I have always been a detail oriented person. I think that the real separation between good & great is in the details. The grammar. The presentation. The accessories. Details matter & more often than not, they become the most important part.
I really enjoyed putting together little budget friendly things for this shower. I am working on a tight budget right now & throwing a big baby shower was something that I didn’t have extra cash for. I had to make it work. Don’t we all do that when it comes time to party? I think that you can do pretty & creative on a budget if you use your coupons wisely, think outside the box & plan ahead.
FLOWERS
I think every party table needs fresh flowers. It’s just a “thing” I have. I checked in with Tori before I drove in & found that she was not finding any hot pink flowers locally. SO…to Costco I went. I bought these four days early & they were perfectly in bloom when I wanted to use them. If you let flowers sit a couple of days they will open & you will need less of them because they will look fuller. I picked up two dozen for $18 & stretched them to three different “vases.” The vases were galvanized steel little pitchers that I found at the Pottery Barn Outlet for $5/ea. I tied a few fabric scraps around the handles to give them a little more character & there you have it. Chic but not stuffy. 3 vases + fresh flowers for just over $30.
LABEL YOUR TABLE
I was inspired by this pin over on Pinterest. GENIUS! I could not find gumdrops anywhere, so I used the next best thing: marshmallows. I used a 40% off coupon at Michaels to buy some Lollipop sticks & got a single sheet of scrapbook paper. Add a scissors, a white pen & some hot glue & we were able to tell our guests exactly what was all on the table for them to enjoy. All for about $9.
(& don’t ask me about the brownie balls recipe, because I don’t have it! If Anne lets me, I’ll share because they were a little taste of heaven!)
USE WHAT YOU HAVE
I have a problem with glass jars. I can never throw them away. I have a whole pantry full, which is great right now, because I just learned I have to bottle up every single thing in there because we have weevils. Gross! The bright spot out of all of this is that I have a zillion empty containers because I have been collecting them for some time! I grabbed a couple of my upcycled spaghetti sauce jars & used my pinking shears, some scrap fabric & ribbon to make them pretty. Perfect for holding utensils. Fabric is from Hobby Lobby & was 30% off. I only bought a half yard of each, which means that I spent under $5 on fabric. The ribbon I already had.
SHOWER GAMES
I really kind of despise baby shower games. Does anyone really like shoving their face in a “dirty” diaper? Well, I don’t! & we were not going to do that! This was a classy affair & since I planned on so many guests, I decided to do a baby shower bingo to help pass the time during the marathon gift opening session. Each guest filled in the items she thought were necessary to have a baby & as Tori received them, her guests crossed them off the list. We had a couple bingos & the winners received some super cute oven mitts (for their buns in the oven!) that I picked up for $3/ea at the Pottery Barn Outlet. I designed the bingo cards in photoshop using the invitation design. & after asking Tori if she had a bunch of pens I could use for the day of the shower she reminded me of my former career…drug reps are NEVER short on pens! & I had stockpiled plenty from my reppin’ days!! ;)
next up: making chocolate dipped marshmallows on a stick!
are you finding this stuff useful? you all sure are quiet this week!