This Thing Called My Life: A Day to Remember

A while back, Brittany and I began discussing her baby shower. Right away, we knew we wanted something different. For one thing, we wanted it to be a family event, rather than a "girls only" shower. Also, we wanted something different than the traditional baby shower decor. Since Brittany really loves owls, we finally decided on an owl theme...and we started looking for decorations. This proved to be harder than we expected. Who knew that most owl things are done in pink and obviously for girls?

Brittany and Joel found a bedding set they really liked, which included owls and other woodland creatures, so we decided to have the shower decor correspond with that. We started looking online for things we could use. In the end, we used some stickers that we got from Michael's to decorate the tables. We (and by saying "we" I mean Brittany, me, and all the people who so kindly helped us) cut out and glued the stickers onto popsicle sticks and put them into bowls of candy. We also bought some owl "confetti" from an Etsy listing.

Bedding and Room Decor

Candy Bowls


Close-up of Owl Confetti

We were able to borrow some Japanese lanterns from Glynis. Brittany and Zandria made origami owls and we hung them from the lanterns.

Japanese lanterns


Close-up of origami owls


Finished table area

Next, the food...I am so appreciative of everyone who provided food and/or drinks. We had a variety of items, from meatballs to fresh fruit. I was so excited that Austin volunteered to make homemade mints. They turned out very well! Mary carved a watermelon in the shape of an owl, and two smaller watermelons into nests, filled with fresh fruit. That was all so cute! We had two delicious varieties of cheese balls with crackers, chips and vegetables with dip, finger sandwiches and nuts. Janet made a delicious fruit punch, and we had coffee, sweet and unsweet tea, and water.

Food!

More Food!

Even more food!

Close-up of Mary's owl!

And for the finishing touch...the cake. Originally we thought about a plain sheet cake with a fondant owl on it, or something to that effect. Then, we started thinking about a topper with owls in a nest, and began searching for one online. We found one that had two owls in the nest, but we wanted three. So, we turned to Zandria to make one to our specifications. She suggested making one from clay so that it could be baked and saved.

Owl topper (fondant)

Zandria's rendition (clay)

Now, what type of cake? We found a neat-looking one online. It was square, with embossed fondant on the outside to look like tree bark. When I asked the baker about it, I learned that this option would be way too expensive. Then, we found a cake that was made like a jelly roll and the outside finished with chocolate frosting that was supposed to look like a tree, although it was much less detailed than the first idea. The jelly roll part would also look like rings of the tree on top, which was kinda neat. While I was discussing all this with the baker, she told me she was making a "tree trunk" cake for a groom's cake. So, when this was finished, she emailed me a picture of it, and I was really impressed with it. So, we decided on a variation of this, but of course, we would need more than one cake for the number of people we were expecting. We decided on three cakes with three different flavors: one chocolate amaretto, one Italian creme, and one carrot.

Original cake idea

2nd cake idea


Baker's "Tree Trunk" Cake

After probably 30 emails back and forth (attempts to meet in person never worked out), we finally had our plan in place, and Tara Wilson of the Foster Street Bakery in Dothan, AL began working on our cakes. The following pictures will show her work combined with our set-up. I thought we did a pretty good job, considering that we're not professionals.


Close-up of Brittany's Mice!

Oh, and the cute little mice all around and on the cakes? Brittany made them!

All in all, I think the shower was a success. I looked around the room, and it appeared that everyone was having a good time. Our friends and family were generous in their gift-giving. I think Ronan will be the best-dressed boy on the block. ;-) Most importantly, I think Joel & Brittany enjoyed themselves, and that was my ultimate goal. I wanted it to be a day they would remember. 8-)