Happy Baby Shower!!

My sister Samantha (she is 10 months younger than myself) is pregnant & due September 8th-ish (first it was the 9th, then the 4th, etc). So, my other sister, Paige, & I decided to throw her a baby shower!!! They were supposed to find out April 14th, Anson's 7th birthday, if it was a boy (Slate Wyatt or Slate Ronan), or girl (Savannah Kinley or Savannah Kayden). However. Silly baby mooned them! So, as of now, baby is a surprise.

The theme of the shower is "Chocolate Mint". The colors are, obviously, green & brown. If Samantha & Shane do happen to find out the gender, then we will toss in some touches of pink or blue (not a ton though, mere touches!). Paige & I have thought up thousands of ideas. We've googled & saved pictures for inspirations, thought of some games & food ideas, etc. Here are some of the ideas we have come up with, including pictures. What ideas we have decided 100% on, will be green :D

Date/Time - July 25, 2009, 2-6pm

Location - Paige & Jason's in Warman

Theme - Chocolate Mint

Themed Drinks - virgin Margaritas (green) & frozen hot chocolate (brown), with alcohol for guests to add if they would so desire

Menu Ideas - For the most part, the food will be green & brown! Here are out ideas.
~ Candy buffet using all green & brown candies (will be in glass jars with brown & green ribbon decorating them)
~ a couple of cupcake trees (cupcakes will be chocolate, with green icing) and I will make a cake to match the invitations (that will be white cake with green icing)
~ fruit tray using green & brown fruits (kiwis, green & purple grapes, cantalope, & chocolate covered strawberries, or we will make up a fruit bouquet
~ Appetizers, including spinach dip, guacamole with the dark purple tortilla chips, tortilla rollups (they have cream cheese & other goodies inside, with the green spinach tortillas)
~ chips & the like in pretty green & brown bowls (afterwards, Paige & I will split things we've boughten up between us, LOL).

Decoration Ideas - We have found soooo many cute ideas to decorate! Depending on the weather, the shower will most likely be outside. The tables will be on the patio, & we'll all hang out on the lawn area. Here are some of the ideas we've come across.
~ I will be doing up the invitations (so if you read this, & want to come, send me your address!). I'm thinking of making little onesie cards, with "It's a Baby Shower" or whatever on the front, & all the information on the back. This is what the cake Samantha cuts will look like as well.
~ Painted terra cotta pots (half will be brown on the bottom, green on the rim, the rest will be opposite), used as balloons weights (brown & green bunches, with a couple pink or blue tossed if needed), then filled with brown or green Jelly Bellies or M&Ms.
~ Making a garland out of baby onesies, with baby pictures of Shane & Samantha on them.
~ Roses made from baby socks for centerpieces.
~ A diaper cake or diaper wreath for the centerpiece on the gift table (will be my gift to them, if I can figure one out.
~ Paige & I will scrapbook the shower pictures for Samantha, so instead of signing a guest book, we'll get everyone to write baby advice or well wishes onto index cards. May possibly pin cards to a "wishing tree" that would be the guest book table's centerpiece.

Game Ideas - What's a baby shower without games?!?!
~ Guess the Baby Item - get enough paper bags to spell out "Baby Shower" (decorate if you want), and place an item in each lettered bag that starts with that letter (so a bib or bottle in the "B" bag, socks in the "S" bag, etc etc). Mom gets all the baby items in the bags.
~ Watch you Mouth! - everyone gets a clothespin when they get to the party, and whoever says baby, gets their pin taken away. The person with most pins at the end wins.
~ How Big Is Your Belly - use toilet paper to guess how big mom's belly is.
~ Baby Pool - guesses for when baby comes.
~ Baby Food Guess - take labels off baby food jars & have guests guess what each one is.

Gift Ideas - We have come up with so many gift ideas!!! Between Paige & I, this baby will be spoiled!!
~ Paige is giving a diaper bag FILLED with baby goodies!
~ I made up a little stationary kit with 40 thank you cards in it, and envelopes (green & brown, of course).
~ Whatever doesn't fit in the diaper, we'll put on the diaper cake I'm attempting.
~ Afterwards, we'll do up the scrapbook & give that to her as well.

Wow, that sounds like a LOT!! We've already got a good start though! Paige has the pots painted, I have the vases/containers for the candy buffet. Yesterday I went got tons of ribbon, so I will play around with my containers & decorating those. Paige has started buying the green & brown candy, except for a couple things we "may" make. The thank you cards are done, I've been working on some invite templates, etc.

Some things we won't do until just before the shower in July, like food, obviously. I will bake the cupcakes in June & freeze them. I plan on going to Saskatoon a couple days before the shower. We will mix up a large batch of the drinks, & freeze them beforehand, so that we're not doing that the day of. Some of the food will be made the day of, if not the night before. So as long as we have the decor & games figured out before, I think we'll be doing well!!