Baseball Baby

My dear friend Lara is having her FIRST baby in July.

Lara and her husband have waited almost 10 years for a baby. (They have been married just a few months longer than me and Jon). We met Lara and Jason last September when we both moved to Rexburg. Jason was starting school at BYUI as a transfer student, just like me. Jason and Jon quickly bonded over creative writing and film.

 

We were THRILLED to find out Lara was expecting, and everything so far has gone great. I offered right away to throw her a baby shower :)

When we found out Lara was having a BOY the planning began. The theme would be baseball (since Lara and Jason are huge GIANTS fans). It was perfect with the shower being in May (baseball season!) and Lara being due in July (all-American baby!) I decided to go with a vintage twist to make the shower look classic and aged. My amazing friend Shayne back in California designed the invites for me.

SERIOUSLY. They blew me away.

I added the smudges.

Everyone go favorite her etsy shop right now! It is fantastic.

The invites were printed at AlphaGraphics and turned out EXCELLENT.

I added some silver tags that had a rhyme about bringing diapers for a raffle, and then tied them on with black and white baker's twine.

All of the envelopes were hand addressed by me with gold shadow pen and had baby footprint seal stickers on the back:

Thankfully I'm a scrapbook paper hoarder, so I had tons at home and started pulling all my scarlet, cream, and navy pieces together.

 

 Pinwheels were made, Cracker Jacks were collected, and the Dollar Store became my bestest friend.

 This was an in-progress shot of putting together the prizes. I totally forgot to get better ones!

There were 3 "shower" prizes which  had tags on them that read "From Lara's Shower to Yours". The goodies were color coordinated. There was a blue/green basket, an orange basket, and a pink basket. Gifts included drink tumblers, scented candles, loofahs, bath salts, nail polish, back massagers, and body spray. The biggest prize was the Ultimate Movie Night bowl:

Jon helped me shrink wrap everything and even cut out papers for a BABY banner at his work.

 I prepped as much as possible way in advance so that I wouldn't be stressed out the week of the shower. It all worked out great! I picked up all the food the day before, and then the morning of May 30th Jon, Isabel, and Jenny helped out immensely with moving furniture, decorating, and cutting up food with me :) We were all set up right on time!

Peanuts, sunflower seeds, and red and white Sixlets:

What's more American than baseball and apple pie??

Popcorn machine borrowed from the Jackson's :)

 I whipped up this sweet cream honey butter the night before the shower. SO GOOD.

Thank you gifts were a box of Cracker Jack with a mini Baby Ruth and a baseball charm tied up with baker's twine.

The whole thing came together so well--I even brought our record player and had legit 40's music rolling in the background :)

As guests were arriving I sort of rushed my pics. I just wanted to make sure I quickly captured everything! The welcome table was where everyone signed in (ON A BASEBALL) and entered the diaper raffle:

"please leave your autograph for the little all-star"

At Lara's shower in California they had everyone write down some good wishes for baby. I loved this idea and we did the same here in Idaho so that Lara and Jason could make a personal project with all of the love from their friends across the country :)

"Baby Jackson will have lots of huggas and kisses, now let's get him started with hopes and good wishes!"

The word "huggas" was sort of an inside joke, but it worked out perfectly for my rhyme HAHA.

The littlest guests at the party:

 Instead of games we had the diaper raffle, and then I had Lara guess the answers to questions that I had asked Jason about parenthood the week before the shower. It was a fun way to see their perspectives on parenting style and when they each plan to buy their first minivan!

As gifts were opened I set a timer. Every 7 minutes when the alarm went off the person who had brought the gift that Lara was in the process of opening would win a prize!

Lara was showered with tons of great goodies, adorable clothes, and a whole pharmacy of baby care items :)

Lara's favorite dessert is brownies and ice cream--so that's just what we had to send everyone off with happy tummies!

{FOOD}
Platter of muffins in a variety of blueberry, poppyseed, and double chocolate
Butter croissants
Cinnamon rolls
Fruit skewers of strawberries, bananas, apples, kiwis, and grapes
Apple Pie
Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownies & Vanilla Ice Cream

{DRINKS}
Apple Juice
Orange Juice
Lemonade
Bottled Water
(with coordinating scrapbook paper strips around the labels)

{TREATS}
Sixlets in red and white
Sunflower seeds
Peanuts
Popcorn
Cracker Jack
Baby Ruth minis

Thank you to EVERYONE who came, and helped, to make Lara's shower a HUGE success :)

We're ready for BABY!