For A New Little One . . .

I recently helped host a baby shower for a friend who's due to have a boy (after three girls!) any day now. The shower was held out in the country at my friend Marci's fabulous house. It was a simple and classy affair. I thought I'd share a few ideas from the shower.

We attached these simple cards, which I bought at Michaels Craft and stamped myself, to a nice branch from a tree on Marci's property using jute twine. The branch was placed in a galvanized bucket - blue, of course - and weighted down with some glass beads. Each of the guests was able to write a little message to the mom, dad and baby-to-be. At the end of the shower the entire tree, bucket and all, went home with the honored guest to decorate the little one's room until he's old enough to tear it apart.

We also had each guest custom design a plain white onesie. I taped off a 2x2 inch square on the front of the onesies and provided cardboard to insert between layers so that the Sharpie markers wouldn't bleed through. Have I ever mentioned my love of Sharpie markers? It's bizarre, but unwavering.

Some of the guests felt a little overwhelmed by the task of making a cute drawing, so we suggested catch phrases, like "Rock Star" with a simple gold star. They all turned out really cute!

I can't take responsibility for the food at the shower, but I can tell you, it was beyond yummy. Marci is my gourmet cook friend and she never disappoints. I'm totally getting the recipe for this salad that was part of the menu. I have dreamt about it no less than three times since I ate it. And yes, those are HUGE chunks of dreamy avocado. Sigh.

The mom-to-be's favorite dessert is cheesecake and I put together an array of toppings so guests could personalize their individual slice. While fruit toppings like strawberry and raspberry may appeal to some, I went straight for the chocolate caramel with candied almonds. Have mercy.

Here's the happy mom-to-be (doesn't she look fantastic?) enjoying a few hours with good friends and good food and doing what she should do - celebrate herself!