Party Planning: Little Golden Books Shower

We are right in the thick of our hot, brief summer (my oldest starts kindergarten on August 1st!), and when I am not working, I have kept busy trying to cram every bit of fun into our last little bit of time at home. I have had a party-free June (and unfortunately, a June free of progress on the remodel), but I have several upcoming events that I am excitedly planning, like Stephanie's baby shower! Stephanie and I have been friends since we were eight years old! That is a LONG TIME, people.

I co-hosted the Luau Shower celebrating her marriage to Eddie two years ago, and now I get to help celebrate the impending arrival of their first baby! (Whom I'm sure will be named Emily, no pressure.)

Stephanie had mentioned liking the idea of a Little Golden Books-themed shower a while back. When we found out she was having a girl, I tried to take the ideas I had found online and feminize them a little bit. Here are my thoughts so far.

Don't mind my rambly theme food ideas at the top--those are a work in progress. I had seen Little Golden Books fabrics before, but many of them were in brighter, primary colors. Finding the same print in a aqua and rose colorway, and pairing it with the pink "Poky Little Puppy" print (both found here) helped to make the palette a little more girly, which Stephanie liked. I like it, too, because I have two boys and don't get to do many frilly, feminine parties.

Anyway, aqua, rose, some gold to bring in the golden spines of the books. I'll be making decorations and food based on the more classic LGBs: The Poky Little Puppy, Scuffy the Tugboat, The Little Red Hen, etc.

Feel free to weigh in with any suggestions for the party, and make sure to check back in August to see how everything turns out! Pin It

Ruby Recap: Joel and Katrina's 40th Anniversary

I never meant to take so long to recap the Ruby Anniversary party. However, a lost SD card reader and my old, janky computer conspired to shut the ol' blog down for a month! Luckily my sister sent me some pictures of Graham's party so I could recap that. So sorry. Let's begin with how I spent my birthday: watching other people open presents. Just kidding! (Well, not completely, but at least sharing a birthday with your in-laws' anniversary means they'll never forget your birthday?)

I pretty much followed my inspiration board to the letter--in fact, right down to the tissue paper monogrammed letters! I ended up buying big cardboard letters from JoAnn (with 40% off coupons, of course), cutting tissue paper into 1.5" squares, twisting the squares, and hot-gluing the center of each twist onto the letters. Joel and Katrina loved them so much, they took them home!

On the interior table, I made a few centerpieces using white spider mums  and pink gerbera daisies. Take a look inside the vases--those are RUBY (well, plastic rubies) vase fillers I found at Target on clearance!

The dessert table maintained the pinky red theme, with a strawberry-topped angel food cake (Joel's favorite), some chocolate-covered strawberries, and a delicious birthday cake for yours truly, thanks to Seth's super-thoughtful sister.

[I sure wish I had gotten pictures of the food, especially the caprese salad and the melon balls that took For.Ever to scoop, just to prove how accurately I stuck to the inspiration board, but no such luck. We even had pretty jars of raspberry lemonade and sangria! I'm sure I was too hungry at that point to remember to snap pictures.]

Along the mantel and on some tables, we decorated with pictures of the happy couple from their courtship and their wedding ceremony. We included a copy of their party invitation, too, since it matched everything so nicely. I used white frames I already had, and I covered their normally black mats with red crepe paper so they would match. We scattered some spare "rubies" along the mantel for fun.

Outside was more festive red, orange, and pink, with the lantern-pom combo and Kara's handy tablecloth. We also had Izze juice drinks (in color-coordinated cans, naturally), plus water and juice boxes.

The party was a big success. All of the grandkids, including my Graham, contributed to some handprint art for Joel and Katrina, who loved the surprise.

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