Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Aprill's Baby Shower

I love a little baby. And I love using a little baby as an excuse to have a party and see friends. When my friend Lucy, asked for help for a baby shower she was throwing for a first time mum, Aprill, it did not take long for me to verbally hit her with a dozen ideas I have been sitting on since my own Baby Shower.

A few things you should know before checking out the Inspiration board I came up with after talking to Lucy. Aprill is having a little boy and like me Aprills partner is Asian. This means that their little boy will have a Mongolian spot just like Henry. The Mongolian spot looks like (as you will see in the diagram) a large purple/blue bruise on the bums of all Asian (or half Asian) babies. It is too cute and too funny so I included it the board as something to look forward to, baby bums!   



Chocolate milk with paper straws via My Life My Loves, Ribbon and spool via Emma Burgess, Forget me nots.  
Baby Food Jar Planters via Art Projects for Kids, Cadbury's Chocolate, Forget Me Not Cupcakes via I Bake Cupcakes.
Clothes line via Sweetest Occasions, Paper Pom Poms via My Life, My Loves.

Lucy choose a chocolate and blue colour scheme and wanted the day to have an Arty, natural feel. In keeping with the arts and crafts theme, there will be games based around what the baby will look like (lots of scirrors and glue) and Lucy love the ideas of having baby craft that Aprill could keep. 

The shower is coming up in the next few weeks, so come back to check out the photos of the day. 

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Henry's 1st Birthday

Yes, Henry is well on his way to turning 1! This means I get to start planning his first birthday party and I have decided to go with a Library theme.


I always start with an inspiration board because it helps me sort out the five hundred different ideas that I have had or have found online. So here is my board....

Images: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, Old Fashion Books, The Librarian Look by Michael Kors via Runway Daily.
Cat in the Hat Cupcakes via The Cupcake Blog, Newspaper Bunting Via The Sweetest Occasion, George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl, Where is the Green Sheep by Mem Fox, Ball Pit.
Newspaper Pom Poms via Craftzine, Green Eggs and Ham via Baby Farm Parties and Ideas, Library Cards and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

I have made the invitations look like the book cards in library books. I found a printable template here and Triet and I wrote different lines in different pen with different handwriting to make it look a bit old school. 

I used some of my favourite books and authors as inspiration. Some food ideas I'm planning are Green Eggs and Ham (hard boiled eggs with avocado and ham rolls), every thing the Very Hungry Caterpillar ate and the Aussie food that made Hush visible again in Possum Magic. We might even have some of George's Marvellous Medicine to drink (Punch in a saucepan).

Some decorations and activities we will be having are the newspaper pom poms and bunting, a book corner, decorating your own library bags, a ball pit and helium balloons because Henry just loves them.  


I know it all seems a bit bonkers for a first birthday, but I love doing it and at least it will be smaller than Henry's Christening.

Stay tuned to see the end result in late May and you can see the inspiration board for Henry's Christening here and the party itself here.