Frog-tastic Baby Shower

Whew! The work is finally done, and we successfully pulled of a unique, adorable and very fun frog-themed baby shower.

Finished invitation

I was pleasantly surprised by the spaciousness of the park pavilion we rented at Bay Shore Park; it definitely looks smaller from the outside! It was also refreshingly cool inside, and it was prettier than I expected. It even had a huge, gorgeous stone fireplace (which we obviously didn't use, except to stash door prizes on). The only con is that the bathrooms didn't smell too great, but that's to be expected at a public park, right?

The setup went fairly smoothly; I had a couple little girls help me cover the tables with plastic sheets in lime green, yellow and blue. I probably would have purchased a lighter aqua blue (to look like water) for all the tables if I had been the one shopping, but the colors we had actually turned out really cute too.

Next, I placed the large felt lily pad cut outs I made (the night before...) on the tables. I had enough for one large and one small on each table, plus a nice big one to put under the cupcake display.

These were really simple to make. I bought two yards each of 72" wide felt in two different colors, and printed a large template at work with several sizes of lily pad nested into one another. Starting with the largest size, I spread out the felt and traced the shape a few times, making sure to utilize as much of the felt as possible (I hate wasting materials). I ended up with about 20 felt lily pads, which I cut out by hand. I did get a blister on my scissors thumb... but it was for the sake of art!

All of my pets are incredibly helpful.

Stacks o' pads.

On top of the lily pads I placed clusters of painted mason jars to hold the variety of swamp weeds I had picked out of the ditches around work on Friday. The cattails were just starting to bud, so they were mostly just the grassy parts. It still looked really cute.

The jars were super simple to paint too... just spray paint the insides. I did have to get creative and make some wire supports to hold up the bundles of plants, so I cut two pieces of wire (around 4-6 inches long, depending on the size of the jar opening) and wrapped them around a fat marker, twisting the wires together. I then spread the ends out and curved them a bit to fit inside the rings of the jar lids.

Each place setting was finished off with a cute froggy Bingo card and pen, a lily pad-shaped wish card (similar to the onesies I made a couple years ago), and a blank envelope for thank you cards and prize drawings.

I also decorated the gift and diaper raffle tables, and created a "wishing pond" to toss all the little wish cards into. Each of these areas were labeled with a framed sign resting on a small felt lily pad.

The main course food was also labeled. I got these cute frames from the Dollar Tree (I also bought a hardcover copy of Jen Lancaster's The Tao of Martha for a buck... and I'm so inspired!).

I must mention the cupcakes as well... my stepmom and I made them the day before, and both varieties were absolutely amazing.

My cupcakes (the green and white ones) were key lime flavored cake filled with lime curd and topped with cream cheese frosting and lime zest (all home-made). Yum.

A trial batch... not very pretty, but delicious! 

Shirley's cupcakes were plain white (on request of the mom-to-be), but they were by no means simple. She found a recipe for "the world's best white cupcakes" online... and while they were definitely gourmet, I don't know if I'd ever spend an hour and a half just making frosting. Literally, she stood at the stove stirring this huge glob of flour (?) and sugary stuff for 45 minutes! Then, after it cooled in the fridge, we had to mix in six sticks (!) of butter. 

Fortunately, both cupcakes went over well (and didn't completely melt) and I only ended up with a few left over to take to work.

As for the shower itself... it was a great success. Lots of people showed up, and everyone had fun. The parents-to-be got some really nice stuff... including this amazing hand-made baby quilt! Ha ha...