My dear friend Irene is expecting a baby boy. Ana and I were excited to throw her a baby shower. Most recently we'd banded together to throw another baby shower and were excited to put our heads to the task. We thought long and hard about our lovely friend; Irene loves summer and flowers, travel and beach vacations, summer fruits and summer treats. We decided to throw a summer beach vacation themed party - brights, flowers, blooms and treats. We decided to keep our color theme to Irene's favorites: teals, oranges and yellows. Thankfully those are some of my favorites also and I had much on hand!
We tackled the party as per usual: Ana focusing on the design aspect with myself focusing on the organization and flair. We always sit and plan on a grand scale before getting down to the details. This time we had two helpers - Dudu and Leone. These women also love Irene greatly and wanted to help throw the party for her. With their help we outlined an awesome plan. Leading up to the party I created our to do list, menu items and creation list, Ana created our graphic designs and Leone created the trivia game and captured all the photos you'll see below (thanks Leone!). The day before the party Ana and I hit up the States (WinCo, Trader Joes, Walmart, Costco and Target) for an epic day of shopping and then joined Leone and Dudu and a few others to set up my place and start on food prep Friday night. We worked hard and it turned out so well.
Decor:
For the mantle we added white and green flowers to flank what was already there - lately I've been swearing by a combo of baby's breath in mason jars, a white hydrangea in a mason jar, two fake potted plants from Ikea and a hanging chalkboard sign with colored wool garland. Adding just a couple more jars with flowers made it even better! 
We had a row of Hydrangeas in jars on the table with "boy bit" signs that Ana made.
We used some Pom-Pom's that we made using Martha's directions (half of the tissue though to make blooms, rather than pom-poms); these we taped to the wall above the desserts. Mila made us Earl Grey cupcakes using PYP cupcake liners. We also added many flowers and a few more simple sweets.
Ana created a Welcome Bit sign that I loved.
More of the dessert wall - blooms indeed!
Mila's Earl Grey Cupcakes!
Also we kept to a theme for each table - we used a thick white paper tablecloth on each table and laid out a teal runner in our color. We had bought a teal tablecloth and cut it into four sections lengthwise and laid one on each table as a runner for uniformity and looks.
We hung lanterns and full pom-pom's against the front window
We found these great orange hanging blooms at a dollar store near my work
Drinks:
Costco's Organic Lemonade with striped teal straws from Target
Turns out plastic cups with a stripe of Washi Tape look awesome!
We also served Jarritos and Pellegrinos.
Food:
For the food we stayed with the summer theme - we picked some summer classics and some Irene favorites - our girl loves Corn on the Cob and Meat Skewers, as well as fruit salad and Kiwi and Watermelon. So we provided! The inside table had Chips and Guacamole, Caprese Skewers, Devilled Eggs and Corn on the Cob.
Outside we had Chicken Skewers with Peanut Satay Sauce, Baquette and Brie, Shrimp Skewers, Veggie Skewers, Veg & Dip...
This table also had our fun napkins from Target, a cheese tray and Boursin, Crackers and Italian Meats.
Outside in the lower level we had more fun drinks, and our cupped salad: greek salad and fruit salad.
Caprese Skewers on fruit sticks
And while the food and decor were fun to plan and execute - the most important part of this whole thing was the beautiful mama to be, Irene, and her amazing guests. Irene shone through the party! She wore a wonderful black maternity dress and the neon garland we bestowed on her.
You can tell this is going to be TC's son with a suit like that!
Here is Irene and Leone, one of the other planners.
And the lovely and helpful Ereka with Leone. When the party decor time got crazy, Ereka showed up, stepped in and amazed us.
And here are Seho, Dude & Lydia - Dudu was another of our another amazing party planners. These ladies were both a great help!
And as I write about people I MUST mention these two: Ana and Irene. Ana is my co-conspirator and amazing friend. She was a rock through the party planning process - she is creative, and fun, and entirely supportive. Blessed to throw parties with such a lady. Lindsay is our superstar friend - she had a baby just a few months ago and then showed up at this baby shower the night before to help....and again the morning of the party....baby in tow, and still 100% helpful and amazing. She is a blessing of a friend.
And sweet Wyatt - when party planning got to be tiring, Linds would hand over the baby for us to have baby therapy breaks.
This is just a portion of our pregnant ladies! We also had a few more: A friend from work, and another friend from church. It's baby season!
And here are the rest of the amazing guests - so many friends, so many quality women in one room, so much fun.
And that is that - a party for the books. Irene left feeling blessed and loved, I left feeling supported and cared for and we threw one heck of a party!
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