Baby Shower:Winnie UN-Pooh

I thought my baby shower designing was over for friends after I finished by BFF Jennifer Skog’s baby shower. But NO…the baby’s keep coming! This time it was for my Sister in Law Teri and my soon to be nephew. With a large guest list the parties got split and I, along with the soon to be Grandmas (my Mom Lauren and Teri’s Mom Donna) got to work. My sister in law is AWESOME, I’m very lucky to have her and I’m not just saying this because she lets me do whatever I want to her house and her parties =) She always tells me “I trust you”. ACK how nerve racking to live up to that and not disappoint? But, I always seem to make her happy and that makes me happy!

Her only request was that she did NOT want a Winnie the Pooh shower. But, she wanted Winnie the Pooh. Huh…scratching head? I took this as she did not want a Pooh explosion or your typical Pooh themed party materials…fine by me! My Pooh skills were a bit rusty being in my almost mid thirties. Did I really just say that? After some quick research (how did I ever survive before Google?) I remembered that Pooh and his buds lived in the “100 Acre Woods“. There was my ticket. I could focus on creating a beautiful woodsy theme and just splash Pooh and the gang while using references like honey. That is why I entitled this post Winnie UN Pooh. Because the Pooh is scarce.

I really didn’t want to use any cartoon Poohs so that made splashing him in a challenge. I found a terra cotta Pooh statue on eBay and I knew that it would be an awesome focal point for my room. What I did not want to be a focal point in the room, was the ugly conference room white board stuck on the wall. So I used a fabric wrapped canvas to hide the eye-sore. A tree branch I drug home from the creek by my house (with a toddler and dog in tow…boy was I a sight for my neighbors) and a chalkboard sign were just the right additions to setting my theme.

Tree stumps and wooden discs were used throughout the shower. They were the perfect way to layer my tables. For another layering tool I used some book boxes I found at Ross. They were originally in a Paris theme but I recovered them with fabric and made faux leather book spines. I then added various Winnie the Pooh book names that I made on the computer and topped them off with metal label holders with brads. This was one of my favorite details of this shower. And let’s talk about these adorable cakes. I found this Beehive cake idea from Martha Stewart and knew it was just perfect! Janice (Teri’s Aunt) so graciously donated her skills to make this happen. They turned out so great.

I stenciled a Winnie the Pooh quote on the dessert table runner. I really feel like every Mother feels this way toward their children. It read…

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Our guests took home honey jars as their party favor. The labels read “Thanks from the Mama-to-bee”. Again I didn’t want to use typical Pooh cartoon characters in the shower so I found coloring book drawings and printed them onto weathered paper to use on signs throughout the shower. The huge tree trunk still had live moss on it. I was ECSTATIC when my Aunt and Mom brought this home from a trip to my Dad’s. Yes, I was flipping my lid over a Mossy tree stump….what can I say…it’s the little things for me. I kept paying visits to it in the garage to check that the moss would last until show time and it DID!

I used a grouping of three wooden place mats as the runner down each table setting. I alternated napkins under each plate. One was a solid turquoise with a gold beaded trim and the other, a buttery yellow with s subtle white contemporary pattern. Chalkboard name cards with feathers and raffia trails sat on each plate. Accessories like birdcages, snails and tin buckets filled with evergreens helped in aiding my woodsy feel.

For food we wanted to keep it simple. Since we were attending this party we had a lot to do for set up and keeping the menu manageable meant more fun during the shower for us! But, just because the food is simple does not mean it needs to look like you didn’t slave over it. We bought rotisserie chickens and mango sausages from Costco that we used as our main course. Accompanied by spinach salad (a family recipe), fruit kabobs, fresh corn salad, salt and pepper potato chips and biscuits with honey butter. It was delicious, looked great and gave our shower a sort of down home woodsy feel. Our guests did not go home hungry! The turquoise fabric was made into a runner and is what I used to create my color palette for the shower. Turquoise, gold, brown, black and kelly green.

Our beverage station held sweet tea, water with cucumber and wine for guest to help themselves to.

We had all the guests address their own envelopes for the busy Mama to use for her Thank you cards.

We had such a great time and I was so happy to see how this design turned out. Big thanks to my worker bee Grandmas, Jennifer Skog, Janice Williams for our adorable cakes and Lori and Eddie our laborers during set up and cleanup.

Left to Right: Me – Mama To Be Teri – Lauren (My Mom and now Grandma of 2)