A Papier Baby Shower!

I recently hosted, with the help of a few friends, a baby shower for my sister-in-law. I even enjoyed this one. Not that I haven't enjoyed others in the past, but when you are the hostess, you are so busy seeing to everyone's needs that you do not have time to enjoy the party yourself. When you work so hard on all the preparations, you want to take part enjoying it also. Well, this one I did. I think that is in part to making sure the set up and details were taken care of the day before, leaving only minut details for the day of.
This party was a sit down lunch. I wanted guests to feel comfortable, relaxed and not have to balance plates on their laps. Most importantly, I wanted everyone to enjoy themselves.
The Papier theme came from my sister-in-law's love of stationary and all things paper. She has a gift of gift-wrapping, tissue flowers and such. I also tried to incorporate her nursery colors into the decorations. It is always easy to plan a party when you like someonelse's taste and color scheme! The meal theme was all things salads. Here is a look at our fabulous time!


This is the beautiful mother-to-be.


One of the tables. Melanie's nursery colors have the turquoisy-blue citrus and browns, and I think some greens. I stuck with the citrus orange and blue. Love the color combination!


The plate setting. Instead of name cards for seating. I opted to use bud vases. I felt this would be more intimate and not make people uncomfortable about sitting next to someone they did not know too well, (and it is prettier).





These were a recipe of Mel's favorite cake that I printed for each guest and placed at each plate setting. (I was determined that the guest would remember to take them home!)



Some of the guests, my mother-in-law and two of my husband's aunts, and some others enjoying their meal and fellowship.


Of course we enjoyed caramel cupcakes for dessert!



The appetizer tray, which was on a tea cart.



Since our mother-to-be has been enjoying the fruits of her labor, no pun intended, and has found an even greater fondness for tomatoes, this Caprese Salad was a must.



Some of the other delectable dishes.





One of the arrangements I did for the tables.


Since we were using a paper theme, I made several of these paper flowers a few weeks ahead. They really were easy and added some whimsy to the decor.


This was to add flair to the dessert bar.





I am sure you are wondering what in the world I am posting a pic of my fat cat, Duchess, for?! Well, as you can see in the pic, (which actually conceals her true physique), Duchess is a robust cat. Evidently, she felt left out of the party and snuck into one of the dining chairs before the ladies found their way to their seats. When our Aunt Pam attempted to pull out her chair, it wouldn't budge. She kept trying to pull, but the chair wouldn't give. Finally it was discovered that the cat was in it, and unfortunatly my MIL barred her from further festivities. Poor dear.