Safari Baby Shower

• 

Hey friends! It’s been a reaallly long time since I last wrote a blog post, but I have a semi good excuse… I had a baby! I’ll save that for another blog post though. Today, I wanted to talk to you guys about this safari themed baby shower that I threw for my best friend. I got a ton of questions on Instagram about the decorations, how we made the backdrop, and a few other things. So I figured I would write a post with all the information and sources for everything.

One big factor that helped make this a successful baby shower: I had a lot of help. This wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my amazing, selfless mama. She stayed up late with me to decorate and clean, took care of my kids when I needed to get things for the shower and everything in between. My friend’s family were also such a big help. They took care of some of the food like the gorgeous cake, made fruit and cheese platters, and so many other yummy desserts and finger foods. They also made it possible for me to make this a surprise baby shower, which just added to the fun. You need help and a good support system when it comes to throwing parties. You just can’t do it all on your own. So a big fat thank you to all you amazing people who helped make this happen.

Now let’s talk decor! I was on Pinterest and Etsy for months just gathering ideas and inspiration. For this shower, I really wanted to DIY as much as I could. Doing things myself and creating is so fun for me, so I really enjoyed making all the decorations. I also ordered some things from Etsy that gave those cute personal touches and little details that we all love.

Balloon Garland

This was the most asked about item of the baby shower. We actually made this balloon garland ourselves! I ordered a balloon garland kit from an Etsy shop called BlushBalloonParty. It basically comes with everything you need to make your own ballon garland at home. The package consisted of the balloons (duh) which come in different sizes and colors depending on the theme you choose. It also came with a balloon decorating strip which is what you use to line up the balloons and hang, faux palm tree leaves and glue dots (didn’t really use those). I was so close to hiring someone to come and make one but it was SO pricey. That’s when I started watching tutorials.

I watched a whole bunch of Youtube videos before attempting to make it because I was so nervous. I’ll start off by saying that it was very time consuming. I wouldn’t quite say that it was difficult, but I wouldn’t say it was easy either. There are some things I would do differently next time I make a balloon garland. The most time consuming part is blowing the balloons up. I bought two basic air pumps to manually pump air into the balloons. Next time, I think I’ll invest in an automatic air pump with multiple spouts. That would’ve saved me so much time and my arms wouldn’t have felt like jello lol.

One mistake I made that I’ll be sure to avoid next time is not to over pump the balloons. A garland looks so much better when the balloons are a round shape, instead of an over pumped pear shape. It literally makes or breaks the whole look. I ended up not using the first few over pumped balloons because it looked so weird. It took me a while to figure out why it looked so funny and what I needed to do to fix it. I had a meltdown before figuring out what was wrong with it and I wanted to cancel the whole baby shower LOL. Thank God for my mama who calmed me down and helped me fix it.

Once you get the balloons blown up, you can start putting them onto the decorating strip. I played around a lot with the order of the balloons until it looked the way I wanted. I wanted an organic look, bigger balloons on the bottom and the little ones scattered around. It didn’t look exactly how I wanted, but I was still really happy with the results. The little palm tree leaves added such a cute touch. If you’re thinking about making a balloon garland for your next event I say GO FOR IT! It gives the room such a fun feel and they really are beautiful. And you don’t have to order a kit to make one. You can most definitely get everything separately. Though it was a huge help to have everything I needed ready to go.

The Backdrop

The balloon garland was the biggest component for the backdrop. What I originally wanted to do was make a boxwood hedge backdrop, but I was short on time and kind of lost on how to achieve that look. My mom was helping me clean our garage out one day when she came across three wood lattice panels that I had bought from Lowe’s for a market event that I attended as a vendor. I had only used them that one day for the event and I’m so glad I was able to get more use out of it. They were SO cute as a backdrop and tied in perfectly with the safari theme.

Another fun piece were gold “oh baby” balloons. They tied in really nicely with the gold accent balloons from the garland. I ordered them from an Etsy shop called HullaballoonsParty. You can get cute “oh baby” balloons from a bunch of different places, but I liked these specifically because they were lowercase script letters.

Fish wire and natural coiled wire were my life savers for the backdrop. The coiled wire worked great to hold the three lattice panels together. It is a really strong wire and it blended in perfectly with the panels because it looks like wood. Fish wire is almost invisible so I used it to seamlessly hang up and tie the balloon garland to the top of the panels. We put the three tied up panels up against a wall and then put the dessert table right in front of it, which stabilized the backdrop.

Party Favors

The party favors were probably one of my favorite things about the baby shower. They were so cute and dainty. I got these from an Etsy shop called TheKraftMoon. I actually discovered this Etsy shop from Pinterest. This shop has lots of cute goodie bag styles, but the popcorn one was my favorite. I bought the popcorn from Party City, equally distributed it into the paper bags and closed them with the stickers they came with. You can find the mini clothespins in lots of different stores, but these were from Hobby Lobby. The eucalyptus leaves were from Michaels. Y’all I was screaming (not really, but you know what I mean) when I put the first favor bag together. It was just so cute!

I got that wooden crate from Michaels and originally wanted to use it to decorate the dessert table after seeing a picture on Pinterest. But it just didn’t work because the color of the wood clashed with the lattice panels. I ended using it to hold all the party favors and they all literally fit in there perfectly. On top of the crate is a favor sign that I ordered as a PDF from an Etsy shop called WeAreEngaged. The gold frame was also from Michaels.

Games and Activities

You gotta include all the cheesy baby shower games, guys. There’s no going around it. The games we played were actually pretty fun though. The game everyone participated in and enjoyed was guessing how big mama’s belly is. I got this idea from the baby shower that my friend threw me and it was really fun so I wanted to be sure to play this at her shower. Understandably, not all pregnant women would think that this game would be fun so be sure you know if the guest of honor would be comfortable playing it.

Another fun one was guessing baby food flavors. This game is not for the faint of heart. Only a few participated in this one, but it was still great to see their faces when they tried the gross flavors ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

I ordered a bunch of baby shower activities from an Etsy shop called juniperplumpaperie. I also ordered the invitations from the same shop so everything was the same safari theme. They’re files that you download and print. I ordered a jungle themed baby shower game bundle that included 10 different activities. All just for $4 plus the cost of printing which wasn’t much either. I didn’t use all 10 activities. I just picked 5 or 6 that I liked and printed those out. Some of the paper activities included advice for mom, baby word scramble, mommy or daddy and a few more. I also got a name suggestion printable from a shop called LovableLittleSophie. You can find free baby shower game templates easily, but I really wanted even the littlest details to harmonize with the theme.

The onesie decorating station was a huge hit. It’s something everyone of all ages can participate in. Mom can take the onesies home with her after the shower and actually dress the baby up in with all the heartfelt (or goofy) personalizations. It’s nice to see what everyone comes up with and how they design their onesie. For this you’ll need a few packs of blank white onesies, which I got from target. You’ll want to get a range of sizes so that the baby will be able to wear as they grow. You’ll also need fabric markers and stencils, both which I got from Hobby Lobby. I also had a chalkboard over the station that just kinda explained what to do. I got those two gold framed chalkboards for $3 each from Michaels, literally a steal!!! Right next to the onesie station was a jar full of cotton balls where you could guess how many where in there to get a prize.

Selfie Frame and Props

The selfie frame was another thing that I got a few questions about. The process is similar to the way I got the baby shower activities. I ordered it as a PDF file from an Etsy shop called Eighteen61Designs. The seller has step by step instructions of how to print it. I did the printing part through Office Depot’s website. You just upload the file, select the size and the paper material and you’re basically good to go. I went into the store the next day to pick it up. It is a poster so it’s thicker than paper but still too flimsy to hold up on its own. So I got a foam board that was the same size as the poster (24 x 36) and used an adhesive spray to glue the poster onto the foam board. Then I went in with a box cutter and cut out the rectangle in the middle and voila! a beautiful selfie frame was created. The photoshoot props are from an Etsy shop called EnFete. It came with a set of 10 adorable props, but my favorite is the “happy pushing” one haha.

Random Decor

After getting most of the things I needed for the shower, I felt like there was still something missing. I needed some small decor items that I could spread around the house that tied in with the safari theme. Alas, Pinterest to the rescue. I came across this cute idea of gold safari animals and candles on a small wooden coaster. I took that idea and changed it up a bit. I got a pack of small safari animals from Hobby Lobby and spray painted them gold with a gold metallic spray paint that contained primer. I was shocked at how good the animals looked after I spray painted them because they looked kinda funny before I did anything to them. I found a set of 6 small vases from At Home on clearance for just $5! I didn’t know what I was gonna use them for at the time but I sure put them to good use.

I filled up each vase with pebbles and placed in a single palm tree leaf. The last element I needed for this piece to come together were the wooden coasters, which I found at Michaels. Time for the assembly. I lined up 6 coasters, topped them each with a vase and a gold safari animal and just scattered them around the house. Even though they were small, I felt like it really helped tie the safari theme all together. I had extra pebbles and palm tree leaves so I pulled out one of my big flower vases and did the same to it as the smaller vases. That big vase ended up going on the activity table.

I mentioned earlier that I got those two gold framed chalkboards from Michaels. There, I also found mini chalkboard easels that I thought would be perfect for labeling some of the food items. There is a whole baby shower section at Michaels with ready themes and matching color items. Sadly, there weren’t safari themed items, but I still was able to find things that matched. The accent color of the shower was gold so I got some gold confetti and little gold utensils from that section

Food and Drink

For the food, I decided that it would be best to serve finger foods and desserts instead of serving full meals. I follow a handful of food bloggers on Instagram that have the best ideas and recipes. That’s where I got some of my inspiration from. The Nescafé cake recipe is from @fufuinthekitchen on Instagram. Her recipe is very simple and easy to follow, not to mention fricking delicious! I ended up making it into single serving cups because it’s easier to serve at a party. Another page I follow is @falahihouseliving, where I got the idea for the baklawa bites. They were so easy to make and tasted like actual baklawa. My mom made some heavenly fatayer (cheese pies). They are small and easy to just pick up and go. My friend’s family helped a lot with the food and brought some more delicious finger foods like mini pizzas and eggrolls. For drinks, we kept it really simple with iced tea, sparkling drinks and strawberry mint infused water.

I hope some of this information was helpful for anyone that want to throw a similar party. It was really fun watching everything come together. The best part of course was celebrating my best friend and her baby. Seeing her happy made me happy and I’m glad that we were able to make this possible. (The baby is here and he’s the cutest thing ever mashallah) 🙂