A Vintage Book Baby Shower

Last weekend I hosted a vintage themed library shower for my sister in law. It was an absolutely beautiful September day in Minnesota. Positively idyllic. They're having a baby girl so we had a rather strong pink theme, and I got a little cutesy with some of the details.The shower gave me the opportunity to indulge in my love for vintage, for books, and for flowers. Here are some of the pics and details....

Decorations

We had the party in my backyard in a tent a friend loaned me. It was about the size of a carport and fit 3 5' round tables perfectly. We rented the chairs and tables from a local party store. I used natural materials from around our yard to decorate the tent poles and interior. We had grapevine, dried hydrangeas, and these annoying little trees that keep growing like weeds. So I cleaned up the yard a bit AND decorated the tent at the same time. BONUS! I also had a partial roll of white tulle ribbon, a large roll of vintage pink and white ribbon, and a lot of bits of vintage lace fabrics that my mom had scavenged for me. These I just hung everywhere to soften the interior of the tent. The absolute perfect finishing touch for the tent was the banner over the entrance. Etsy artist, The Mad Stamper makes these gorgeous banners for weddings, birthdays, and baby showers.

 The tables were covered with white table cloths layered, with vintage floral table cloths over the top. We used mis-matched plates and silverware, and the centerpiece of each table was the floral arrangement. I made three small bouquets of sunflowers, mums, roses, hydrangea, sedum, salal, and leucadendron. The vases had a illustrated sheet torn from a children's book and secured with string. Each was sitting on a pretty green and floral tray I picked up at the Junk Bonanza the week before. The apples on each tray (seen in the first pic shown) were put there just before the party by my cousin's almost three year old little boy. He picked them off the tree- how cute is that?

Party Favors

At the far end of the tent I had a huge arrangement set on a little white draped card table. It stopped the eye and made a visual end to the tent. It also worked great as a table to set the going away party favors, individually wrapped cake pops shaped like baby rattles. I have to say I'm starting to get a little addicted to making cake pops- they're just SO CUTE! I even made gluten free cakepops shaped like footballs for the boys watching football during the party. My son LOVES them. 

 When the guests arrived at the party I had them go through the house and onto the deck before heading down to the tent. The front walk of my house, the deck, and the grass all had rose petals scattered. On the deck I had my little antique patio table set up with an arrangement, and handmade fabric corsages; one for each guest. I think I told you a few posts ago I was dyeing vintage fabrics and trims. I pinned each corsage to a piece of vintage children's book paper to keep the library theme going. The Mama to be got her own very special badge and her very own pillowcase draped chair. She looked beautiful!

 

Food

The party was mid afternoon so we served a light luncheon of salads, little open faced cucumber sandwiches, caramel toffee scones, raspberry tarts, and cake balls. For drinks we had a bowl of punch and one of cider. We had planned on tea but it was such a warm day we didn't bother with hot drinks. We ate after the guests arrived, opened presents, and then served chocolate mousse in little glass trifle and cognac dishes my mother and I had been picking up at thrift shops all summer. I honestly didn't think anyone would finish theirs after everything else but most everyone took one. They looked so pretty I don't think they could refuse. Plus, my mom does make a mean chocolate mousse. :) The refreshments were served on these sweet little pedestal plates my mom makes from beautiful old dishes and sells in her etsy shop. We stacked them for a gorgeous vintage look. To pull the library theme in one more time I scattered more vintage children's book paper on the serving table.

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I know this was a HUGE post but I really appreciated finding information on other websites about baby showers and thought I'd do a really thorough post with lots and lots of details for anyone else who might want to plan their own vintage style event. I hope you enjoyed the pics! 

Photo credits: Janel Zappe