Family, Life

My Baby Shower

If this wasn’t the party of my dreams, I don’t know what IS! My baby shower was everything I could have ever wanted. It was honestly the most beautiful day. Despite the unexpected heat wave we endured, I still found myself happily outside with my parasol sipping iced strawberry & mint water while mingling with my guests. Sure, my under boob and thighs were sweating up a storm but it was 100000% worth it.

My vision for the baby shower was simple: a non-baby-shower baby shower. I wanted a laid-back, whimsical, floral explosion all combined into one. I wanted nothing to do with baby shower games, opening gifts, cheesy baby-themed decor, nothing. I wanted flowers, and lots of them. I wanted yummy food and cocktails. I wanted beautiful photo opps. I wanted my guests to have fun activities. We’ve all been to a baby shower and lets be honest, it’s not something you look forward to. So in an effort to make this the least baby shower-y baby shower I could, I focused on everything else (food, drinks, music, flowers, etc.).

Since I’m obviously neurotic and a control freak (um duh, have we met?), I was clearly involved in the planning process. I don’t particularly like surprises, and being a creative person, naturally I wanted everything to be aesthetically pleasing. However, I know the strengths of my family and knew I could trust them to execute their parts seamlessly. It took one big meeting and lots of group texts to coordinate, but I’d say we definitely pulled it off and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. To give you a little breakdown of how it all went down, my mom, sister-in-law, sisters, best friend, mother-in-law, and I teamed up with some very talented people to put together my baby shower. Just like my construction projects, we didn’t use an event planner, we just “sub-contracted” people to fill in the areas we didn’t want to handle. I have a full list below of the vendors we used.

Now for the details. The shower was held at a family friend’s house in Beverly Hills. I absolutely LOVE the vibe of her home–it’s summery, whimsical, bright, white, inviting, and just all around a chill atmosphere. It’s slightly tucked away in The Hills so it’s very quiet and peaceful with lots of nature surrounding the property. The flow of the space allowed us to utilize different areas of the house and backyard to create areas for each part. There was the outdoor eating / drinking / sitting space, which we filled with rented furniture to create little loungey areas. There was the activities area, where a lipstick reader gave personality reads based on your kiss print. There was also a table set up with DIY smudge sticks, complete with sage, crystals, incense string, rose petals, lavender, feathers, etc. My Dad built us a rolling cart that was filled with Polaroid cameras and a custom baby book for guests to snap pics and fill in wishes for Baby Rich.

We kept all the food and desserts inside since it was an extremely hot day and didn’t want everything melting. My Mom and sister-in-law put together a delicious spread of food that was light, easy-to-eat, and fresh. We had a variety of salads, Mediterranean dips, breads, cheese boards, salmon, chicken, pasta salad, & more. The dessert table was NEXT LEVEL. Literally, there were levels to it. Between my Mom, sisters, & pastry chef (details below), they put together the most insanely beautiful and scrumptious dessert table. There was cake (multi-layered, multi-flavored), donuts, cupcakes, cake cones, cake popsicles, macaroons, mini cheesecakes, bite-sized tarts, and probably WAY more than I can even remember.

The decor was limited to the flowers, balloon garland, and boho rentals. My vision was lots of pampas grass and vintage-colored florals in blush tones and greenery. I didn’t want “baby pink” or anything really bright. Just muted and soft floral arrangements of all shapes and sizes everywhere. The balloon garland was beyond my comprehension. Where does one even find matte “nude” balloons? I thought I was being unrealistic with my request but it came together better than I even imagined! the florist and balloon artist worked together to ensure the flowers were cohesive and it was clearly a dream partnership. The acrylic and wood signs throughout the shower also added a personal touch to everything.

Since it was a scorching day, last minute my Mom put together some items to help stay cool. Lavender-peppermint spray bottles, chilled towelettes, parasols, and of course paper fans, which were key! Each area really spoke for itself. I honestly wasn’t worried about too much decor because I knew everyone was working really hard to make their area beautiful, and I was 100% accurate in thinking so. Every last detail was spectacular and special.

And for my favorite part of the day…the Hawaiian blessing. A couple of my friends on Maui recently had their baby showers and I saw them getting a foot bath that looked gorgeous. I wasn’t exactly sure what the tradition meant but it was kind of on my mind. I had mentioned it to my Mom in passing and at my shower I was surprised by one of my childhood friends from Maui with a traditional Hawaiian blessing. It was incredibly emotional and touching and just SO special. She recited a blessing in Hawaiian, followed by the English translation, and then I was adorned with a beautiful lei and flower crown. My best friend Lily represented the Middle Eastern part of the tradition, and gave a tearful speech that I will never forget. My feet soaked in a heavenly ice bath with essential oils and flowers, and each guest threw in a little flower. The significance is to relieve the pressure and stress from the feet of a pregnant woman. It was waterworks while this was happening (LOL) but so so so so special.

I am SO thankful to everyone who helped make this day so special and to everyone who attended and braved the heat. You only get to do this once and I can confidently say that my baby shower was perfect. Now that it’s all over I am starting to nest and get the baby room set up. It’s all becoming so real and I can’t wait to show my baby girl just how lucky we are to have such loving people in our lives who want to make things so special for us.