Kate’s Babe

Sister had a baby, and to celebrate, of course I hosted a shower for her. The theme of her bachelorette party was Tiffanys (her first favorite store) and so what else could I have done but plan baby’s shower around her second favorite store, Kate Spade.

The Food

The shower was for 50 people, at 2:30 – not quite lunch and not quite dinner. I was looking for classy, tasty shower food that was, well, reasonable: reasonable effort to prepare, reasonably neat to eat on your lap, reasonable cost, and reasonable “heaviness” since it was for an in-between time – I knew not everyone would come super hungry.

Here’s the menu I came up with:

Salad Bar: with chicken, candied walnuts, mandarin oranges, cranberries, and honey mustard or cherry balsamic vinagerette.

Sandwiches: turkey with apple butter and brie, or roasted vegetable with herbed cream cheese. (Served in tamale bags cut to size with pinking shears)

Chopped romaine lettuce was served in plastic take-out containers from the restaurant supply store – this was done in advance and provided an easy container to eat from. Guests would take the lid off and add toppings and dressing, and could put the lid back on to toss it all up. To make them look catered (not so that guests would think that we had it catered, but so that the plastic containers looked less out of place) I designed a little label that we stuck on the side. (Babe’s Gotta Eat is the catering division of Kate’s Babe, of course)

For dessert, I also wanted something fancy but not super fussy. My friend Bex recommended macaroons, and assured me that they were easy. She was right! SO delicious, and WAYY less work than I expected. And since they are purchased for $2.00 a pop at bakeries, making them was the only way to go. Here’s the recipes – we made guava and raspberry butter-cream to go inside.

Pictures moving clockwise: Pink Guava macaroons,  Guava Gelées (also easy, like little gumdops) Cream Puffs with lemon and guava butter-cream. Trader Joe’s Meringues were a great addition too – very pretty on the plates and tasty as well!

The Decorations

I designed little signs to put in Ikea Frames and hang on the walls from ribbons. Also found Sixlets (candy) that looked like little pink and white pearls and filled fancy bowls and purses with them.

The Activities

Hubbs gave me a remote shutter for my camera, which was perfect for a photo booth. I set up the camera on a tripod, and attached the remote to the chair in the photo booth. Guests could write a piece of advice to baby, grab a prop, and click the remote to take a self-portrait. This way, no-one needed to spend the whole time taking photos. (you can see the remote in her hand in the picture)

We also played Name that Tune, featuring songs with “Baby” in the title. Since it was a multi-generational shower, we used songs that spanned the decades, from Frank Sinatra to Mariah Carey to Justin Bieber.

Well there’s more, but I think this post is long enough. Thank you SO much to my Mom, Bex, Bex’s Mom, and everyone else who helped out. It couldn’t have happened without you! For Sure.