Shower time!
Enough bike talk! Let’s talk babies!
We have a lot of exciting things going on in my family, one of which is that my younger brother, Anthony, and his wife, Amber, are expecting their first baby mid August! What better timing to throw them a baby shower than when we’re all in Iowa for RAGBRAI, right?!
Amber and Anthony. That’s Anthony’s “smile,” heh.
My snister and I hosted the lunchtime shower last Saturday at the Cedar Valley Arboretum. It was a beautiful location but a horribly steamy day, so we didn’t do much exploring of the gardens. I look forward to going back sometime when the real feel temperature isn’t 100°F!.
Me and my mom’s mom
Christina did the majority of the work for the party. Seriously – she found and booked the location, designed the invites and made them, handled RSVPs, made all the decorations, made the slideshow, picked two of the games (and helped me with mine) and all the game prizes, and pretty much ran the party. I’m sure I am forgetting a few things she did (like, my hair, before the party)!
The slideshow had baby pictures of Anthony (above) and Amber (below).
I was in charge of mailing invites, bringing my projector and screen (which I almost forgot, ha!), making a party playlist, getting all the food, and coming up with one game. And I followed my typical party planning model – delegate as much as possible! And picking up party favors from Maria’s Oven was an obvious must-do.
Don’t read in to any perceived color schemes – they are waiting to find out the child’s sex!
And we had LOTS of help setting things up (and tearing them down), thankfully! Phew – we had the party from 11:00-1:00 and the space from 10:00-2:00 and it was definitely a time crunch!
I really enjoyed working with Christina to plan and throw this shower. I felt like I was her assistant, and I preferred that being my role! Typically, this sort of thing would stress me the eff out, but because Christina was “in charge” and I trusted all of her decisions, I felt at ease. And actually, somehow, I enjoyed doing all of the shopping to prep for the party (I typically hate shopping). Probably because I was with my snister. We make a good team (and we make things fun in our own speshul snisterly way).
And it was an honor to throw this party for Anthony and Amber. It made me feel good, seeing so many loved ones come together to celebrate the new addition to their family! I am stoked to meet my new nephew/niece and to see how my “little” brother is as a dad! Aww, we’re all growing up. Tears!
Enough mush. Ha.
Christina and I picked games for the party that weren’t too painful to participate in (come on, you know what I am talking about):
- Celebrity Baby Name – match the parents to the kid. It was hard! I think someone won with 4 out of 10 correct! We had people fill this out while eating lunch.
- Play-Doh Baby Game – make your own play-dough baby, with prizes for cutest, best name, and creepiest. Ha ha ha. People sure are creative (see first picture of this post)! This game was played right before dessert.
- Get Amber to the Hospital – this was the game I came up with. I wanted to have a car game, since that is what my family was in to, and had the idea to have a competition to see who could get Amber to the hospital “the fastest.” Christina came up with the idea to do it bracket style, and ordered the box of Hot Wheels off of eBay (I procured the track and “made” the hospital, and my older brother, Nick, did a fantastic job with the parking lot). This game was played after dessert and right before present opening.
Anthony picked his and Amber’s cars first, and everyone else came up and selected theirs after that. There was a number on the bottom of the car that aligned with the bracket, so they wouldn’t know when, or who, they were racing.
I thought it was really funny that Anthony and Amber’s cars kept winning… and that Anthony won, overall! Then after the party, he told me he could tell what we were up to, so he picked the cars that were the heaviest (and would get down the track the fastest). Ha ha, sneaky!
After all the games it was present time! I missed a lot of it though, because I was chit chatting, then starting to clean up to get us out of there on time. Christina and I later discussed that for the next party we throw we’ll plan a bit more time for set-up and tear-down!
I wish I would have gotten a photo of me and Christina with Anthony and Amber. And really, all of my siblings. Guess we’ll have to get it when we come meet the baby in August! Woo hoo!
Themocracy
That looks like so much fun – and Anthony is smart, I guess that means he’s really the best one to take her when it’s time! Haha!
I think so! Ha. I kept teasing during the game saying who was in the running would have to be there to take her – it was funny when it was a three year old girl in the lead!
What cute decor– the balloon shower, the banners, the invites and the venue! And those games are hilarious– great choices! Congrats to the parents-to-be!
Aww, congrats to your little brother and his wife! It’ll be so fun for you to have a new niece or nephew running around. And the party looks like it turned out great. I love the hot wheels game. I may have to steal that in the future.
Thank you! I’d love it if someone else used the funny car game, too! 🙂
Love that this was guys and gals – sounds like so much fun! Baby showers aren’t done in Belgium, so I’ve never had one nor been to one. Good luck to Amber and Anthony for a smooth delivery and a healthy baby!
That is interesting you don’t have them there! I wonder what countries do them, if any, besides us?!
Thanks for the well wishes for them! 🙂
How exciting to have a new baby in the family! We haven’t had one in ours for Sooooo long. How many nieces amd nephews do you have?
We haven’t had one in awhile! I have two nephews who are 6 and 10!
(and I have my honorary 4 year old nephew, Luca, hee hee 🙂 – he’s part of our family, too)
Congrats on having a new member of the family coming soon! Are you excited for your aunt role? The baby shower looks like it was a blast. I love that you played good shower games (instead of some of the really awful ones – I heard of a game where people smeared Nutella into diapers to compete for the most realistic used diaper. Blech!)
I am excited to be an aunt again! 🙂
Oh gosh, that sounds kind of gross. I heard of one where you melt different candy bars in diapers and people are supposed to guess what candy bar it is. Kind of funny, but kind of ick 😉
Thank you for referencing the baby’s sex and not gender 🙂
Also that game sounds fun! And being an Auntie is super fun!!
You’re welcome 😉 I took one gender studies class in college and SO MUCH has stuck with me from it. I was already very open minded, but it helped me get some language right, too 🙂 I think everyone should take it!
Being an aunt is awesome! 🙂
That looks like such a fun party! And I love your dress! It won’t be long and you’ll be posting baby pics! 🙂
Thanks!!! I know! I can’t wait to meet the little baby! I am curious if s/he will be a splitting imagine of my brother or what! 🙂
Congrats to your brother! Of course to your family too. When I first read the title I thought it was a bridal shower for you but then realized that you are already married. Monday morning. Still early for me right now.
This sounds like a fun shower — nice job to you and Christina (Wow! She’s really good at all this crafty stuff)!
I love that photo of you poking your head into the camera frame. 😀