Sweet Little Monster Baby Shower

Spring is finally here, and I'm sure we can all agree that this winter was a very long and trying one.  The one saving grace to a winter like this, was an abundance of snow days!  There is something about a snow day for a teacher.  It's a  warm, fuzzy, hang out in your sweat pants kind of day.  It's a sweet little surprise during the week, right when you need it the most.  It's a day full of plans for getting caught up on all that schoolwork, or getting caught up on life in general. Either way, it's a day full of promise for wonderful activity or lack thereof.  As for myself, I'm just grateful I didn't have to drive up the hills to my house through the snow at the day's end!  For me, the best part of a snow day is just standing in my living room, looking out the window watching the snow fall.  It's amazing how snow can be a beautiful thing when you're safe and warm inside your house, and horrible when you have to drive through it.

My daughter is having her first baby in a few weeks and we just had her baby shower.   It was a very rainy day, but the up side was that it wasn't snowing! 

I spent many of those snowed in days the past few months creating a monster of a baby shower....literally.  Since we had so many snow days,  I took advantage of each one to work on the decorations for the baby shower.  Even before we found out the baby was going to be a boy, I had 2 baby shower themes in mind.  If it was a girl, I wanted to do a fairytale shower.  If it was a boy, I wanted to do a little monster baby shower.  So about a week before Christmas, I found out it would definitely be a baby monster theme.

I searched the web, Pinterest, and my brain, and came up with some fun ideas. Being a graphic designer, my daughter decided to create the invitations herself, which I initially felt bad about, but actually was glad she did.  They were amazingly adorable, complete with fuzzy monsters with varied expressions in each of our chosen colors of lime, orange and turquoise!   

 

For the tables I created some cute monsters which were paired up (one large and one small) at each table.   I made 2 tulle wreaths  I found on Pinterest which I hung above the drink table.  I made a swag of paper flags and staggered letters of the baby's name  painted in monster letters and hung it on the gift table.  I made a version of this adorable monster head sign.  I also made another sign welcoming our baby monster with more paper flags at the entrance to the venue.  I created a version of this fabulous looking cake.  My version was truly a monster ( 2 16" x 2"layers!). Besides my daughter, I think the cake was the star of the show!

 

    

      

I made some monster stuffies with a little inspiration for all the little ones who were in attendance, and made utensil holders inspired by these tissue box  monsters.

Our menu included sandwiches and wraps, fruit on skewers, and salad. Our drink menu included a punchbowl full of sangria, water bottles with monster face labels, and juice boxes for the little ones.  I made one-eyed monster cake pops, chocolate covered marshmallows, along with the monster cake for the dessert table.  Small glass containers with goldfish crackers, and a stack of bite sized brownies were perched atop handmade cake plates.  Thanks to some family and friends, we were able to set everything up in less than an hour!

My daughter is counting the days to becoming a mother, as I am counting the days to becoming a grandma! 
I am very happy that winter is in the rearview mirror, but I am secretly thankful for all those valuable days snug at home in my comfy clothes making monsters!  The shower was a huge success and although I spent almost every minute of all those snowy days making those little details that made the shower perfect, it was well worth the effort!