Ellie's Owl Baby Shower

Yesterday, I co-hosted a baby shower for my dear friend, Ellie, and her baby bundle-to-be. Our theme was owl / woodlands to match her baby girl's nursery and I couldn't be happier with how the afternoon turned out!

First, the owl theme / decor was one of my favorite baby showers I've hosted. I ordered this invitation from Etsy to set the "nesting" vibe for the party. The invitations were a bit on the pricey side for what I like to pay for an PDF print-your-own invitation, but I absolutely loved the finished product.

My co-host, Danielle, offered to host the party at her house and tackle the food portion of the party. No last-minute scramble to clean my house with a toddler afoot = WIN. Plus, the food part of parties always stresses me out big time, so I was glad to shift that responsibility and I knew Danielle would do a fabulous job, as she did.

The Mama-To-Be dishing up a plate of delicious foods

For decorations, I made an owl simple diaper cake and donned bird nests and a white ceramic owl I gifted Ellie after the shower to put in her nursery. I also made a "tree of wisdom" with twigs from my backyard and cards to hang from the branches that said "Wise Words for the Mama-To-Be." Giving Ellie baby advice was one of the shower activities which turned out to be kind of funny as half the party guests were seasoned mothers and the other half didn't have kids.

For other baby shower games, we played a round of "Guess the Celebrity Mom" with pictures pinned to each party guests backs, which everyone seemed to have a fun time with, and "How Much To Build Ellie's Nest?" which was a variation of Price Is Right where we guessed the cost of essential baby items.

Ellie opened oodles of gifts from her friends and received lots of baby items. Derrick (Ellie's husband) made a brief appearance while we were opening gifts and one of Ellie's friends gifted Derrick a bag of Blow Pops since Ellie's boobs will be otherwise occupied for a while. Everyone had a big laugh at that -- I think Derrick was a little embarrassed though!

Ellie opening gifts ...

Finally, I made party favor treats for all the guests and tied a note on each one that said "Thanks for coming to Ellie's baby shower. It was a hoot!" I used this white chocolate gorp recipe which was really yummy and easy to make.

It was a great day celebrating Ellie and her baby girl. I'm looking forward to welcoming this little one into our circle of friends later this summer and having my Baby #2 be so close in age with Ellie's girl. Many more memories ahead!

Ellie and I after the party
(plus our baby bumps at 28 weeks and 12 weeks, respectively)