Oliver's Baby Shower Menu
Two types of finger sandwiches:
• Apple slices with prosciutto and a drizzle of honey
• Cucumber slices with goat cheese and fresh dill
Two types of "cupcake" lasagnas:
• Meat • Spinach
Three varieties of crostini:
• Bruschetta • Baba ganoush • Goat cheese with fig jam and a pickled grape tomato
The Mom-to-be's last name is "Story" - so the theme of our shower was "Storybooks". I had a lot of fun coming up with ways to incorporate storybooks into the party. The first thing I did was to ask Eva's guests and out-of-town friends and family to help surprise the first time parents with a collection of books. Every invitation included a bookplate that read "The sweetest story" along with a note explaining the surprise group gift. Books arrived from as far as Korea and Austria (with guests coming from Los Angeles and New York City).
The obligatory shower game was also used to highlight the theme: Pictionary - Nursery Rhyme edition! This game was super easy to prepare and a surprising amount of fun. Before the shower I wrote the name of 25 nursery rhymes onto 25 blank cards. Then I dragged my old easel, a pad of newsprint and some Sharpies from the art closet. BOOM! We were ready to play. Instead of teams we pitted the Mom-to-be against the young daughter of a friend and had the guests guess what they were each drawing.
For my bridal shower Oliver's aunt made a dozen ceramic, heart shaped, jewelry dishes. I was so flattered by her thoughtful handmade gift that I knew I wanted to pay-it-forward and do the same for Eva. My first thought (as vegetable garden crazed person) was to grow a dozen bean sprouts, replant them in cute terracotta pots and tie on a tag with a quote from Jack and the bean stock. But there was neither enough time or money for that idea so I improvised. Instead, I bought two flats of marigolds, replanted them into styrofoam cups, wrapped the cups in pink scrap booking paper and included a personalized tag that read:
The obligatory shower game was also used to highlight the theme: Pictionary - Nursery Rhyme edition! This game was super easy to prepare and a surprising amount of fun. Before the shower I wrote the name of 25 nursery rhymes onto 25 blank cards. Then I dragged my old easel, a pad of newsprint and some Sharpies from the art closet. BOOM! We were ready to play. Instead of teams we pitted the Mom-to-be against the young daughter of a friend and had the guests guess what they were each drawing.
For my bridal shower Oliver's aunt made a dozen ceramic, heart shaped, jewelry dishes. I was so flattered by her thoughtful handmade gift that I knew I wanted to pay-it-forward and do the same for Eva. My first thought (as vegetable garden crazed person) was to grow a dozen bean sprouts, replant them in cute terracotta pots and tie on a tag with a quote from Jack and the bean stock. But there was neither enough time or money for that idea so I improvised. Instead, I bought two flats of marigolds, replanted them into styrofoam cups, wrapped the cups in pink scrap booking paper and included a personalized tag that read:
A marigold for your garden-
Mary, Mary quite contrary
how does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockleshells
and pretty friends all in a row.
I'd never hosted any type of shower before this one. I was nervous about how it'd go. Eva's wonderful friends and Oliver's impressive cooking made for a fun and easy going evening. My thanks to them!
