Little Pumpkin Baby Shower

So I must point out that my blog tagline is “A blog about cooking, kids and trying to find the time to be crafty.” Well, it’s been 4 months of blogging, and I have yet to find the time to be crafty… until this baby shower. Hopefully more to come in the crafty department.

This past weekend I had the honor of co-hosting a baby shower for my dear friend and neighbor, Chantelle. We decided to throw her a Little Pumpkin themed shower, but took it in a sophisticated direction. We focused on a fall color palette: gold, burnt orange, bronze, robin’s egg blue and burgundy. We used really fun fabrics – gold chevron, robin’s egg gingham, burnt orange and burlap. We accented with painted pumpkins and had a variety of simple flower arrangements.

For food, our main attraction was a chili bar. We had vegetarian chili and meat chili and all the fixings you can think of: baked potatoes, corn bread, tortilla chips, french bread, cheese, crackers, sour cream and chives. We also had a cheese tray, veggie tray, pretzels with mustard dipping sauces and mushroom onion tartlets. Our signature drink was an apple ginger sangria (in both the regular and virgin varieties).

Me and the beautiful Mommy-to-be

Simple baby’s breath bouquet

Pretzel rods with mustard dipping sauces

Cupcake stand – foam rectangles, covered with fabric (wrapped like a present, secured with push pins = no sew!)

The spread – painted pumpkins, flowers and food!

Food place cards for every dish

A small part of our Chili Bar (wish I had gotten a better picture of it all!)

More fall flowers

We played a Mad-Lib game – it told the labor and delivery story and was hilarious!! I made bags for each of the word types, had people submit words, and then I drew them to put the story together.

Mushroom Onion Tartlets – I found this recipe in my Kitchen Aid Mixer recipe book and it is fabulous (I was lucky to also find it online so I don’t have to re-type it! LOL)

Love a good cheese plate! We had white cheddar, pepper jack, swiss, herb goat and honey goat. We also had fig preserves and an assortment of crackers to go with it. Delish!

Chocolate cupcakes with pumpkin cream cheese frosting topped with shaved chocolate (I didn’t make the cupcakes so I don’t have the recipe – I’ll try to get it and post it)