Manic Mama Miles: Ahoy! It's a Boy! - Nautical Themed Baby Shower

Monday, April 7, 2014

Ahoy! It's a Boy! - Nautical Themed Baby Shower

Last year when I found out that one of my very best friends Sarah was having a baby, I was ecstatic. When she found out it was going to be a little boy, I was ready with the party-planning train. I had the best time planning this shower & it was great because Sarah's sister Dianna helped me with some of it.

Sarah & Derek live on the coast & my first thought was that a Nautical theme would be perfect. So "Ahoy! It's a Boy!" was born. This shower was so much fun because there were so many cute decorations to find & just as many cute DIY decorations to make on the cheap.

Here is what the final party table looked like. Of course, I began this party the way I begin most of the parties that you will see on my Parties Page...with a mock table set up to determine the serving dishes I wanted to use & the placement of everything. I knew I wanted to use crisp white serving dishes for the most part, but also wanted to use two of my round clear dishes for a little height on the sides. In the center, I used one of the vintage suitcases that I found at Steve's aunt's house. It was the perfect size to sit a sheet cake on for a centerpiece.

Here, you can see my post-it notes as I try & work out where each dish I want to serve is going to go. You can also see that sometimes I can't make my mind up on where things are going to go & move them around until I am satisfied. I think my husband only wishes I had the cleaning version of OCD...nope, just the obsessive party-planning kind. Sorry honey.

I knew I wanted the main colors to be navy, light blue & bright red. I started by checking out decorations online at Oriental Trading. If you love parties & don't love spending a ton of money, then Oriental Trading is for you. It is amazing, has tons of cute stuff & the stuff is inexpensive. It doesn't look cheap either, just super cute. I am doing a separate post just on this party's decorations, so be sure to check it out, as well as the DIY's that I did for this party.