Jungle Baby Shower! (part 1)

Last weekend my Mom and I planned my sister in-laws baby shower!!  So excited!  Kelly is my beautiful, wonderful sister in-law and is nice enough to let me document her shower!  Our theme is "Jungle Animal Babies" As I say whenever I plan a party, it takes 3 days.  Day 1 is creating the menu and shopping.  Day 2 is prepping all the food (meaning baking everything that needs to be baked, washing, chopping all that) and decorating.  Day 3 is putting everything together and the party.  This is the most efficient way to throw a party! 

The shower was on Sunday so on Friday, my Mom and I created a menu and went out and bought all the food.  Then Saturday, we did all the baking, prepping and decorating.  For the menu, we are sticking to some go-to classics with a little touch of new recipes.  When you are throwing a large party, I recommend you stick to things you've made before.  An experiment gone wrong can ruin your day. 

Here is the menu: 

 Appetizers 

 Tortilla roll-ups (made by my fabulous Aunt Margie and cousin Christy) 

Acapulco Dip (made by my fabulous Aunt Margie and cousin Christy) 

 Blue cheese gourges 

 Zucchini roll-ups 

 Fall Salad

Orzo Salad

Finger Sandwiches: Turkey and cranberry, chicken salad and cucumber, watercress 

 Mini red velvet cupcakes 

 Mini carrot cakes 

 Triple Chocolate Bundt cake 

 Cheesecake Parfait with fruit 

 Beverages: Jungle Punch with a fresh fruit ring 

 Pink Champagne, with blueberries floated (we don't know if it's a girl or a boy!) 

 Wine 

 Lemon Water 

So Day 2 we baked the cakes, made the cheesecake and and gourges and prepped the zucchini, chicken salad and sliced the turkey breast.  Getting all these things out of the way will make assemble on Day 3 so much easier! Another great tip is to label all of the serving dishes you are going to use with a post-it of what you are going to put in them.  This way, you know you have a platter for everything and you won't forget any of your dishes! Here are some of the awesome decorations!

My Mom, who is amazing with flowers, did this arrangement in a trash can we found at Target!  I think it turned out adorable!!  She cut florist's green foam to fit in the opening and then just arranged the flowers and filled with water.  They have so many cute trash cans in the bathroom section, they had frogs, ducks, etc.

This sign was so cute!!  My very talented Uncle made this.  He free handed the animals that were on the bedding she registered for.  This made a great addition to the decor!  If you are not as artistic (like me!) you could make a similar sign with butcher paper and stencils.

These were the table centerpieces.  We got a little plant and wrapped it in a piece of burlap and tied it with a piece of twine.  We then set the plant on a woven plate charger and added some jungle beany babies.  (was nice to reuse those little guys) We also had some jungle stuffed animals around the house and little toy plastic ones we decorated the food with which you will see in the next post. : ) 

Here is a pic of our fresh fruit ring for the jungle punch.  I love making these anytime I make punch!  I think it adds a really nice touch!  It keeps the punch cold and as it melts you have beautiful fruit floating in it!

Use a bundt pan and place mint leaves and all your favorite fruit inside.  Gently fill with water and freeze overnight.  When you take it out the next day, run the metal side under some warm water until the ring pops out.  If you try to force it, it might break. 

Stay tuned for tomorrows post when I include finished shots and recipes!

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