REAL PARTIES: Hot Pink Baby Shower

My friend Anasuya recently threw a super cute – and very hip – baby shower for a friend at a restaurant in LA. My favorite thing about this shower is the use of hot pink as the key color – a fresh take on the traditional baby pink palette.

Because the shower was held at a restaurant, Anasuya focused on creating a beautiful tabletop. She found square vases for the centerpieces that were painted a shiny metallic hot pink, then wrapped them with 2 layers of ribbon – first a sheer white ribbon that turned a shimmery light pink when wrapped around the vases – and then a thinner band of modern dot ribbon on top. Encased in the vases were high-contrast arrangements of hot pink and white flowers with light pink and white feathers mixed in for a sweet touch!

To recreate the adorable place settings above, just visit your local scrapbook store! 2 sheets of decorative paper were used to create the placemats – one sheet of square vellum placed on top of a pink scalloped-edge sheet. Scrapbook embellishments were used for the flowers in each corner. A band of the same printed ribbon used on the centerpieces adorns the top of the hot pink menus, and the shower favors – cute little pink soaps shaped like baby shoes – were placed at each setting.

Silver charms in different shapes make these place cards super cute and double as another take-home favor for guests.

Life-Saver pacifiers are always a fun way to add a “baby” touch to the decor – and because you make them yourself, you can choose the perfect shade of Jelly Belly to match the party – especially since Jelly Bellys come in a gazillion flavors/colors (actually, 50 to be exact)! Anasuya strung some of them on ribbon to create necklaces for the “Forbidden Word” game – where you designate words that are next to impossible for guests not to say – such as “baby” “cute” or the guest of honor’s name. If one guest hears another guest slip up on a forbidden word – they get to steal their necklace, and the person with the most necklaces at the end of the party gets a prize.

I’m a sucker for cute giraffes AND great gift wrap, so I couldn’t resist sharing a picture of this gift below…too cute :)