HOW TO PLAN A GREAT, NO-FUSS BABY SHOWER
My mom and I at Baby Z’s baby shower
I knew that I wanted to have a “Sprinkle,” ala a second baby shower to celebrate the coming of Baby #2. There were a few reasons. First, I wanted to have an old school, backyard fiesta to celebrate our miracle and also bring family and friends together. As a kid some of my favorite memories are from the birthday parties and summer holiday get-togethers that we’d throw in the backyard. No fancy decorations— simply family, food, the Isley Brothers and Frankie Beverly & Maze. I wanted to recreate that warm, nostalgic feeling of togetherness and warm, fuzzy family times. Simpler times.
I also knew that having a sprinkle might also help from a practical, baby prepping standpoint. With our recent move, my family and I are in transition, as far as our living space. A lot of our items are packed deep away in a storage facility that we’re unable to access until we move into our permanent home. From a self-care and family perspective, I wanted to make sure that we’re set up and ready.
So here we are, about five weeks before we’re set to welcome Baby #2 and I wanted to make sure that my simple backyard BBQ Sprinkle was on point. I was grateful that many folks RSVPed. After several weeks of weekend planning, with my mom, getting vendor suggestions from my cousin, and help from a good friend, I tried to resist the resurgence of my perfectionist, party-planner self. But as I checked out decorations and party favors online, I couldn’t help myself. That girl was still alive, and despite running on pregnancy exhaustion fumes, I was determined to produce an amazing affair (or at least Instagram worthy :).
I must admit that I felt overwhelmed as the date got closer. Thankfully my nesting, slash get-it-done hormones kicked in, in the nick of time. I’ve been craving lots of clean foods, particularly fruit and vegetables during this pregnancy, so I decided on a back to the land, African theme for the sprinkle. Here’s how I pulled it off…
My party-planning cousin and I
Lots of help!: My mom and husband played a big role in helping out. My mom inspired me from a creative standpoint. Her bohemian vision was on point. It was great to get the hubs’ opinion because he has little patience for pouring over details. He helped me keep “Perfectionist Penelope” at bay and simply execute. One of my dearest friends, who also has an infant, not only helped me research party locations, caterers and vendors, but also helped coordinate the guest list and RSVPs, went shopping to pick up drinks and decorations and acted as a sounding board. My amazing professional party planning cousin also stepped in. She has experience working as an executive chef, has an incredible eye, generous heart, is creative and resourceful. In addition to suggesting great vendors, she came thru in the final hour (literally the night before, she packed up her two kids and camped out at our spot) to help me with decorations, wrap the party favors, pretty up the utensils, and sprinkle her overall magic on the entire decor and feel. My only regret was not being as forthcoming about my need for help before the last minute. (I have issues delegating. Working on it!)
Evites: Initially I wanted to send out pretty and polished invites in the mail. (Everyone likes to get something other than bills and I felt like it would add a finished touch.) But we were running low on time after the rigorous process of deciding on registry items, so Evite was a logical solution. Evite has many different free templates to choose from, so selecting an invite that aligned with our theme was seamless.
Identify great vendors: After working in the party planning industry for years, my cousin has an impressive list of vendor resources. When it came to online spots with quick delivery turn-arounds she turned me on to Webrestaurant Store, where she found these awesome disposal and eco-friendly bamboo plates. She also suggested Pick on Us for natural themed utensils, serving spoons and bowls and Jollity for party favors and supplies. I went the Amazon Prime route for last minute knick-knacks, like fabric markers. (We asked guests to sign a quilt for the baby). For gorgeous, tribal themed kente cloth, mom and I hit up Michael Levine in L.A.’s downtown garment district. We had the material cut for tablecloths and it ended up looking fab. I also made a separate trip to Moskatels and racked up on pretty paper lanterns, streamers and other decorative items to pretty up our outdoor patio space. I found funky polka dot and animal themed balloons at a local neighborhood party store, Dina’s Flowers. (Btw, I highly recommend checking out mom and pop spots when party planning. Their pricing is great and yay for shopping local and supporting small businesses!) I rented tables, chairs and umbrellas from Imperial Party Rentals. They’re super affordable, reliable, and deliver/pick up the goods a day before and after your event, to eliminate any “OMG where the F— are my tables?” stress.
Get a caterer. It will save your sanity: Although catering for a low-key, mostly family affair may sound extravagant, if you’re a million weeks pregnant, don’t have the energy to grocery shop and cook, organize a potluck or beg your aunties and uncles to make their signature dish, for the love of all things holy— please hire a caterer! We went with a vegan caterer, who also specializes in local neighborhood events. She made a delicious kale salad, called “Nappy Greens,” which I loved even more than I loved the dish’s name, a potato/cauliflower salad that I still crave, and a bomb batch of BBQ lentils, which paired well with tortilla chips for a nacho-like taste. The vegan caterer also happens to be a family friend, so were able to score a great rate. One of my amazing cousins whipped up an incredible batch of pumpkin/cheesecake tarts which were delish! My grandmother also hooked it up by baking pound cake and our signature family dessert, Lemon Jello Cake. If you have room in your budget, food trucks are also a great idea. You can hire them for a few hours, allow folks to order what they want and everything is contained in terms of prep and clean-up.
My mom and our family friend, Venela. She was also our amazing vegan caterer.
Budget who/say what? Between juggling moving costs, setting up in a new city, preschool costs, and planning for a second child, for matters of transparency, our baby shower budget was essentially non-existent! But we found savings in working with mom and pop vendors and family friends. I’m not saying that you should devalue their services by offering them lower rates, but you may be able to barter talents in exchange for services. Borrowing also helps. We were able to borrow beautiful wooden screens to section off certain areas of the patio space. They not only helped from a design perspective, but also allowed us to hide party supplies behind them. We also borrowed a deluxe wooden bench, which we added bright, colorful pillows and a tribal themed throw to. It acted as a beautiful backdrop for pictures. We borrowed additional tables for the food and repurposed a lemonade stand into a gifting table. We also borrowed serving spoons and bowls, food display stands, dessert stands, additional tablecloths and vases from family.
Gift bag candles
Disclosure: My small business earns a small commission when you shop above using the Amazon animal print bags link.
Keep Kids in Mind: Although the shower was initially open to women and children, by the time it was all said and done, all types of folks were in the house (We see you husbands). But as far as kids were concerned, it was important to make sure they had some specifics to keep them happy. Vegan potato salad and turkey dogs were a hit. For party favors I made cookies, which we placed in animal print gift bags for kid specific party favors. (For the adults’ gifts, we wrapped safari-printed scented candles that I found at Cost Plus World Market, in burlap that we found at Moskatels, and topped them with colorful ribbons). For the kids, we also thought about games for them to play. We had face painting available (c/o the hubs, thanks again). We also considered renting a bounce house from Magic Jump Rentals, but opted for a family member to supervise/coordinate homegrown creative games like freeze tag and hide and seek.
Animal print gift bags for the kids
One of the biggest lessons that I learned throughout the process was to let go of control, allow family and friends to help. The sprinkle was beautiful and ended up being exactly what I imagined — plenty of much needed family and friends time. But it didn’t go on without a few hitches along the way. For example, the day of lots of folks got stuck in traffic (even the caterers) and didn’t arrive until much later than anticipated. But through it all, I let gratitude lead me. I finally sat my swollen footed, busy, preggo self down-relaxed, laughed, and enjoyed the moment.
*Note: I wrote this post in 2017, before the birth of our son :)
My family