My friend Amanda is throwing a baby shower for her Bestie Breann! She asked me to help with some of the styling and decorations for the party. I was honored!
She decided on a rustic elephant theme, the invitations were a reclaimed wood backdrop with an adorable cartoon elephant wearing a flower crown. I mean you had me at elephants and flower crowns.
She came running into my office with a photo on her phone and a sparkle in her eye, she said, “Tisha! What do you think about these cookies???” She showed me the photo and it was the cute cartoon elephant from the invitation in sugar cookie form. I was dying, they were absolutely stunning. I had been wanting to learn to make fancy sugar cookies for a while now so this only seemed like the perfect opportunity. Unfortunately I decided to learn on a fairly intricate design…the pressure was on!
These little suckers took me over 8 hrs to make, I only ended up bringing 12 elephant cookies to the party and I made some plaques that said “Baby” on them to fill the platter. There were 21 cookies total. I wasn’t completely satisfied with the outcome, but for my first attempt I took it as a win.
We got to talking about decoration ideas, Amanda is a new Mom to her adorable little dude, Riley. So we wanted to have decor that was very simple but still make a statement.
She bought a bunch of silk floral on sale at the craft store and yardage of greenery from a bargain app. We decided on making a little rose curtain out of the hanging greenery and adding some Rose buds at different length to the vines. This would act as our back drop for the food table. She was able to make these in one afternoon! Quick, simple, and very cute!
Speaking of the food table, her Husband Keith made this beautiful farm house table out of reclaimed wood! Amanda found these vintage sewing machine tables online and had Keith turn them into the base of their new custom table! This didn’t need any decoration on it as it was a beautiful piece all on it’s own! I love surrounding myself with creative people, I have some extremely talented friends.
Amanda made the cutest diaper cakes that acted as decor for the food table. I’m normally not a huge fan of the whole diaper cake idea… but she converted me. They were beautiful and the perfect addition to the spread.
In order to keep Amanda from having to rearrange her front room too much we decided we would so a photobooth style backdrop to hide the entertainment unit. This was a fun activity for Guests to strike a pose in front of and also acted as a beautiful back drop when Breann and her husband Mike were opening their gifts.
Amanda made this floral garland for the front of the dessert table! We tied jute string around the center and then just taped the string to the inside of the drawer.
Ronnie helped the day of as well, he took on these beautiful cakes! He used one of our favorite party hacks, the grocery store!!! He bought the cakes naked and then decorated them with arrangements of fresh floral. They were as delicious as they were beautiful and took him all of 30 minutes the day of the party to put together.
Tisha’s Tip– to make this even one step easier, buy them a head of time and throw them in the freezer. It’ll save you the hassle of running around the day of the party if you don’t have the extra help.
Funny story about this “dessert table” I bought it 10 years ago for my first ever walk in closet to use as my makeup vanity. I found it in the children’s section at Target and I’m pretty sure I paid less than $100 for it. Fast forward 10 years and I’ve used it as a gift table, bar, and dessert table for parties. I love repurposing items I have around the house to save a little extra money!
Left to right: Amanda, Myself, Breann, and Ronnie
This party turned out to be a huge success, everyone came together and created something magical. We had just as much fun setting it up!
Tisha’s Tip- Delegate specific tasks with clear expectations for the day of the party so you aren’t feeling overwhelmed. This will make it possible for you to enjoy the party you are hosting.
