Paige's Muppet Baby Shower... oh my!

Now, when newly-pregnant Paige told me she wanted a Muppet-themed baby shower, I went into semi-panic mode. How scary and cheesy was this going to turn out?! After a few shallow breaths, I reminded myself that we could make it as Muppety or Non-Muppety as we wanted. However, as I dove in Pinterest-searching, I realized there actually weren't as many Muppet themed parties as I thought. Apparently, Paige is about 20 years behind the times.

After some considerable searching, I came across a few pins that were eventually used for the Pinspiration. If I do say so myself, I think it turned out pretty amazing.

I found this awesome graphic designer through Etsy who created all of our printables!
Printables are seriously the way to go. You print and cut them out yourself, saving mucho buckos. 

Tracy, the master of cake pops, was at it again.

I think my favorite part of the shower was that we came up with clever Muppet-inspired names for all the food. We had a Meep! Meep! Meat and Cheese platter, Gar-Gonzo Bean Salad, Wocka Wocka! Wine, and Dr. Teeth's Secret Stash just to name a few. 

Excuse-moi... Ham Sandwiches?!

                         

As an inside joke, we made a signature drink for the honoree as she and her husband so lovingly
nicknamed their baby in the womb "The Hulk." 

In her infinite wisdom, Paige wanted her shower to be a real party, hence the plentiful beer and wine selection.

In an effort to make this shower more class and less nast, we decided to use some flowers for added pizazz. Annie came up with the idea of floating yellow roses and orange daisies in square vases. Pretty much the easiest but prettiest way to dress up a boring table. Also, instead of doing a full cake and cupcakes, we did cake pops (Paige's request), a candy bar and a popcorn bar. That was fun and easy because we provided to-go bags so they could double as a favor as well. (Although, thanks to Annie, we also had "real" favors too. Paige is spoiled.)

Please excuse my iPhone photo on this really fancy and oh-so-professional blog... 

In addition to banners and invitations, Brigitte also created super cute toppers that we punched out
with a 1.5" scalloped hole punched and then Tracy backed with adorable printed paper with
thicker-double sided tape - this gave them a 3D look in real life. 

Stratler & Waldorf's Perfect for Heckling Popcorn

We attached the favor tags ("Mahna, Mahna") to sample-size Bare Minerals lip glosses as favors. Annie has the hook up and got these at an amazing discount... and then somehow I made it home with 4 in my purse... 

Our true colors had to come out!

While I think we were all medicating with deep drinks of wine when the Muppet theme was first requested, I have to say it is one of the most unique shower themes I've seen yet. And thanks to a little Pinspiration, creative vision, and one heck of a graphic designer, our party was definitely more classy than cheesy. Cheers to Paige for giving us such a challenge! :)

Photography: Haley Hodges Photography
Printables: Bitty Birdie Design 

Leslie's Adorable Mustache Bash!

As a friend of many pregnant women, I've thrown a baby shower or two in my life. With the advent of Pinterest, my party throwing has been getting exponentially better. While part of me wishes Pinterest would have been around for my wedding, the rational part of me knows it's best it wasn't… I don't know how brides today don't drive themselves crazy with all the ideas, options, and possibilities that are all over the Pinterest universe.

While wedding planning is a whole other story, Pinterest has led me to be able to throw some pretty great baby showers. In October, my friends and I threw a pretty bomb Mustache Bash for our preggo friend Leslie. We did a brunch shower complete with mini quiches, cinnamon rolls, pancakes and… a mimosa bar, of course! 

My advice for throwing any party is to first think of your theme (clearly). Once I nail down my theme, I start thinking of all the "extra" things I will need. In this case, I knew I needed invitations, banners, mustache photo props, etc. That's when I turned to Etsy. I knew I would want some sort of cute, original invitation, so why not get a whole suite? It's usually not too expensive, and Etsy has pretty much anything you could imagine. In this case, I found a few Mustache Bash invitations I liked, then looked at each shop's listings to see which offered me the most bang for my buck. That's when I came upon the listing by Owlie Powlie. It included more than I could even see myself using, while still being ridiculously cute and in budget. 

Mustaches & lips attached to red-striped paper straws really made people laugh!

We bought these fun juice bottles from Ikea for $4 a pop. Can't go wrong with that! 

Plus, I bought the white frames for super cheap at Ikea as well. 

Annie made adorable onesies with an assortment of ties ironed onto them. 

We strung them above her fireplace with twine and clothes pins with a banner from the Etsy suite below.

One rule of thumb: an Instagram hashtag is a must. It might seem silly, but it's so much easier for guests to see all the pictures from the party in one location.

My favorite part of any party planning is the food tents. While having food tent labels may seem like somewhat of an extravagance, they usually aren't too hard to make and really make your party look Pinterest-worthy. These were editable so I was easily able to type the food names into the template before printing.

Tracy is way too awesome and made these mustache cake pops!

I was able to find a Living Social deal for the BEST bakery around, One Sweet Slice. They actually won "Cupcake Wars" on the Food Network! They made these insanely adorable cupcakes, and even died the blue frosting special to match our shower. The "Wet Your Whiskers" part of the cupcake topper was included in the Etsy printable suite. Tracy, being the Queen of Scrapbooking, made the amazing accordion-style backings you see. We simply glued them together, and then hot glued them to a lollipop stick, and voila! 

Also included in the listing were these adorbs party toppers. We gave them backing paper and attached them to wood skewers, which we then placed in vases with flowers for added decor. 

The spread: pancakes, mini quiche, yogurt with berries, mini cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, mustache sugar cookies, and mustache cake pops. 

No Mustache Bash is complete without a PHOTO BOOTH.

The mustaches, lips and ties came with the printable suite. We cut them out and used ribbon for the ties and wood skewers for the mustaches. For the "booth," we taped up a plastic tablecloth in a corner of the room, and then hung some red paper doily-thingies for some added pizazz.

Two more things: Thing 1. While it may seem expensive, a professional photog really helps to make the day special. That way no one has to be running around with a camera around their wrist or neck, and your pictures turn out so much better. We got SO lucky by hiring the amazing Haley Hodges! She was wonderful and really captured the spirit of the event. Thing 2: This party's theme was very easy to do. With a Mustache Bash, you really can't go overboard with the antics. It's a FUN, playful theme that only gets better the more cheesy, mustaches you add. I mean really, the opportunities are endless… as is Pinterest! 

Photography: Haley Hodges Photography
Printables: Owlie Powlie
Tablecloths, dish ware, plastic flowers: The Dollar Tree!
Cupcakes: One Sweet Slice