I am so excited to finally share these photos with you! Our baby shower turned out exactly how I had imagined it, and I am so happy it was so beautifully captured. It really was such a wonderful day celebrating our baby girl with family and friends, and one I will always look back on so fondly! I decided to have a photographer come, which felt like kind of a bougie decision at the time lol! But I am SO glad that I did.
If you’ve been following along on our pregnancy podcast, you already know we decided to have a “co-ed” baby shower. Basically, I wanted the celebration of our baby to not only include Matt, but also all of our family and friends! I really just wanted it to be a relaxed, casual, family party. Since I had a traditional bridal shower (which was so fun) I just kind of felt like I had already had that experience, and was just looking for something different for my baby shower. I was a little nervous how the male guests would react/if they would have a good time haha but I think it turned out just fine!
Theme: For our theme, I decided to go with “A Baby is Brewing.” We had lots of craft beer, gave away a beer growler as a prize for one of the games, and our favors we had the most amazing freshly ground coffee (that my cousin actually roasts himself – he’s @veritycoffeeroasters on intsa!) We also served the Verity Coffee throughout the shower as well.
Details: I really didn’t go too heavy on the theme, and focused more on the details. I basically wanted LOTS of white (shocker!) and tons of fresh greens. My mom and I made all of the flower arrangements the day before, and we actually picked up everything from Costco! Lots of eucalyptus, silver dollars, some white flowers, etc. And it was super affordable! I also picked up lots of small glass vases (here & here) from Michaels, which we used for the arrangements. I made all of the signs myself (on pickmonkey.com, always my go-to), and also made the balloon garland myself (using this, this, this, + these), which was surprisingly easy!! (That is, once all of the balloons are blown up and tied off. Matt was the MVP of the weekend and did this all himself – and had some poor beat up fingers to prove it lol).
Food + Drink: For food we kept is simple with a barbecue theme with lots of salad options, and of course some Chick-Fil-A nuggets! These were mainly for the kids but I can imagine they were an all-around crowd pleaser. For drinks, we served lots of craft beer and wine, and I also set up a DIY cocktail bar (complete with rosemary sprigs, of course) as well as a craft beer tasting. I think some of the guys really enjoyed that aspect! And coffee! With all the fixings – cream, sugar, cinnamon, whipped cream, etc. And of course, lots of desserts. Cupcakes, chocolate covered pretzels, frosted brownies, and even a mini donut wall, which I also crafted myself (using this, these, and some good ‘ol hot glue!)
Games: I really didn’t want to have any games at first, I really just wanted it to be a relaxed family party. But then I kind of felt like there had to be something that had to do with baby girl haha so we did decide to have a couple. The most fun was definitely the “guess the belly” where people would guess the circumference of my belly with a piece of twine. This was the game we had a beer growler (from a local brewery with their most popular IPA) as a prize. My little cousin ended up winning lol so his dad was very happy! We also had another guessing game of sorts – where everyone could write down their predictions for due date, weight, and length at birth. We’re still waiting to find out who the winner is, of course! Once baby girl is here, whoever was closest will be getting a gift card of their choice. Overall, the games were fun! I’m glad we did them, and I really liked how people could go over to the table and put their guesses in whenever, and it didn’t interrupt the flow of the gathering at all.
Photos: Sandy Ma Photography, @sandyma.photo on insta. Sandy did such a great job, was so sweet, and got right to work! I barely even noticed she was there, she was just working her magic the whole time and captured so many amazing candid moments. If you’re in the Philly area, I highly recommend her!
xx Becca