Yellow and Gray Book-Themed Baby Shower

My friend Michelle and I threw a shower for our best friend Laura, who was expecting her first baby girl. We had a great time planning a book-themed shower, since we all love to read and wanted to help Laura build her baby a library of books! We went with yellow and gray because those are some of Laura's favorites, and the colors of the nursery. I designed the invitations myself, and printed them at Office Depot, then put them on yellow cardstock. I think they turned out well!

 

I made most of the decorations with yellow and gray cardstock and paper. I made a "Welcome Baby" banner we hung across the bookshelves, and a smaller book garland across the mantel. I also had a lot of fun decorating the letters "READ" and "ABC" out of chipboard and covering them with cute scrapbook paper that fit the theme. It was easier than I thought, so now I want to make more letters for the twins' room! I had a printable "You Are My Sunshine" subway art in a frame, since that fit in perfectly. Michelle's husband made the elephant button art we had in the center of the mantle. It was so cute...wish I could take credit, but I don't think I would have the patience to have made it! :) My other favorite decoration was the alphabet flash card wall. I hung the cute ABC flashcards I found here and hung them on clothesline along with some cute onesies that we gave to Laura afterwards. It was a cute spot to take pictures in front of and everyone commented on it! Everything else was yellow balloons and tablecloths, and lots of books everywhere, most of which we sent home with Laura. 

 

We did brunch food for the meal. We had cheesy potatoes, which were a huge hit, quiche from a local bakery, a donut tower because Laura had craved donuts during pregnancy, some bacon because you just need bacon, blueberry muffins, and some adorable fruit cups in a waffle bowl. I loved that they were individual and portable, and it doesn't hurt that they look cute. We had lemon cupcakes for dessert, and Michelle made the amazing book cupcake toppers that everyone loved. For drinks we had two types of punch, a mango spritzer, and cranberry limeade, along with orange juice and coffee. (And of course yellow and gray paper straws in the mason jars! I'm a sucker for those.) I'm pretty sure everyone left the shower stuffed, but it was all delicious! And I'd be happy to post recipe links if anyone was interested.

 

 

 

For games, Michelle created a crossword with Laura and Jacob-related clues that people worked on while they ate. I created two games, a book title scramble, which I found here (and then re-created on yellow and gray paper) and a children's book trivia game. It was fun to see how competitive everyone got, especially the moms, who've read all these books a thousand times! We stumped Laura on a few questions, but I'm sure she'll know all the answers by heart soon. I had prizes in yellow and gray bags, and the prizes were all yellow, including a picture frame, lemon hand soap, and a yellow candle, along with some cute yellow stationery. I really loved making the favors! We did coffee mugs that I painted with chalkboard paint and then filled with a bookmark and some tea and hot chocolate. I made the bookmarks with cardstock and some yellow and gray polka dot ribbon, and Michelle picked out the cute literary quotes we put on them. I was really happy with how they turned out!

 

So Laura got some really cute gifts for her baby, along with a whole (yellow) tote of books to take home for baby girl! It was a really fun shower and we had a great time planning and creating to throw it for her. Congrats, Laura and Jacob!

Special thanks to Christie McLaughlin Photography for taking the pictures of the shower. She did a great job capturing all the details for us while we were busy hosting a shower. Thanks, Christie! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michelle and me with the mama-to-be!