Life's Abundant Adventures: Elegant Pink and Crystal Baby Shower

Have I ever mentioned that I have the best friends? I really do. At any given time in my life, I can look back and see one or more friends that are amazing and whom I feel so blessed to have in my life. I'm so grateful for social media and how easy it makes it to stay in touch and involved in the lives of all my friends, past and present. I mention them now because over the weekend I hosted a beautiful baby shower for one of my dearest friends and I couldn't have done it without a very special group of ladies.

Above, is a picture of just a portion of the food that was lovingly planned and prepared by one of my lovely friends. She did such an amazing job with the food, but also with planning for some really fun games. One of the games planned was "Hot Potato" except instead of a potato, we were to use these adorable little diaper babies... We didn't get a chance to play that game because everyone was having such a wonderful time visiting with each other and gushing at how beautiful my expectant friend's husband prepared the nursery. Seriously, it's beyond awesome!

These were simple to make. I saw the idea on Pinterest and decided to replicate. For each one, I rolled a newborn-sized diaper and secured it with a clear elastic. I then "swaddled" the diaper baby in a baby washcloth, covered the head with a baby sock "beanie" and glued a couple googley eyes onto it. Both of them took me a total of 10 minutes to make and that's only because I tried a couple of different folds for the sock beanies.

Another fun activity we set up was a "Onesie Station". Look how much fun these lovely ladies are having! Everyone had the opportunity to create a customized onesie for the baby. We had some really creative ladies who did amazing onesies and we also had iron-on transfers for those who needed a little "nudge" in the inspiration department. It was really simple to set up. I just bought packages of onesies in various sizes, a package of fabric paint and a neat little iron on transfer kit which included transfers, crystals, and a mini iron. It was perfect.

My dear friend wanted crystals, so I found these lovely acrylic chandeliers on sale to add some drama and sparkle to cut outs separating the kitchen and living room. My lovely friend who arranged the food and games also created three groovy paper tissue pom poms, a pink one is visible in this photo. And of course, there were a ton of balloons. I ordered 6 dozen and it looked great. Balloons are a very inexpensive way to decorate and they always make things festive. I had these delivered since there was no way I was going to fit 6 dozen balloons in my car.

Another beautiful friend of mine was gracious enough to make this amazing diaper cake for the shower. Everyone was amazed at how pretty it was and that it was diapers. The diapers (size 2) are rolled and secured with clear elastics and then arranged in layers for a tiered effect. Some diapers are wrapped in baby washcloths to add pops of color. Each tier is secured with a ribbon. In the center of the diaper, amongst the layers are baby items and even a bottle of sparkling apple cider for mom. It was a beautiful centerpiece for the space and a very creative way to gift very practical items.

I had a lot of fun making this Candy Buffet. I found as many types of candy in pink, white, and silver. I was obviously not concerned about health today. Bring on the artificial food coloring and HFCS! Hey, one day's not gonna hurt right? I bought a few apothecary jars online and the rest was crystal that my dear friend had on hand. This was used as the party favor. Each person got to take home a bag of pink sweets.

Here are the chandeliers from another angle. We also draped as many surfaces as we could in pink and white tulle. This was just one wall... Thank you to yet another of my wonderful friends for really making this space fluffy and feminine. It looked so elegant and beautiful.

The baby shower was a huge success and I couldn't have done it without the help of my wonderful friends. We all came together to make a very special friend celebrate the upcoming arrival of a very special little girl.