We Can Bearly Wait Baby Shower Part 1

This weekend I got the opportunity to do decor for two of my besties! They are the first in the friend group to have a baby, so to say we are excited is an understatement. There is truly no greater joy than sharing such a major life moment with your chosen family. The entire evening was full of love and pure happiness celebrating two truly special people about the embark on the journey of parenthood.

We began planning the shower as soon as we knew Baby Perez was on his way in October. As a Director of Operations for a middle school, the Mama to be was no stranger to event planning. To top it off, the Father to Be is also in operations working for the elementary school in the same building. I jumped at the opportunity to expand my spreadsheet skills and create a document that would be our holy grail while planning. I’m glad I took the time to create this digital space because we quickly learned the event we wanted to pull of would take attention to detail and we needed a place to capture all of those thoughts. I started out by creating brainstorming sheets with ideas for different decor. I let me mind run wild here, truly thinking of creative ways to elevate the space and create a classy event. I then listed all of the materials needed for each piece I brainstormed, with links and prices so I could begin to see what we had the budget for, creating the itemized inventory tab. Never be afraid to have the conversation about budget because there’s nothing worse than putting in work for things that are outside of what the client can pay, or worse under planning for what a client desires. I wanted to be able present all ideas with exact prices so we can stay realistic for the budget at hand and the space we had.

Once we moved out of the brainstorming phase, selecting the pieces we liked the best, that would fit in the space. I drew a floor plan based on videos from the event space’s instagram. This allowed me to play around with the placement of pieces, as well as move tables around to find the best set up. The parents to be were then able to label the tables with their desired table numbers. This was so helpful when it came to set up time because I was able to pass off the floor plan to my amazing helpers who ensured accurate set up. Next I moved on to creating a detailed list of each step that needed to be completed to make each piece perfect. I then added a calendar tab to my planning sheet where I listed when I would be completing each step. This helped ensure the parents to be knew when each step was happening, when to expect phone calls for questions/approvals, and just overall build their trust in me for such an important event. You have to know your clients well so be sure to ask them if they want to be included in every single decision, if they want you to problem solve before bringing it to them, or if they only want to be presented with the solution after it is done. Everyone is different and handles their stress differently, I knew for these two clients being included in every step of the way would be important.

I completed the work for this project over the course of 3 weeks. I was lucky to have help from my Dad, who is always willing to help me make my vision come to light. He often helps me problem solve, select the best materials, move heavy things, and cut materials perfectly. I’m so lucky to have him as help, and I truly enjoy the extra time I get to spend with him while doing these projects. We started out by gathering materials from home depot. To execute this look I purchased 3 foam insulation boards that are 1/2 inch thick. I then selected colors to paint the foam board, matching them to blown up balloons I brought with me. I always feel silly walking around the store with a cluster of balloons but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to get the best color match you can! Once home with the foam board, which involves a painfully slow 2.3 miles drive with our arms hanging out the window to hold the board down and prevent it from blowing away. We had to stop a few times just to warm up our hands it was that cold! I definitely ran into difficulties executing this project simply because of the cold. I attempted to paint the foam board, wood shelves, and the wood for the custom letter blocks outside in the garage. The freezing temperatures made it very hard for the paint to dry in a timely manner. This resulted in some push back on my timeline, but because of our calendar I was able to move things around to ensure it all got done.

The following weekend I worked inside mostly with the cricut to make things like photo booth props, and cupcake toppers. This is definitely a labor of love and can be very tedious. I like to put on my favorite show, get a nice fountain soda, or iced coffee and just lock in to get it done. I was able to create all of the cup cake toppers, and photo booth props using free clipart from canva, which is always a plus! Don’t forget to make extra cuts of the backing so you can hide the stick you hot glue on. Another tip is to always cut more than you need because you never know when you’ll make a mistake and a need an extra. I also took the time to cut the vinyl for the party favors shelf, the seating chart mirror, and the custom letter boxes. Once again, I cut extras of everything, just in case something ripped or needed to be re done.

The last weekend before the shower I was able to start putting together everything I had painted and cut the weekends prior. My dad once again jumped in to help me make sure I can execute it all and pull it off. We started out by measuring the large single arch and the smaller double arch. We used the metal arch frame to help us get an accurate cut for the larger arch. For the double arch we measured the center, and then used a sharpie on a string to get the correct measurement of the inside and outside arch. We then used a box cutter to cut the foam. The trick here is to make your initial cut, going as far through as you can, and then with the help of someone else, pull on the foam while cutting for a second time all the way through to help make a clean break. Be careful as you move the foam boards around, they are more fragile than you think. I then painted over any imperfections and painted the inside of the double arch to ensure no pink foam showed through. Once the back drops were completed I moved onto to the custom letter boxes. This was a bit trickier to put together and involved some planning, and math before hand. My vision was to use the foam board cut into squares and hot glued together to make cubes, and then cover them using 12x12 balso wood. This meant the foam boards needed to be cut to account for the 1/2 inch thickness so that when they were glued together they were 12x12x12. Message me if you’re interested in those measurements and I’d be happy to share for free! Thankfully my dad glued the boxes together while I used heat transfer vinyl on the favors shelf to put the phrase “A Beary Sweet Treat” across the top. I was also able to use this time to put together the seating chart, using a laser level to help ensure the vinyl is straight. Be prepared to make changes to your clients seating chart at the last minute, as things always change and get added on.

A few other things I took the time to do before hand including prepping flowers, putting pictures in frames, cutting stationary for games, and ironing table cloths. Be sure to assemble and cut flowers prior to the event because this is more time consuming than anticipated. I would be lying if I said I didn’t pull up to my first event thinking the flowers would be ready to go straight from the box. Such a time consuming mistake! There were definitely a lot of steps to prepare for this shower but it felt good putting in the hard work for two such deserving people.