RE-ceiving Guests: Baby Shower Brunch

In the 10 years since I was in my major baby shower social phase,  I think paper invitations have become a little old-fashioned. Evite & other electronic invitations seem to becoming the norm.

Image source collectorsquest.com

For awhile about 10 years ago, I was in the baby shower social phase where I was either going to or throwing baby showers pretty regularly.   Like Reba with the wedding showers she is throwing a lot lately for her friends' engaged children, I set up a few standards early on as a hostess to make the process easier.

My favorite brunch offering: A mimosa served in a fluted glass with a strawberry as a garnish

Image courtesy of weddingbycolor.com

First, I tend to offer to throw a brunch.  It is a lot more forgiving to the inexperienced chef and easier to prepare which usually also means easier on your budget than a large dinner party.  

Second, I set up my standard menu.  DRINKS: Mimosas (orange juice& champagne) garnished with strawberries as seen above, Bloody Mary's, Iced Tea and Coffee.  I would make a drink station on my buffet table with 3 pitchers of OJ, Bloody Mary's, and Iced Tea beside an opened champagne bottle, empty high ball glasses and an ice bucket. Easy peasy.  Before guests arrived, I would also serve about 6-8 champagne glasses with mimosas on a silver tray and put them on the drink station beside the pitchers.  Champagne, imo, starts a party off on a winning note.  I mean, how can you not be happy with a champagne flute in your hands, right?

This egg casserole is very similar to mine, but I prefer the green chilies that spice up the version I use.

Image Courtesy of Taste of Home

FOOD: Egg casserole, Sausage, Bacon, Ham, Fresh fruit, Brie, Pastries, and a Cake.  I would buy a small Honey-baked ham and put it beside bread rolls from a bakery and a small bowl of honey mustard for people to make small sandwiches.  Beside this, I usually placed my favorite dish, an egg sausage casserole that is DELICIOUS!  There are many versions of this recipe, but this is the one I swear by.

EGG SAUSAGE CASSEROLE

9x13 casserole dish
6 slices La Madeleine Sourdough bread
1 lb Jimmy Dean sausage
1 cup yellow onion
1 can (4 oz) green chilies
4 cups shredded cheese (whole bag)
6 eggs (beaten)
1 teaspoon seasoned salt & dried mustard
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups half & half

Lightly butter the casserole dish sides.  Line the dish with the slices of sourdough bread.  Saute the sausage and the yellow onion.  When done, pour the sausage and onion into a bowl.  Add the rest of the ingredients into this bowl. Mix and then pour over the bread lined casserole dish.  Cover with foil and refrigerate for at least a few hours. Then, cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Some people cook the casserole the night before the party and just warm it up 30 minutes before guests arrive. That's just a personal preference.

 Gateau Marisa image courtesy of Upper Crust Bakery

For fruit, I buy strawberries and blue berries because they look so pretty together.  I usually warm up the brie slightly, pour a sweet garnish such as fig preserves, jalapeno jelly or Fischer & Wieser Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce on top and provide some baguette slices alongside it.  I like a cake called Gateau Marisa by Upper Crust bakery in Austin for dessert. While at the bakery, I usually buy an assortment of cookies and sweet bread to put on a platter.   The night before the party, I put pieces of paper in the serving piece (e.g. bowls, platters, plates) to see how they fit on the food table.  The next morning I spend most of my time putting the food on the table rather than cooking because the casserole, sausage and bacon are the only warm dishes and all of them are pretty simple.  Once they are heated, they are ready to serve. 

My home decorated for a couple baby shower for our friends, Mike & Eileen.  We had such a good time at this party. It started at 10 a.m. and most guests stayed until 3:45 p.m.  Yes, that is a long time, but we were all neighbors and friends and truly enjoyed each other's company.  I set up 3 trivia games for us to play that helped make it not seem so girly for the guys.  We opened gifts. We ate and drank and visited.  The most amazing part was we had no guest bathroom for this party and no one asked to use the restroom.  The bathroom remodel that I shared in my previous entry RE-modeling: My First Home was SUPPOSE to be done by this party, but of course it wasn't.  I was pregnant myself at the time and as you can imagine, *SUPER* annoyed it wasn't done, but the party must go on.  Our own bathroom was also messed up at the time because we had the plumbers replace the pipes in that one, too, and they hadn't fixed all the drywall back yet, but it was functional at least.   In a jam, I would have offered our bathroom to a guest, but I guess, everyone was too polite to ask since they knew our situation. Crazy, I know, but it didn't get in the way of a fun gathering.   I lined the mantle with terracotta pots I painted different bright colors and filled with seed packets and a poem about growing something in honor of the impending birth. I got the idea online at the time.  The pots were wrapped in matching tulle and tied with ribbon.  I found little rubber ducks to place between the pots and I hung a line of baby clothes on a line.  There is a heart shaped topiary and a cupid between the chairs for the honorees.  Beside them is the gift table where I placed a diaper cake I made as a centerpiece for the gift table. 

For showers, I typically put out a diaper cake, hung a line of baby clothes and displayed whatever I was going to offer as a favor for decor.  For the food table, I used simple flowers because I wanted people to notice the the diaper cake and the clothes line more. Whenever I host company,  I try to plan at least one takeaway - the special thing that guests will leave remembering.  When I threw showers, my main takeaways were the egg casserole, the cake and the diaper cake.

I actually made this diaper cake. Back in my baby shower throwing days, diaper cakes were still novelties spread by crafters online via a few step-by-step instructions on how to make them.  Within a couple years, companies began to sell diaper cakes.

This was my first diaper cake.  The way I learned to make a diaper cake, one started with a cardboard base. You'd decorate it with fabric secured to the back, and then put a large bottle of liquid baby laundry detergent in the middle to be the core of the cake.  Then, you would have to roll up baby diapers individually and bind them with elastic bands. Then you lined them up together all around the detergent bottle to make tiers of diapers.  The bottom tier would take a couple of rows of diapers around the detergent bottle.  The top tier is made around the cap, so it requires some adjusting so it is round.  Once the diapers were all adjusted, then the "cake" was decorated with ribbon and toys and whatever else you wanted to make it look cute. I am happy to see there are many, MANY companies and individuals who now produce very beautiful and reasonably priced diaper cakes for sale. 

A musical owl cake by babycakesdiaperbakery.  This beautiful, sweet diaper cake is $60.

This bee cake by lilbabycakes.com is a more current version of what I was going for with my first cake.   The bright ribbons of different designs and the large stuffed animal front and center helps make the overall design bolder and more dramatic.  It is priced at $94.

Image Sources babycakesdiaperbakery.com & lilbabycakes.com

A duck themed diaper cake I made for my cousin.  I made favors of bath salts & mini rubber ducks wrapped in tissue paper and placed them on the gift table with the diaper cake.  I really liked those small rubber duckies, huh?  Well, to be honest, I still do.  They appeal to my nostalgia.   I used the duck theme for the invitations and I found someone to make me large duck iced sugar cookies for this party.  Sorry, I don't have a picture of the cookies. They were cute.  I have a line of clothes hung here again for decoration.  Most stores like Target and Wal-Mart carry mini clothes line pins and they look really precious holding up baby clothes.   

So many new party trends have developed in the last 10 years.  Now that etsy.com allows thousands of crafers to easily display and sell their crafts and blog sites like blogger allow professional interior decorators, event planners and amateur status creative folks to easily share their projects, the creativity exchange online has sky rocketed.  If I were planning this rubber duck shower now, I would probably do it very differently.

The cloche display case has become big in blogland for tablescapes.  This tablescape is by another blogger, Colleen.  I like how she used the cloche idea here and I am impressed she found matching straws for the color scheme. I have seen them a lot in blog displays.  I believe they are sold in various colors on etsy.com.  The coordinating flag pendant is also a popular party addition now, but, of course, the main star of the tablescape is that fantastic cake and I would definitely copy the cake if I were doing a rubber duck party now.

Image above & below image source from mom, blogger and party giver, Colleen at figandruby

This is one darling cake. I love everything this cake chooses to be.  This happens to be a birthday cake, but I think it would work just beautifully as a shower cake. As much as I like the rubber ducky cake above, I would now probably embellish it a bit with rubber duck cupcakes. Cupcakes are really "in" and their small size work perfectly with a shower setting. I would do this by ordering a much smaller main cake, placing it on the cake plate and then placing rubber duck cupcakes on the table circling it.

Look at that perfect blue color to represent water.  Add in the miniature ducky and who could resist these babies?  

 Image Source ModernBabyShowerIdeas.com

I like the white "soap" clouds in this cupcake design.  Don't they look yummy?

Image Source cherryblossomcupcakes.blogspot.com

This is more what I wold like to do with the smaller cake surrounded by cupcakes.  I am not sure I would use the cookie surround on the cake. I would probably just use a cake plate for the height, but isn't this adorable?

Image source lovelesscentral.org/gallery

These pots were not my favorite favors ever, but they did add a lot visually to the party's decor.  I like it when the party favors function as party decor as well. 

These are very similar to the favors I had for the baby shower for my cousin.  I much prefer the cellophane packaging tied with a ribbon used here though.  I think they would add a lot of punch to a rubber duck party's decor displayed all together.

I like the simple design of this guest soap.  If I received this as a favor, I would actually use and enjoy it.  It's nice when favors are actually used.

Both duck soap images courtesy of ohbabyshower.com

Bath salts in a glass container with a ribbon and a stamped duck design would also be a cute favor.

Image courtesy of invitationsanddecorations.com

With as much cute things as they have now on etsy.com, it would be really hard not to overspend on a baby shower now just on the decor.  The occasion is already really sweet and all the designs out there just up the cuteness factor.  Of course, you don't have to have much decor to have a fun party.  As long as the company is good and there is food and drink, the party will be a success.

Written by Eldarose

St. Patrick's Day Table using lots of recycled items for decor  is HERE

Phase 1 of the Backyard RE-modeling in my new house is HERE

RE-modeling my first house is HERE

RE-modeling: My First Home

Before: Cottage charmed - my first sight of the 1940s cottage that would become our first home.  It didn't have much curb appeal.  It didn't even have a curb. (The neighborhood predated those kinds of  building codes)  But, I saw potential.

After: New paint (Benjamin Moore Texas Sage), shutters, lanterns, mailbox,  roof & added portico,  stone steps, fence & landscaping

Close up of our new front entry.  Black paint, black iron railings, new stone covered steps.  The steps before were cement and there were no railings. In the corner, you can see a glimpes of the black iron standing mailbox we used to replace the old white metal one that hung beside the front door originally.  Photo credit: Farrah Welch.

This blog entry represents a  major chapter in my life.  I have just moved to a new house (which will probably be the focus of many of my blog posts), but for 14 years I lived in a cottage in Old West Austin. For over a year before my husband and I bought our first house, I spent every weekend stalking the Bryker Woods neighborhood in West Austin looking for homes going on the market.  We wanted to live close to the middle of the city and, at that time, there was a major real estate boom going on in Austin, so asking for a central location was going to up the price tag.  Our realtor had tried to persuade me into looking at other neighborhoods, but I was determined to live in Bryker Woods. While driving around town, I had noticed neighbors there were often out in their yards talking to each other with their kids playing together and I was charmed by the display of old fashioned community since I had grown up in a small town myself.  I liked the Americana feel to the neighborhood so I accepted I would likely have to buy a fixer upper and I got excited about the idea.

I think there are three types of people: those people who get a thrill and pride out of Do It Yourself projects, those people who like to come up with the ideas but don't want to do anything hands on, and those people who prefer to just sit back and enjoy what someone else has created.  I am in the first category.  I have multiple glue guns, a sander, a large assortment of painting supplies, a small tool box and a saw.  Maybe I got too much praise as a kid whenever I declared "I made this" because saying the phrase still brings me joy.  Now, I have very limited skills, so I have to hire folks to do most of my projects, but part of why I created this blog is because I have loved reading all the DIY projects other bloggers have done.  I like dreaming about being able to do so much more than I can now.   I would run out of time to do everything I could imagine because I love reinventing something old via remodeling, but oh, there is the mess that comes with it.....

My husband inspecting the new portico over our front door. We hired this very conscientious carpenter, Vince, to do the portico for us. He worked on it for several weeks. There is no way he made money on the job. He could have done it faster and moved on to another job, but he really wanted to do a good job on it. I know he was proud of his work. The day after he finished, we saw him driving by with his wife. He wanted to show her what he had made. I thought that was really nice.

Before the painters arrived, we had to replace a lot of the clapboard siding damaged by sun & moisture exposure

Before: The hall bathroom had a marbelized vanity top, an old radiator & dingy ceramic tiles. This photo was taken right before the remodel.  When we first moved in, I got my husband to put up Laura Ashley toile wallpaper for me and I painted a continuation of the pattern from the walls on to the ceiling.  I made matching beige buffalo check curtains for the window and under the vanity to try to make it cuter. The curtains are down here because this picture was taken right before the room was gutted.

The messy middle:  The insurance funds from a shower pan leak led to a whole room remodel.  We kicked in extra money for upgrades but we didn't want to dramatically changed the style because at the time I was still really into the cottage look.

After:  White pedestal sink, carrera marble shower, a garden tub, a silver framed wall mirror & a green and white color scheme.

Before: the separate shower entry was very narrow, so I hung a white linen curtain up, but I knew it was just temporary until I figured out what to do.

After:  The same view.  The shower entry was widened and a glass door replaced the curtain.

Before: pretty sad, huh? The white ceramic tile was very dingy and the faucet looked every bit its 55 years.

After: We really enjoyed the garden tub. My husband has a bad back so he'd take really REALLY hot soaks after he'd work out to help him sleep better.  And I enjoyed bubble baths a couple times a month.  Some people don't use their whirlpool tubs, but we used ours often.

Before:  This picture is just about 5 months after we moved in. We had bought a French secretary at an antique shop, some chairs at an estate sale which we had reupholstered, but we still lacked curtains, different lighting and art.

After:  When we sold this house, I realized how little attention the living room had gotten.  It was the room that welcomed people into our home, but once we got blue toile curtains, a new chandelier and some artwork, I stopped even thinking about it.  It was "done" which I guess to me = forgotten.  Selling the house made me look at all the rooms again and I found I no longer liked the style of this room.  I hadn't paid attention and my style had become sorta "old lady-ish" unintentionally.  There was no sign a relatively young couple lived here.  There was no youthful spirit.  Nothing hot, current and trendy.  And while it isn't good to be a slave to trends, it is worse to no longer care.  I was in a rut, and really that is what finally got me to leave this first home that I loved.  Our neighbors were our friends and it was a great location, but we wanted more space and it was time to get excited about something new again.   

The Dining Room while we were selling our house. The French sideboard has snacks laid out for people coming to an open house.  The dining room opened to the living room so they were both painted Martha Stewart Cornmeal.  I put up Spode Blue Room Plates up on the wall and used a Waverly yellow & blue toile fabric (yes, toile again)  to make cornice boards.

Before:  The 3rd bedroom/study was originally a dark green color.  My husband likes dark colors so he wanted to keep it. I complained it felt like a tomb in there.  I repainted it beige with a deeper brown with a rag off painting technique that my husband really liked. We kept it even when this room turned into a nursery. The house is on clay so eventually we got cracks and I couldn't match the paint so the room was painted a neutral color -  Martha Stewart Travertine.

After: The room when we sold it.  The walls were painted Martha Stewart Travertine.  I had painted the master bedroom that color and liked it so much that I painted the hall and this bedroom the same color.

Our master bedroom when we sold the house.  Sorry, I have no "before" picture but all we did to this room was paint it.  The curtains are a black toile by Waverly called Country Life.  It is very popular and I still like it.   I wasn't kidding about toile being a recurring theme on this blog. 

The small master bathroom. Sorry about no "before" picture again, but I didn't know I would have a need for one when we had this house.  When we moved in, this bath had no showerhead and the tile only went half way up the wall. We had a showerhead installed and retiled the shower with white subway tile all the way up the wall. Since there wasn't a side wall to support a shower curtain,  I got a shower curtain rod that attaches to the ceiling from Renovator's online.  The vinyl floor was redone in travertine tile.  I painted the builder's grade wood vanity and medicine cabinet black and used silver pulls.  The marbelized counter top was replaced with crema marbil. My sister-in-law, Yvonne, generously let me have a bargain faucet she found at Lowe's and had been storing for a possible bathroom remodel that she hadn't moved on yet.  Yvonne and her husband put up the beadboard wainscotting and the chair molding for us.

Before: We were putting in a new stainless steel microwave when I took this picture. We also made the counter black granite and took down a ladder that served as a pot rack left behind by the previous owner. The pot rack was useful, but as you can tell from this picture, it blocked out a lot of light.

After:  It was amazing how much more light we had by taking down the pot rack.  We worried the black granite would make the kitchen seem darker, but it actually reflected light.

I painted the kitchen door with blackboard paint. The niche is the laundry closet, but it was changed to pull double duty as a bar.  The kitchen was small and we needed the extra counter space.  The change was dramatic.  Originally the laundry closet had bifold doors.  Those were taken down. The closet walls had already been painted Martha Stewart Travertine so they just needed some touching up.  My sister-in-law, Yvonne, installed the wood counter top and wood shelves for me.  Yvonne is *CRAZY* handy and did a fantastic job.  She painted them black.   I made the curtain from a shower curtain.  You can read more about this particular kitchen blackboard & laundry closet project HERE

Another view of the galley kitchen.  The appliances were originally all white, but we replaced them with stainless except for the Kitchenaid refrigerator we found for a steal at an estate sale. 

Normally this room had coir rugs on both sides, but our realtor suggested we pull up the rugs because buyers like to see floors/square footage when they tour homes.  I didn't like how it looked but only one rug was put back when this picture was taken.

This room went thru many, many changes in the time we owned the house. We ate, watched tv, played games, did work and basically lived 70% of the time in this room.  When we moved in I painted it green.  I painted it green 7 times. The whole room. Yes, it was nutty, but I love color and I don't mind painting and I wanted to get just the right shade. I experimented with glazes and  mixing paints. My husband couldn't believe it when I told him I wanted to paint the room white 7 years later to go with a new beige & green scheme I wanted..  He worried it would lead to a repeat process, but it didn't. I painted it white and that was it until we sold it.

This room didn't normally look like this.  It is my daughter's room and usually had a lot more girly & pink accessories all over.  The bed set was more juvenile. We had already removed a lot of wall art and a chandelier made of mini tea pots done by my sister-in-law, Yvonne. I told you she is crazy handy/crafty.  I provided the tea pots and fabric and Yvonne had an old brass chandelier she painted white and drilled and wired the whole thing together.  It turned out super cute and I will try to post a picture of it.  The wall art is my daughter's baptismal gown framed.  They say to decorate with what you love and I do love that gown.   

Originally the backdoor had concrete steps leading to a small landing of pavers.  We hired a carpenter to add a deck and a pergola.  We had the pergola painted white and the deck painted a dark green.  We planted alongside the deck 3 different times and plants kept dying from lack of sunlight.  After this picture was taken, we planted some Texas sage and lantana and that seemed to do well.  Of course, we found the right plantings when we were leaving the house. Figures.

Written by Eldarose

P.S. If you are viewing this entry at Xmas time, you can find our Christmas decor in our new house HERE