Woodland Animal Baby Shower

I'm pretty excited that my little sister is expecting her first baby this fall! This will be my first little niece or nephew and I'm more than happy to hold a new title as Aunt! Plus this means my kids are getting their first cousin! Anyways, a few weeks ago we threw my sister and her husband an adorable Woodland Animal baby shower. All of the details came together perfectly and it was too cute not to share!

We don't know if they are having a boy or girl baby, so that made it a little more difficult to pick a theme for the shower (other than baby, of course!). In the end we landed on the woodland animal theme because it matched their plan for the nursery decor, not to mention that Shutterfly had the cutest invitations! I was even able to customize them to make them more neutral colors!

Check out some of the highlights of the shower below, including some games, decorations, and fun food ideas!

Decorations...

For an adorable and easy decoration I wanted to add some rustic flower arrangements around the house. I simply hot glued a piece of burlap with lace around mason jars. Then I put a bunch of Alstromeria in each jar (I love Alstromeria- it looks fancy without the expensive price tag!). We set each mason jar on a wood slice (I bought them at Michaels!). This one had a cute little moose from a decoration set we bought on Amazon. You may also notice the guest book on the table, it was adorable with an area for advice for the new parents and a place to record all of the gifts.

This amazing diaper cake was handmade by my mom, and it was the perfect centerpiece for one of the tables. These are a great decoration for a baby shower that also doubles as a gift for the new parents! Below I have listed a few pointers for creating a diaper cake.

• It takes about 130 diapers to make a 3 tier cake like this one. This one was made using Size 2 Pampers Swaddlers. If you want a taller cake then use Size 3 diapers instead.
• The diapers are all rolled up individually from the folded end and taped with a piece of scotch tape.
• Use a roll of paper towels in the center so that you use less diapers.
• Stand the diapers on end around the paper towel roll. Once you have the shape you want tie a string or cord around the diapers to hold them in place.
• Put ribbon around the outer edge of each layer as well.
• Finish the cake by decorating with pacifiers, baby toiletries, stuffed animals, etc.

Games...

Have you ever played the dirty diaper game at a baby shower? It cracks me up! You have to check the "dirty" diapers and guess what kind of candy bar is in each one!

Here are a few hints for creating this game!

• Hot glue the diapers onto the foam board.
• Put a different type of chocolate candy bar in each one. Make sure to make an answer key! (We used a Hershey's chocolate bar with Almonds, Kit Kat, Snickers, Reeses, Pay Day, and Twix.)
• You want the candy bars to melt some to make the game a little more fun and challenging. Because it was summer and a warm day we just set the board out in the sun for about 1 hour and it did the trick perfectly!

A really easy game we also had at the shower was "Find the Hidden Pacifiers". This was so easy and took very little prep work. We made the sign and hid 15 pacifiers around the house. We didn't even have to announce it, guests saw the sign and it became very competitive very quickly!

Treats and Favors...

This DIY charcuterie tray made by my Aunt was a hit! It looked professional and had so many delicious components. It was simply laid out on a sheet pan and included a variety of meats and cheeses, local honey, grapes, baby pickles, dried apricots, and almonds coated in a sweet and spicy glaze.

These cupcakes were made by my cousin's boyfriend, and they were perfect! His decorating skills are on point!

I made these cute little favors for all of the guests. They were just little cellophane bags filled with trail mix. Then I tied little handwritten tags that said "Happy Trails" on one side and had hand stamped baby animals on the other. They are tied with Rafia, which I love for a rustic look!

It was such a fun party, and I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into our ideas and woodland animal baby shower. We love planning parties and doing as many DIY decorations, food, and games as we can! Now we wait for baby to arrive!