Thursday, March 22, 2012

DIY: Dinosaur Baby Amour Shower

Happy Thursday, y'all!  I had the pleasure of co-hosting a baby shower for my cousin, Hannah, last Saturday and I wanted to share the DIY details with you!  For starters, I babysat Hannah when she was a baby, so I was crazy excited to help plan a shower for her.  These parents-to-be are super trendy so that made planning things even more fun!  Most people woukd run screaming in the other direction when you told them you wanted to use black in their baby shower decorations!  Not to mention adding glittered dinosaurs and a table cloth wreath!  Pictures say it better, so here are a few shots from the big event; sorry the pics aren't the greatest!
Hannah and AJ had selected a dinosaur bedding set online, so naturally I wanted to tie-in the shower and the nursery themes.  Enter, the dinosaurs!  The bedding color scheme was olive, tan, and burgundy and I just couldn't find enough party-ware to match those colors.  Then I stumbled upon a Black, White, and Green package of napkins at Hobby Lobby.  It had a big lime green center surrounded by a black and white paisley print border.  The print is called Mandalay Bay and of course I used a 40% off coupon when I purchased them!  With my color scheme selected it was off to the computer to create the invitations.  Luckily, we saved a ton on postage and printing by using the Event feature on Facebook.  Then I created the "thank you" tags.  The round ones ended up being toppers for mini-cupcakes, while the rectangle ones got attached to the tulle circles filled with green and white spearmints from the local super center.
I have been admiring DIY wreaths forever online and was so happy when I finally came across these grape-vine like wreaths at the Dollar Tree.  Originally I was looking for foam wreaths but couldn't find any in a size or price that I wanted.  Dollar Tree had two sizes and I opted for the larger one.  I then took three plastic table cloths and cut them into strips about 3x9 inches.  Then I wrapped each strip around the wreath in bunches of three and tied them with a tiny rubber band.  I bought solid black frames at the Dollar Tree for the photo collages.  I took the pictures myself at the Madisonville City Park, created the collages in Photoshop, and had them printed on regular paper at Office Max for 49-cents each!  Compared to almost 3-bucks for an actual photo, I thought that was awesome savings!
Hannah and AJ brought along their baby book for guests to sign and we setup the table with another collage picture and baskets of the thankyou mints.  The parent's-to-be actually tied all of those mints (with a little help from their brother and sister-in-law).  It's amazing how festive simple, white tulle circles  and skinny green and black ribbon look in a coordinating basket!  We ended up with a few extra dinosaurs so one of them landed there on the sign-in table.  That collage is actually just the combination of the "photo booth" strips I had created to place on the tables for guest to enjoy.
We used green and black plastic table cloths from Dollar General for a nice contrast.  The two sizes of paper plates in black and green really helped dress up the table cloths, too!  For the center pieces, I used a glass candle stick from the Dollar Tree and topped it with a Styrofoam Circle.  I attached a piece of scrapbook paper to the top of the foam and covered the edge with green ribbon.  Then the "photo strips" leaned nicely against the pedestal.  The dinosaurs came from the toy isle at Dollar General and I used Krylon Glitter Blast spray paint to give them a nice sparkle!  My back porch is covered in green glitter!  I love it!
See the pedestal in the left hand picture above?  That's a white plate from the Dollar Tree hot-glued onto a green ice cream bowl from the local super center (it's turned upside down, and came in a package of two).  I got the most compliments for those chocolate chip cookies you see on top of the pedestal.  Yep, everyone loved those Pillsbury cookies from the mega event at Kroger.  I found a set of four white bowls at Target and hot-glued them to glass candle holders to make a nifty peanut dish!  In the center photo you see the round cake with the topper I made in Photoshop.  I had it printed on regular paper at Office Max, then I cut it out and laminated it at home.  I taped toothpicks to the back and sat right on top of the cake!  Dad-to-be, decorated the bar with lots of lanterns/balls and what-ever-those-things are called circles.  The lanterns came in packs of three at Hobby Lobby and those little round decorations came in packages of four or five at Party City.  On another table, that's not pictured, we had bowls of nacho chips and jars of salsa.  To disguise the glass salsa jars, I cut scrapbook paper to fit around the jars; super easy and super cute and super inexpensive.
We ran out of rectangular table cloths and had to use the round ones for the gift table.  But, I really think I prefer the cool swag it created and will have to keep that in mind for future events!  I made the banner in photoshop.  Each letter is a 4x6 that I printed at the one-hour-photo.  I used hot-glue to attach each picture to a length of green ribbon from the Dollar Tree.  That super, adorable diaper cake you see in the center photo was even cuter in person.  One of the guests made it as Hannah's gift and I couldn't help but admire it!

Well, that's all the pictures I have to share.  A lot of hot-glue when into the making of this baby shower, and here's the list of other things!

Hobby Lobby (accumulated over several shopping trips, not all in one trip!)
Napkins (less 40% with internet printable coupon)
Tulle Circles (less 40% with internet printable coupon)
Various prints of 12x12 Scrapbook Paper
Krylon Glitter Blast Spray Paint (less 40% with internet printable coupon)
Paper Lantern Balls (less 40% with internet printable coupon)
Local Super Center (or "the brown store" as my daughter affectionately calls it!)
4x6 prints from the One-Hour Photo: Invitations, Thankyou circles, Thankyou rectangles, Faux Photo Booth Strips (I orderd 100 getting the best price per print!)
Spearmints, in a big bag from the candy isle
Dollar Tree
Grape-vine like Wreath
Black 8x10 Picture Frames
Green Ribbon
Green Baskets
Black rubber bands from the hair accessory isle
Round Styrofoam discs, 2 per pack
Glass Candle Holders (I had to order these online for store pickup, because they were always out of stock!)
Plastic Party-ware Table Cloths
Dollar General (I shopped a lot on the $5 off days!)
Plastic Party-ware Table Cloths
Plastic Dinosaurs (from the toy isle)
Party City
Small green and white hanging circles
The Food
I picked up all of the food and drinks when I found it on sale, with the exception of the cakes.  If you can make your own cake, you can just about cut your budget in half!  Next time, I think I'm going to try make the cake myself!