Baby Shower: You are my Sunshine!

I am so SO excited to be writing a post about the Baby Shower my sister and mom threw for me on Sunday!  I didn't have a bridal shower as it's just not something that is done in England, but these two were not going to miss the chance to celebrate Baby McBerry's upcoming arrival with family and friends!

The Venue:  We opted for Hellriegel's Inn in Painesville to house the event, which is the same place we had our American wedding last year!  They are well known for their food (which is delicious), but they also have a large room with a old fashion, family feel to it.  We had about 35 guests, so we needed somewhere spacious, but not huge!  

The tables were arranged in a U shape, making it easy for everyone to see and chat and just enjoy themselves.  We are friends with the owners and I couldn't recommend a place in the Painesville area more!

When I visit, I tend to have such a rushed stay I can't see everyone I'd like to.  This was the perfect opportunity for me to visit with everyone at once.  I don't know if people realise how often I think of them and how much I miss them.

 

(Talk about a blast from the past - the three of us grew up together!)

The Menu:    Breakfast was on the offer for our midday shower!  Pancakes and syrup, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, fresh fruit and pastries.  Tea and Coffee were also on offer, but I think everyone was more interested in the Mimosa bar!  

The Dessert table housed a gorgeous sunflower cupcake cake made by Cakes to You (the icing was out of this world), plus a massive tray of our Italian cookies.  

I can't give away too much, but we had family recipes and all sorts of amazing treats on there.  The cake pops were a labour of love Erin and I trialled this week.   They are really hard to make!  How do people get them so round and pristine?!

The Decorations:  Erin really outdid herself on the decorations.  There were sunflowers, ivy and a hyacinth type flowers in small vases, wrapped with twine and set around the tables. There were also pictures of elephants and sunshine drawn by a friend's students as place mats.

The Games:   We are not big fans on playing games at showers, but we thought it would be fun to have a few activities for people.  Firstly, we had onesie decorating in the corner.  Erin had tons of onesies in different sizes and she provided fabric, stencils, fabric glue and fabric pens.  We had some adorable onesies by the end - my friends and family are so talented. 

We didn't manage to get a shot with all of them on the line - but I thought the presentation was just spot on!  Clothes pegs!  Adorable!

The other big hit was the Frozen Baby game found on Pinterest.  Erin froze little plastic babies in medicine cups and then gave one to everyone to "look after" whilst enjoying their food.  You weren't allowed to touch the baby, but if your baby melted out of the ice first, you had to shout "My water broke!" to win a prize.  We had some serious strategies in place with salt and babies being placed over cups of coffee.  

The prizes were adorable flower pots with lemon soap, sunflower seeds, candles and hand cream.  My favourite winning moment was when one of our Italian ladies shouted "The baby's out!  The baby's out!" 

We also spent a bit of time trying to guess the gender of Baby McBerry based on Old Wives tales (still half and half) and gave people notecards to try and guess the Baby's Name.  There were some hilarious options making the most of a surname like Berry.  Terry Berry and Ellie Font Berry had to top the list.

On the tables Erin also left a sheet with "Wishes for Baby" (adapted from Pinterest) for people to fill in in their own time. Erin has since put them all in a binder with the place mats and baby name suggestions.  

The Gifts:  I'm totally blown away by the generosity of my family and friends. I'm touched by the kindess and thought people put into gifts for Baby McBerry.  

One of my favourite things that we did, was asking for books instead of cards.  Being an English teacher, a mini library is incredibly important to me.  We were gifted some gorgeous books - some for infants, some for when baby grows a bit older.  The notes people left were beautiful and I cannot wait to read these stories to baby - always thinking of the person who gave the book to us.

 (My Dress)

We did an Amazon Baby Wish List in order to help with the whole transportation of gifts back to the UK.  It was fabulous because people picked out gifts and they are shipped directly to us in England.  It's been a lovely treat to get things in the post and have no idea what they are or who they are from!  I took photos of some of the gifts and Erin displayed them behind the gift table with clothes pegs.

There are a few things I'll be taking back with me, but thankfully my suitcase is HUGE and fairly empty!  My dad and friend, Jen, took loads of photos, and I thought I'd post a few pictures of some of the wonderful gifts we received.

  My cousin got us a baby calendar - there are little stickers for "firsts" or other important events.  She is currently using one for Baby James and said it is a lot easier than filling in a baby book/diary.  I LOVE the look of it and can't wait to fill it in!

 Boy or girl - Baby McBerry loves the Indians.  

My friend Jen asked me for old T Shirts B and I no longer wear a few weeks ago.  This AMAZING quilt came from Maiden Jane - the quality is outstanding!  I can totally recommend it!

 Jeri (my cousin's mother in law) knitted a few gorgeous jumpers, but I love the elephant buttons on this one!  I'm wondering if she knits adult sized....

Luckily we had the adorable Baby James on hand to seek his seal of approval on a super cool car mirror.  I'm fairly sure I'm going to hang it up in the mini - baby or not!

And finally, my mom gave me a gift and said it was from my Grandma.  If you have been reading, you'll know about my wonderful grandma and how we lost her this past September (link here and here).  There was a poem in the box (similar here) about a handkerchief which has been fashioned into a bonnet.  It's meant to be the "something old" on a wedding day. Well, I nearly lost it.  But what an amazing idea.

And that, my friends, was the Baby McBerry Shower.  It was a truly amazing day and I am so thankful and blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people.  Baby - I can't wait for you to meet these people.

Xx