Welcome friends! I'm a little late posting this...my apologies!
I hosted a winter baby shower for my daughter-in-law, Kaytlen at the beginning of the year. Our first grand baby, Evelyn, made her appearance at end of January and we were very excited to meet her! I asked Kaytlen if she had a preference for a theme for the shower and she suggested winter decor. A winter theme worked perfectly for me since most of my Christmas decorations were still close by. Another plus is that if you wait until after Christmas, winter decorations are usually on sale and easy to find. For me, it was also an excuse to redecorate my home and keep my Christmas trees up even longer.
Baby It's Cold Outside became our theme.
We decorated the Dining Room in white, pink, gold and silver. Snowflake ornaments were hung from the chandelier with fishing line. To be a little fancy, food was served from silver trays.
I served a mixture of savory and sweet treats for the shower.
Mini bunt cakes-I will share how I made these in a future post.
White chocolate strawberries-Strawberries dipped in white candy melts and sprinkled with silver sparkling sugar sprinkles. To serve, I placed a small silver fork in each strawberry.
Chicken salad in phyllo shells-I purchased the chicken salad and phyllo shells. To assemble, bake the shells as directed. Once cooled, placed a dollop of chicken salad in each shell. (as Ina Garden would say...how easy was that?) I am at an advantage because there is a wonderful store close to me in Jefferson, Georgia that is well-known for it's chicken salad. If you're ever in the area, I encourage you to visit Kay's Vintage Pantry and try her chicken salad.
Rice Krispy Treats-First, I have chosen Krispy as my "grandmother" name. My Paw-Paw called me Krispy and this was the only name my children really liked when I was listing potential names for my grandchildren to call me. For this treat, we used purchased individually packaged Rice Krispy Treats, cut them in half, attached a lollipop stick, and then dipped them about half way in white chocolate. I also tied pick bows to the lollipop stick.
Donut Hole Tree-Using a styrofoam tree form, cover the entire area of the tree form with aluminum foil. Attach purchased donut holes with toothpicks. Decorate with flowers. (Please keep in mind that some plants and flowers may be poisinous. Be cautious about the flowers you use.)
Cheese, Fruit & Crackers Tray-
Decorative Cookies-Purchased from Augusta Bakes.
Lessons Learned: I have found that when hosting an event it is best not to attempt to make all of the food yourself. For this party, my menu was a mix of homemade, semi-homemade and purchased food. Planning the menu a week or more in advance will help to keep the event stress-free. Go ahead and assume that nothing will go exactly as planned and the amount of time to prepare the food will probably be double your estimated time.
Full disclosure...for the shower, I had my plans, made my lists, organized everything and STILL had to lean on my friends and family to help me pull it off in the end. Thankfully, my friend, Leigh Ann, showed up an hour early and I immediately put her to work. My mom and daughter also came early to help. My friend Cindy volunteered to help weeks in advance, so I assigned her specific jobs that leaned on her strengths and talents that I struggle with. I renamed Cindy "Mary Poppins" because she flies in with her magical items, makes everything beautiful and the moves on to the next family in need. For me, I am good at organizing everything, but Cindy always comes in to zhuzh it up. She brought in extra snowflake ornaments, flowers, serving dishes and accent pieces. I just left her in the Dining Room alone and let her do her thing. I am a control freak, but I've learned to surrender control to others who are creative and artistic because they can intuitually do things that could take me hours to think through.