Ahoy! It's a Baby Shower!

Myself and two girlfriends recently hosted a sailboat themed baby shower for a wonderful friend expecting a bouncing baby boy in late May. Months of planning, prepping, and painting (you'll see what I mean) turned out perfectly!

The inspiration for the sailboat theme came from the three-time-parents-to be. They recently moved to a beautiful portside community and we wanted to celebrate that!

I had some trouble finding the right invite. Forget Evite! I'm old school when it comes to invitations. I like the real thing. Alas, I hit the jackpot with a graphic designer on Etsy. I cropped the location details for this post -- but this is what it looked like framed with a blue and white polka dot border. Cute, right?

Let me tell you something...sailboats are hard to find in February! I searched high and low, from dollar stores to fancy boutiques for sailboat anything. One store owner told me that sailboats were a Spring item and that I would start seeing stuff arrive in stores in April.

I scoured Orange County and eventually found what would work - with some additional effort. And sure enough, two days before the shower, I walked into a sailboat extravaganza at an adorable shop in Newport Beach!

Grandma (that's Gigi to the new baby and a co-hostess) really wanted a diaper cake as decoration. This worked out perfectly because my mother-in-law just made several for a shower she had hosted. She generously handed over the left over diapers - already rolled - and a baggie full of rubber bands. It was so easy to put together and it came out beautifully!

I got the idea to top the cake with a sailboat after seeing this diaper cake on a great crafty blog called How Does She?

I initially wanted to find an old fashioned wooden toy sailboat to use but struck out - again. I found unfinished wooden boats at Michaels, some craft paint, and brushes and got busy! I hand painted the large boat that sits atop the diaper cake in about five minutes.

It was the 25 little boats that took longer! But how sweet are they tied onto the napkins?

I wanted some kind of signage to welcome our guests. Everything at the local party supply store was too cheesy. I was inspired by this one and I knew I could do something similar with items from Paper Source (my favorite store...ever) and my computer.

Here's a collage of photos from the day. I was so thrilled to be a part of this celebration and can't wait to meet little Elvis Costello *wink,wink*!

Disclaimer: I did not receive compensation to reference any product or retail store written about in the above blog post. I've written about these products and/or stores because I truly love them! *All photos are property of LikeMyBaby.blogspot.com. Please do not steal my photos or content. Thanks!