Last weekend, we celebrated Lauren & Brendan's baby-on-the-way with a couple's shower in Boston. This weekend, we celebrated the old fashioned way, with a room full of fabulous lunching ladies back in Long Island, NY where my parents still live. My mom decided to host the party out at The Carltun at Eisenhower Park, which was a beautiful venue with wonderful staff and amazing food!
The theme of the baby shower was "Feathering the Nest" as in getting the nest ready for the baby. It doesn't hurt that my sister Lauren also has a love of birds. The invitations were designed by Dimple Prints.
We dined in the "Secret Dining Room" which just happened to match perfectly with the invitations. Coincidence? Perhaps...
My mom did the floral arrangements and birdcage centerpieces.
She also made the "Nest" letters and hung them on a clothes line using all different prints. I helped with the birds, but she picked out all the cute fabrics, and I love the way it came out! **NEW: Link to download {{ NEST Banner Template }} **
Everyone got a little nest at their place setting filled with blue Cadbury eggs. Guess who helped by eating all the other colors of the Cadbury eggs? (Meeeeee!)
Now that we've appreciated all the details of the room... let's get to the party!
We discovered that Lauren and Gillian kind of look like sisters. What do you think?
Me and my cousin Nicole! (Or "Ma-Coe" as we used to call her.)
I love this picture of everyone at the table! You can almost see everyone....
Lauren got so many beautiful gifts!! Literally, two cars full of gifts.
Lauren, you're going to have to share that sock monkey with the baby...
We played one baby shower game -- a word scramble -- which was short & sweet & not terribly mortifying or lame. I made ONE mistake in that I didn't spell check my words before scrambling them so WHATEVER guys number 10 might have thrown you off because "craddle" is not a word. (Sahhhh-Reeeee.)
But, Pat, number 3 is not "Thermometer" misspelled!! :)
OK, Ready for dessert yet??
My dad built this cupcake/cake shelf display out of foam board. My mom sewed the awning and made the appliques.
The cake was baked & decorated by my mom, and the design was inspired this Pink Cake Box Blossom Bird's Nest cake.
It was a coconut cake with coconut cream cheese buttercream, covered with marshmallow fondant. The cherry blossom flowers, branch, nest, bird, and eggs that adorn the cake are all made of fondant as well.
Notice the awning matches the invitations? MAAA! You're so talented!
I made onesie sugar cookies with royal icing -- and piped on little blue birds and stitching.
I also decorated these little baby carriage sugar cookies in pink and green royal icing. The wheels of the carriage were little fondant daisies. I searched high and low for a cute baby carriage cookie design that would give me a good place to start and I was smitten with this one by L&V sweets so I basically replicated it with a few little changes.
I also made more Homemade Samoas, which seem to be a crowd favorite!
My mom made mini salted caramel cupcakes with coconut macaroon nest cookies on top with a little fondant blue bird sitting in it. There were also mini strawberry cupcakes with cherry blossom sugar flowers on top that my mom made, but she doesn't want me to show them here because she wasn't happy with how they looked. (See where I get it from?)
At dessert time, The Carltun Staff serves these adorable mini ice cream cones in artist palates. I loved the presentation and it was the perfect serving size! So cute.
The Regan girls like 'em.
A great shot of Grandma Flo and Lauren.
Oh and everyone got a little goodie bag.
Which when the got home they would find these cute little mini fondant covered chocolate cakes inside, which my mom and I decorated together.
One of my favorite gifts that Lauren got at this shower was a onesie and bib from Gillian since she saw the New England baby clothes on my last post and said that the baby still needed to remember where it's mother was from! Love it!!
I had such a blast at this baby shower with all the hilarious people in the room and so much fun working with my mom on all of the planning and decorating.
Oh and if you haven't seen this Portlandia skit yet... now you will get even more of a kick out of it because this is what we have been joking about it the past few days. Put! A! Bird! On! It!