(This post has been a long time coming, and I’m beyond excited to share it with you today!)
Now that Skyler has been in our lives for over two months, it’s crazy to think that we had no idea whether he would greet us as a boy or girl at the time of the shower in honor of his arrival earlier this year.
Dress c/o PinkBlush Maternity // Necklace c/o Arlo & Arrows // Shoes purchased from ALDO
Back at the end of January, Scott and I traveled to Orlando when I was 30 weeks pregnant to see some familiar faces and celebrate a long-awaited little one with a memorable shower. It was hosted by my sister with help from my mom and Aunts at my sister’s lovely home in Winter Springs, Florida.
(Our very talented family friend, Lauren, took the majority of the photos featured in this post. She had to run to another shoot early on in the party, so I have my own photos included as well. I’m pretty sure that you can tell hers apart from mine. Orlando friends, definitely check out her work. She’s amazing and specializes in family and event shoots!)
Since we didn’t know the gender of our baby, it made planning the colors and theme for the party slightly tricky. To help take some of the stress away (and since planning coincided with the busy holidsay season), I looked over Minted, my go-to online shop for customizable cards and coordinating party supplies, and I picked out invitations to help set the colors.
I found a contemporary pattern in yellow, black, white, and grey look and was more than thrilled when Minted agreed to send the invitations along with some decorating staples over to my sister to plan away.
I edited addresses and personal information out of these photos, but I wanted to point out the back that addressed a possible not-so-obvious thought. Since we live in Brooklyn and in a small apartment, we kindly mentioned that gifts aren’t expected, but if anyone felt inclined to bring something that they keep my travel and lack of storage space in mind. My mom, sister, and I went back and forth on how to note this for a long time, and that’s really the best that we could come up with.
To help make it easier for anyone who really wanted to give a gift, we registered at Buy Buy Baby and Amazon, two options that offer free shipping. We started getting surprises at our doorstep as soon as we sent the invitations out, and this made it all very exciting for longer than just this weekend.
My planning team did a wonderful job getting things together. The party food included some of my favorites like mini cupcakes, chocolate covered pretzels, chicken salad, pasta salad, and an assortment of olives. The menu was well thought out and everything on the table tasted delicious!
I was also able to pick out a variety of table decorations and banners, thanks to Minted. I love their variety of banners, labels, and table confetti for showers. It’s all so adorable.
While I had an idea what the decorations would look like, I was completely surprised by our very special “guest books” gifted by my parents.
My dad took a photo that we took of Scott kissing my belly on New Year’s Eve and painted it on a canvas with an empty frame so people could sign it. (Unfortunately, his painting abilities were not something that got passed down to me. Hehe.)
We have the picture hanging in Skyler’s nursery and it’s such a priceless keepsake.
They also put a copy of Oh Baby, the Places You’ll Go on the table for people to leave messages for us to read to our baby once he made is way into the world.
Believe it or not, I didn’t peek at any of the messages until after Skyler was born! I purposely saved the gift of reading all of the loving messages to him soon after we brought him home from the hospital. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t cry doing so. I partially blame hormones, but it was such a sweet way to capture the love from that day and share it with our baby.
Attending a shower in honor of you is a very surreal thing. There were loved ones from many different walks of my life there, just for our sweet baby, and it was really neat to have everyone in one room. It reminded me of my bridal shower many moons ago.
We had family and friends dating all the way back to pre-school,
I had the love from a family I used to nanny for (who now has a child of her own!),
I had friends from college,
and a whole lot of love from my days as an Orlando Magic Dancer!
(Especially this pregnant one!)
After mingling around for a bit, my friends Brittany and Melissa led everyone to the patio for a few baby shower games. I’ve had my fair share of attending showers with “poopy” diaper treats and guessing how big the mom-to-be’s belly is with string, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
We did the classic “What’s In Your Purse” game where whoever had the most items off of the list in their purse won. My favorite games, however, were simple mix-and-match and multiple choice rounds of mommy-themed questionnaires.
They bought the downloadable designs off of an Etsy shop, and it looks like you can customize the colors! I was actually surprised at how little I knew when it comes to answering them. That’s okay though because I didn’t plan on winning and I spent most of this time catching up with friends that I hadn’t seen in so, so long.
Lauren has been my best friend since middle school and flew down from New York to be there. (We both live in NYC now, which is pretty awesome.)
It was a treat to have a handful of my friends drive and fly in from places all over the country!
Scott made an appearance towards the end of the shower so that he could see our friends in person and thank them for coming. It isn’t every day that the two of us are back at home in Florida!
While I was home this trip, my mom shared an old photo album of her baby shower for me and it was really nice to reminisce with her and listen to her stories. It’s hard to live far away from family, but it’s always comforting to know that a visit is just a short plane ride away. (And I’m really looking forward to coming home as a family of three in just a few more weeks!)
It blows my mind that my niece is almost as tall as me and my nephew is up to my shoulders. It was neat to have them there and it feels like it was just yesterday when we had baby showers honoring their arrival into the world!
I think it’s safe to say that our baby has been loved by many from the very moment that we announced that he would be coming into the world.
I have attended many baby showers in the past, and it was the most amazing feeling knowing that this time everyone was gathering for me and the upcoming arrival of our little miracle.
Thank you so much to everyone who helped out, planned, came for a hug, and showered me with love this day.
I will never forget how that felt, and Baby Skyler cannot wait to meet all of you very soon!
This is not a sponsored post, but to be perfectly transparent, the invitations were complimentary from Minted. My dress and necklace were also gifted in exchange for a mention in this post. Thank you so much for reading about this special day!
Emily @ Pizza & Pull-ups
How fun! Glad you were showered with so much love before the little guy arrived. Hope you have a nice weekend.
Emily @ Pizza & Pull-ups recently posted…Friday Favorites
Heather
Thanks Emily! It all went by so fast. Crazy to think that was already six months ago!
Marielle
Awww so pretty! The pictures are gorgeous! Sounds like it was a perfect shower!
Marielle recently posted…A Summer with Toddlers
Heather
Thanks so much! It was a day that I will always remember and cherish. Thanks for reading!
Paulina Gaitan
Absolutely loved this! A must for the summer bucket list with kids