Time for a baby shower

My blog has been quiet but I’ve been busy, busy! Since Christmas I spent loads of time helping my mother pack up her belongings and move from a big house to a condo. That left me sore and tired, I can tell you! But, thankfully, not too tired because during that same time period, I’ve been plotting and planning a baby shower for DD#1. She is expecting her first baby! They will be having a boy who they are naming Caleb Nathaniel. Her due date is March 13, so I needed to slide in a baby shower quickly.

I’m so thankful for Pinterest. How did I live so long without it? I had loads of fun planning this shower for my daughter. She wanted a “things that go” shower. Dad-to-be has always been interested in vehicles and he has an extensive knowledge of all types of vehicles, so she figured it could be something they could bond over as Caleb grew up. Well, all I needed was a theme! I love building ideas based on themes. It’s kind of like doing a quilt challenge, and I’ve always enjoyed those too. So I started by purchasing some vehicle graphics off of Etsy, and it took off from there. First the invitation, then decorations, then games, then food. Well, you know how it goes! Here are some of the pictures from the shower that was held last Saturday.

I raided the cousins’ toys to use for decorations. I also borrowed all the toy vehicles from our church nursery and Sunday school rooms. We even used one of Dad-to-be’s childhood trains on Mom-to-be’s table. On top of that, I bought a slew of super cheap trucks and dump trucks and cars and anything with four wheels from the thrift store. I needed enough for six tables plus the buffet line! I sent them all through the dishwasher to clean and sanitize them, and then I used them around the room as centerpieces.

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I lined some of the dump trucks with plastic and used them to serve food. Part of the fun was deciding on what food to serve. I just wanted finger foods and appetizers along with cupcakes, but in during the research process I discovered that people rename the food so it goes along with the theme. So, meatballs became boulders. Chicken wings were hang-gliders. Snack mix was a trash heap pouring out of a trash truck. We had dump trucks with pebbles (M&Ms), gravel (toffee peanuts), and dipsticks (chocolate dipped pretzels). I also created a train for serving food. We found a great vintage train engine at the thrift store and had it pull a line of aluminum loaf pans filled with logs (carrots), slabs (cucumbers), wreckage (bell pepper), stoplights (a strawberry, pineapple, and grape on a skewer), hubcaps (Ritz Bits), monster truck tires (chocolate donuts), and lumps of coal (Oreo and marshmallow balls). I also made a lake full of toy sailboats (chocolate dipped mandarin oranges — yum!) and my son-in-law Eric made some wrecking balls (fabulous homemade soft pretzel bites). The cupcakes were dirt and mud (caramel stuffed chocolate cupcakes with Oreo frosting) and they were displayed on a curvy car race track tower.

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We had fun with some vehicle-inspired games and then ended with opening gifts.

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We asked that people give a new or used book instead of a card, so Caleb’s library has already begun to grow, which is very fitting since Mom & Dad are both bookworms. Grandma Susan also gave them some precious keepsakes that were Dad-to-be’s toys when he was little. Tomorrow I’ll blog about the gifts I made for Caleb and also for my other grandson, Boaz, who is due around the same time.

We were all so blessed by each lady that came to share in our joy. Thank you to each and everyone who came!