My best friend Lisa asked me to host her shower! “At my place,” she said. UGH. Her place is beautiful, but it’s like a museum—filled with expensive things always arranged just so. I almost feel like I’m messing it up just by standing there, breathing. There was no way I could bring my kiddie party aesthetic to her house. No, not Oz, nor Alice nor pancakes would do for this event. It needed to be elegant.
To add to the challenge, Lisa had one simple request: NO GAMES. “No one is measuring my belly or guessing my weight. Capiche?” “Sure,” I said, hiding the puffy mallet behind my back…
Request granted. We threw Lisa a shower filled with fun, food, laughter and no traditional baby shower games. Neither future mom nor guests were humiliated by having to taste melted chocolate bars in diapers and guessing which kind they were. No, we’d had enough of that at my shower…
I didn’t want it to look like an explosion of circus colors. I like when party decor blends in with its surroundings.
At one point Lisa got a little irritated when I tried to move this long vase of 3 dozen roses out of the way while we set the table. Water spilled on the rug. Rarely does anything spill on the rug at Lisa’s house. You know, because children don’t live there… yet. I admit, a smile crossed my face when I thought about all the different kinds of joy this baby girl would soon bring her.
My fabulous co-hosts Julie and Beth got the delicious coconut cupcakes from Joan’s on Third and the sandwiches and salad from Lemonade. I had tons of fun customizing the banquet cards and food tags by Hello My Sweet. I also downloaded a bunch of vintage circus posters at Free Vintage Posters.
These caramel apples were so easy to make. Just unwrap a bag of caramels, melt, and dip!
We also had plenty of upscale food.
Julie, Lisa and me in the photo booth. Clearly I enjoy this the most. Props purchased unpainted from Michael’s.
Babies are tiny miracles. Cookies are also tiny miracles. Seen here: Girl Scout and Classic Barnum’s.
A baby shower for my BFF wouldn’t be complete without strong woman soda. Because girlfriend can carry a baby in her belly and if she HAD to, she could totally carry a fully-grown man on her shoulders. If she had to. To make the labels, I printed up a sheet of vintage strong women purchased from MagicPug. Then used a 2-inch scallop punch and pasted them onto construction paper.
Strong women– sideshow no more!
What’s a circus without a fortune teller? Zoltar was unavailable, but we had our tarot cards read by the amazing Erin Muir. She doesn’t normally wear a head scarf, but she gladly agreed to “get theatrical.” I love when everyone plays along. 
Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, it did…
Mommytonk arrived for a private show! I met the the brilliance that is Mommytonk, Shannon Noel and Stacie Burrows, when I performed in Expressing Motherhood. They sang a song called Farm Box and I died. And after I stopped dying, I asked if they’d sing at the shower. Not only did they say yes, they came bedazzled in circus jewels! We were all a little starstruck.
And they wrote 2 new songs just for Lisa!
Welcome to parenthood, Lisa and Gil. Your baby girl has won the parent lottery. And don’t worry, we won’t judge you when the house gets trashed. We’ll just hand you your club card.
Guests headed home with small, earth-friendly party favors.
I’m biased but I thought it was a pretty fantastic party.
And I even sneaked in a game…
