My baby sister is prego with her first, and although it's the 10th grandchild for our family, we haven't had a baby in the family for nearly 7 years. Our immediate family lives about 7 hrs from each other respectively, with many friends even farther away, so we decided to have a long-distance shower for her at my oldest sister's house. (Are we getting confused on sister's yet?) So we coordinated it between my oldest sister, my Mom, and myself. No one was actually able to attend (they all lived too far away!), but we had a great time and she got some wonderful gifts shipped to the house.
Here are a few of the things we made/did/decorated with to try to keep it within a budget.
I made my first diaper cake, and can I say, I could make these ALL DAY! So fun and cute, and soooo much cheaper than buying one. It took me maybe an hour at the most, and that was really just because I was being extra cautious and careful since it was my first attempt at one of these.
My older sister was in charge of getting the "cake topper"...an ADORABLE stuffed goat. But..since we're 3.5hrs apart, once I arrived with the cake we realized that the goat was just too fat to sit on top. We found this in her closet and it worked just fine, although not our first choice. Sometimes you have to improvise! :)
(Before our cupcakes.)
Older sis made the cupcakes, but I was bringing the toppers...another collaborative effort. :)
I found our theme/decor online and copied/pasted the train image into a Word document. Once I had them sized right, I printed them on white card stock. I used my circle punches to punch the trains and coordinating textured paper, then adhered them to long toothpicks.
Each person we invited was given two 4x6 cards included with their invite. I printed them on white card stock in a cute font, then distressed the edges. Each guest was asked to complete the card and mail it back with their gift.
Of course we know that new mothers rarely take these little tidbits of advice (I know I didn't!!), because let's face it, they have NO idea what they're in for, but one day she will look back on these and say to herself, "Why didn't I listen to that?" , just like we all do. :)
I assembled all the cards into a small baby-themed photo album. Then I embellished a bit by adding a few pages here and there with baby boy themed patterned paper (love K&Co.!!),a few baby quotes, and headers for each section of questions. I used the same font and distressed those as well.
My Mom likes to make candies, so she added these adorable chocolates. You can imagine how long they lasted with a pregnant woman, her sisters, and her Mom together for the afternoon!
We knew going in that most likely we wouldn't have any guests that were actually with us in person, but we still wanted to have a fun little game that wasn't too cheesy. I honestly don't know where I found this, but it was a hoot, especially with a small group of "us girls". It's a game called "My Water Broke!"
I purchased Wilton baby favors at Michael's and we froze them in ice cube trays. The idea is to give everyone a frozen baby and see who can get theirs out first without a)putting it in their mouth or b)stepping on it. Once your baby is melted from the ice, you have to shout, "My water broke!!!" It turned out to be interesting to say the least. A piece of advice: putting it in your armpits or cleavage doesn't work. My MIL dropped hers in her coffee, which took approximately 3 seconds to melt, so she ended up winning. We couldn't decide if that was cheating or not. ;)
Maybe one of these ideas will grab your attention for the next shower you're a part of. We had a great time, on a budget. (The best part, because I know I would rather spend my $$ on cute things for the new little one!)
Take care,
I'm linking up over here!
