guests together, allows people to interact, and reveals fun tidbits about the parents-to-be.
See our previous baby shower post where Ann describes how to construct the game board – a fun keepsake for your guest of honor. And because you’ve asked us in the past, here are a few ideas for questions: What was mommy/daddy-to-be’s first word? What quality of mommy-to-be does daddy-to-be hope the baby inherits (and vice versa)? What is mommy-to-be most looking forward to doing once the baby comes? Gathering this information takes a little stealthy coordination with relatives, but it’s well worth it!
To finish off our event, we wanted guests to leave with a small token – a little something sweet in hand painted duck cookies (made with love by my mother). It was the perfect way to end this very special day.
–Kristen
PS colors: peacock & chocolate
Latest fave: Satin Ribbon
This came at just the right time! My friend is also having a baby this month and I am so thankful for all the inspiration! I am sure the new mommy and baby will appreciate all your efforts for years to come.
Oh my goodness, such cute ideas!!! As a new mom, I would have loved such a special shower 🙂
Extremely clever invitations, decorations and games. I hope I have another occasion sometime to host a baby shower…maybe Kristen’s?
Amazing shower and so clever! Everyone had such a good time and all the special touches made it so unique for the mother to be.
Kristen,
You always have such wonderful ideas to share! Thanks for this super cute baby shower ensemble of invite, baby paper t’s and sweet treats!
One day I how you get to have someone create something like this for you!!
😉
Linda
Kristin,
I love these invitations! I am making them for my baby shower and was wondering if you could send me what the whole pink enclosure instruction card says for the T-Shirt. I am doing little paper onesies instead of the t-shirt! Thanks so much got sharing this!
Griffin
Griffin, below is what we included on the instruction card. Tip – we had extra blank t-shirts at the shower with pens in case anyone forgot to bring them. I also had people who were not able to attend the shower mail their decorated t-shirt to me to include in the album. Enjoy!
Our dear Kelly is having a baby girl…
Please use the included t-shirt to write a special message to Kelly – a well wish, parenting advice, a fond memory of Kelly, or a memory of your own parenting experience. Feel free to decorate as you like. We will create a keepsake album with all of the t-shirts, along with photos from the shower for Kelly to enjoy for years to come.
Please bring your t-shirt to the shower!
Hi,
Would you mind sharing with me what is the best printer to buy to print invitations with? I want one that can also use cardstock. I love your website. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Kristen,
How did you emboss the carriage stamp on the envelope? Is it stamped in a pink stamp pad and embossed in clear? (And if so, can you tell me the shade of pink stamp pad you used?)
Thank you!
Lauren
Hello Lauren –
Yes, we used a pink stamp pad and clear embossing powder. We tried a pink stamp pad with pink embossing powder, but found it was too much. We used a Colorbox stamp pad called Rosebud, which is very similar to this color: http://www.papersource.com/item/Pink-Color-Box-Inkpad/2902_012/850017.html
Hope that helps!
Kristen
Thank you!!
Hi Kristen,
Where did you get the clothesline centerpiece? It looks like flower pots, which is so cute!
Great Ideas! Lots of fun!
How did you make the t shirts?
Admiring the time and effort you put into your blog and detailed
information you present. It’s awesome to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same outdated rehashed material.
Great read! I’ve saved your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.