Bubbles and Bites: A non baby shower baby shower

 So what do you do when your sis-in-law is having her third baby? You obviously force her into having a small baby shower of course. I’m just joking…there was no “forcing” –  maybe a little arm twisting! But after my sis Drew found out her two beautiful daughters were going to become big sisters to a presh little BOY, she agreed to having a little party to celebrate! I mean, the boy doesn’t have any hand me down clothes, so we had to get him some masculine onesies at least. Real men wear pink and all that, but I’m sure the new babe doesn’t want to share EVERYTHING with his big sisters! It’s practical really, the party was a must-do for the little fella.

Bottom line, not only do I get a NEPHEW to spoil now, I also get to throw a party… it’s a win-win for Aunt Jackie!!!

As the title of this posts suggests, this was really a non-shower baby shower. No blue ribbon, no baby-themed decor, just some bubbly, bites and beautiful flowers. Plus a whole bunch of wine for the ’bout to be 3-time Mama to take home…I’ll explain!

As with most invitations, the invitation really set the tone for the party. After carefully considering wording (i.e. the words “baby shower” weren’t allowed) I settled for “Bubbles and Bites” and called it a celebration of Drew and the new addition to the family. Bubbles is for the champagne (lots of it) that was served and Bites was for the simple but delicious spread of cheese, charcuterie and yummy pastries.

Thanks again to my invitation guru and the creative force Natasha behind Scratch Paper Studios. She got my vision perfectly!

For a split second I worried that the invitation was too “girly” for a boys shower and then I realized…it’s not a shower so we can do what we want. Freedom…ohh freedom!

In my opinion, flowers are a must-do for any occasion.  Luckily, Drew simply adores flowers too, so that’s why I went big on flowers. They were at the party, on the invites, even on my dress, ha! I scoured Charlotte and its many stores for the perfect collection of vases. I think these gold leaf vases from Hobby Lobby were my favorite.

Although I’m really loving these gold chevron candle holders that I used as vases too…also from Hobby Lobby.

Please note I got all these flowers from the Farmers Market. I adore going to the Farmers Market for flowers; their flowers are the most colorful, beautiful and unusual for the price. I got all these flowers for only $40 and I got to pick them out stem by stem. You can’t beat that.

See below for my flower arranging station – all you  need is:

• newspaper
• floral shears (obviously mine were no where to be found so I’m using kitchen scissors which I promptly washed)
• Spotify (music)
• measuring cups filled with water so you don’t have to go to the sink 4 million times
• trash bag for clippings
• coffee (because it was the morning)

The flower-filled party was held at the lovely Bistro La Bon restaurant in Plaza Midwood and was catered by Lisa with Lucy Catering.

As I mentioned, in addition to bubbles we had a delicious and beautiful spread of cheese, charcuterie and pastries. Give me all the cheese and meat please.

Did I mention the macaroons? Not macarons, macaroons. I think I ate my weight in macaroons as did everyone else. Yay to coconutty, airy deliciousness.

We actually had both macaroons and macarons at this party…I’ll get to the macarons later, but in case you’re wondering, see below. Don’t be that fool at a party that confuses the colorful, French MacaRON with the coconut dream MacaROON. You’re welcome.

Image Credit 

For the bubbly, I called up my girl Whitney at Blis to personalize some champagne flutes with a #3. Get it??!?!?! For the 3rd babe? I thought it was totes clever and a subtle shout out to the reason we were all boozin’ together on a Sunday afternoon. If you need anything personalized, call up Blis and they’ll get it done lickety split with a smile on their lovely faces.

I loved these fun “Hooray” napkins from Swoozies. Hooray for cute cocktail napkins, am I right?

Now, let’s talk about that crate of wine that the lucky mama went home with. In addition to amazing little boy clothes (including an outfit with SUSPENDERS from yours truly), I thought it would be a hoot for each guest to give this wine loving mama a bottle of wine. To be consumed post pregnancy of course, but she needs to be prepared! She’s not going to have time to get to the wine store with three kids running around.

 I had wine tags made to match the invites (Thanks again Scratch Paper Studio!) that said “Open this bottle when….”. Each guest wrote something on the tag and Drew read them out loud at the party. They were hilarious, sweet, adorable and overall just fun. I’m going to pat myself on the back and say this was one of my better ideas. (Humble brag.)

So when she opens up one of these bottles at 2pm on a particularly hectic day, she will have something fun to read! Plus, it was really funny when she saw all this wine at the party – she was like, what is THAT, is that all for ME?! I love a good surprise.

For party favors, I sent everyone home with pistachio Macarons (not Macaroons, those were earlier) from Cafe Monte.   Cafe Monte was coincidentally the site of Drew’s shower for baby Claire a few years ago. That was a good one too. (Side note: I just went back and read that post, and it appears I have a bit of a habit of forcing Drew to have parties for her kids. Whoops. Sorry Drew!)

Here I am with  my beautiful sis at the party…!  (We’ve mutually agreed to drop the in-law, it just gets in the way.) I mean, could she look better?!?!?!

For people out there who are having their 2nd or 3rd baby or 5th (whoa though), you can still have a simple yet special celebration to welcome a new life into this crazy world!! It’s no surprise coming from me, but I 100% believe that things should be celebrated, so don’t hesitate to celebrate all things, big or small! I simply can’t wait to meet the new little guy (and selfishly get my wine drinking buddy back LOL)!

In other news, today is Mr. Fo’s birthday. Happy Birthday to my love – I know it will be a  great year ahead! Cheers and here’s to celebrating all the wonderful things!