Baby Shower Recap

Food Table + Sock Monkey Napkins!

It's here! It's here! The baby shower recap is finally here! Well, kinda. After reviewing the pictures on my camera and phone I had the shocking realization that (gasp) I didn't take many pictures! Apparently, in the hustle and bustle of the pre-shower preparation, I got a bit sidetracked from documenting everything.

Luckily, my mom must have been on the ball that day because she had some great pictures so many of these photos are courtesy of Momma K. That reminds me, I should give a shout-out to Momma K, Melissa (Renee's sister), and Shan for their part in planning and orchestrating this shindig. These three did so much in helping prepare the food, decorating the church, and generally keeping my crazy ideas from stretching our budget to ridiculous proportions! So...thanks!

Now, let's talk food...

Rainbow Food!

 We tried to keep the menu simple for this shower since it was in the middle of the afternoon. And by "we" I mean the other planners convinced me to keep things simple. :) So, here's the menu breakdown, complete with links to recipes where applicable.

Baby Shower Menu
Herbed Goat Cheese Sandwiches
Veggie Cups w/ Ranch or Hummus
Fruit Skewers
Chunky Monkey Bites
Strawberry Cupcakes w/ Cream Cheese Frosting
Chocolate and Vanilla Monkey Cupcakes

Veggie Cups

The sandwiches, pictured in the top photo, were a subject of contention in planning this party. As soon as I said "goat cheese," certain people began giving me concerned/judgmental looks. However, I persisted and the sandwiches were a hit! We just called them "Cucumber Sandwiches" at the shower but, nevertheless, they were delicious and a little food went a long way (as you'll see from the recipe).

Fruit Skewers

The veggie cups and fruit skewers were an attempt to turn something normal or PJ (plain Jane) as my mother would say, into something a little more exciting. Putting these together was super fast and easy and the presentation made it easy for people to just grab a cup or skewer rather than fumbling with scooping up dip and fingering through the vegetables. Yuck.

Dessert Platters

Finally, my favorite part of every shower...the dessert. In this case, we were doing a monkey theme (as you can see from the napkins in the second photo), so we decided to run with it and do monkey themed desserts! On the far right are the Chunky Monkey Bites, which were filled with peanut butter, banana chips, honey roasted peanuts, and chocolate chips...nothing bad about that! And, on the three platters in the middle and in the picture below, are our monkey cupcakes! These were Momma K's idea and I thought they turned out super cute! We just frosted the cupcakes with chocolate frosting and then used half of a peanut butter sandwich cookie for the mouth, Nutter Butter Bites for the ears and chocolate chips for the eyes. Adorable!

I do have one confession, though. At the shower, one guest asked that I send her the recipe for the cupcakes...I didn't have the heart to tell her they were from a box. I'm so ashamed. It went against everything I believe in and stand for but time constraints left me with few options. I was a desperate woman and those boxed mixes were just calling to me so seductively. How shameful...

Monkey Cupcakes

Aside from the food, we decorated the place up so cute. I wish I had more pics to share. Best the First United Methodist Church fellowship hall has looked in years! :) In addition to the eating and the gift opening, we also had guests decorate onesies for the baby. The idea came from this blog post. Momma K manned the ironing station and we simply provided the guests with an assortment of scrap fabric, various sized onesies, a bit of iron-on backing, and some ideas. The onesies turned out better than I had even hoped! My friend, Jessica, and I made the one in the middle on the bottom row...Olive You! Get it? :) And the momma-to-be made the middle one on the top row...love the flower petal design. So cute!

Decorated Onesies!

Finally, perhaps the thing I'm most proud of, the favors! I stumbled across this idea on Pinterest and knew I had to make it happen. They are pint-sized cookie-in-a-jar mixes. I got the recipe for them here. We called ours Monkey Munchies to fit with the theme and dressed them up with red fabric, twine, and cute monkey tags. Luckily, my mom already had plenty of mason jars on hand so these were even relatively cheap to put together. Aren't they cute?

Monkey Munchies Jars

Most importantly, I want to say how fabulous it was to see all my friends from back home...I've missed you all more than you can imagine! If all else had gone awry, seeing friends and family would have made the whole thing worth all the work. :)

All the Gals