i put together this very floral little brunch for a mother’s day giveaway recently and wanted to share it here!

i’ve been getting more into blue lately and i thought it would look pretty to use my usual color palette and add in some more spring pastels. i love how it turned out!!

how cute is gigi?

florals by in blume / pastries from portos

links:
tablecloth / blue napkins / patterned plates / larger plates / small fruit bowls (similar) / drinking glasses / placemats / long bowl

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i have been majorly slacking on these posts but i’ve gotten some things i really love lately that i needed to share.

tatcha rice wash

i’m now obsessed with this face wash! it feels so good on and has this very gentle exfoliator in it. i just really love the way my skin feels after washing with it.

sweet enough cookbook

alison roman is my all time favorite, so i immediately had to buy her newest book. it’s basically all desserts, but she always manages to make so many things i want to make and i love her writing too. i haven’t actually made anything yet but i want to this weekend!

speckled gel pens

i got these pens for the baby shower i threw and they’re so nice! they are super pretty but they also write so well. if you’re looking for new pens I PROMISE YOU’LL LIKE EM!

bento lunchbox

arlo has for sure been growing lately, he’s been devouring his lunchbox, multiple snacks in his backpack and coming home asking for more– so i got him a larger grownup size lunchbox and so far so good. i can now fit an entire sandwich comfortably in one slot and he hasn’t been coming home a raging hangry monster.

bamboo hamper

i got this hamper for his closet and it’s really nice! i love the look of it and it’s also collapsible and fits in his closet perfectly.

1″ thick yoga mat

the most old lady thing i’ve done maybe ever– i got this super thick yoga mat and it is SO MUCH BETTER ON MY OLD LADY KNEES! i’ve taken it to hot sculpt and was only mildly embarrassed walking in with basically a sleeping bag but i also love it hahah.

baby sunhat

got this for izzy and it’s SO CUTE for outdoor days! she has a pretty tiny head (shes in the 5th percentile for head circumference haha) but it actually fits her! i got it in the stripes but i also love the beige and the white, which tbh would have been better because all her swimsuits are patterned too.

air fryer liner

i saw elsie larson bought this silicone air fryer liner and immediately purchased. it fits perfectly in our air fryer and it’s super convenient. i’ve been specifically using it a lot for when i’m trying to do two batches of things because i can keep one in there, or when i’m preheating the air fryer but want to keep the food out till its done preheating!

tower 28 tinted lip balm

oh man i love this lip balm!!! it goes on so smoothly and it’s so pretty on! you can put it on pretty lightly or layer it for a more lipsticky type of look. i really can’t resist a tinted lip balm versus a lipstick, it feels so much lighter and smoother on my lips.

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mother’s day is right around the corner now! and it’s my first as a mom of two. i put together some cute things most moms, younger or older might appreciate!

Beats x Kim Kardashian $200

for the chatty moms who love to walk and talk, these are the prettiest beats in pretty neutral beige tones!

urbanstems bouquet $135

flowers that you can conveniently order online and know exactly what you’ll get!

light blocking readers $29

if she has to wear readers, at least they should be very cute readers! my mom loves to feel cute in hers.

wireless photo printer $70

for the moms who want pictures IRL– this is such a good gift to print out all those digital ones.

coyuchi robe $40

cliche yes, but a cozy cute robe is always a hit right??

weighted eye pillow $34

for all the moms that need to relax!!

aerogarden $80

for the mom who loves to cook, an aero garden to keep fresh herbs nearby!

bed threads napkins $70

such beautiful napkins, what mom wouldn’t love these!?

pearl bracelet $140

such a beautiful pearl bracelet and on sale for a few more days!

pickleball set $86

these moms love pickleball. it’s like, so hot right now.

nest hub $75

we got one of these for our kitchen and i love it so much. i can set timers for cooking, listen to music, watch/read recipes, it’s super helpful!!

braided loaf pan $38

the most beautiful loaf pan ever! any baking mom would love it!

also, i started a new list on my storefront with mother’s day gift ideas as well!

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i got asked this a few times with the last baby shower i hosted here at our house, so i thought this would be a fun post because it actually doesn’t take that much to put on a good shower. i like to keep things simple (well, molly simple), and not overdo it on the games or corniness, just a simple pretty brunch with an activity or two is always my favorite.

make it pretty

this is obviously my most important tip haha, and the most fun part for me! i love to design every little part of a party and make it all look cohesive together. this usually requires a pinterest board or a mood board to make sure it all works together. i don’t believe you have to go overboard with the design elements to make it look beautiful!

i decided to make a simple checklist to simplify it, because this is how my brain works best:

basics

plates (both lunch and dessert)
napkins (both luncheon and cocktail)
cups / wine glasses
flatware
table linens
signage (optional)

for this most recent baby shower, we kept it really simple and neutral based on the mama-to-be’s taste, so it made it very easy to design cohesively since everything was so minimal. when incorporating patterns, i always photoshop the party goods together to make sure it won’t look bad once they’re actually together IRL.

signage

well this might not be essential for everyone, but whenever i design a party the former graphic designer in me likes to also design the look of the party with branding too. so i’ll usually start with one sign and then go ahead and do a whole suite of little signs, matching food tags, advice cards gift tags, etc.

i have these acrylic picture frames that i use for almost all my parties and just print the signs to the same size every time.

florals

for flowers, i typically do the arrangements myself because you can save a lot of money doing them if you’re planning on creating a bunch of small ones. you don’t need large arrangements but it is helpful to have a lot of vases around.

i’ve done this with flowers from the flower market and from the grocery store. i’m novice when it comes to flower arranging, you just have to use pretty flowers and no one will notice!

food

i like to keep it simple for parties, because the stress of hosting and setting up is PLENTY for me, cooking is something i just can’t handle usually. i much prefer to delegate! so if you can afford catering, awesome, if not– there are plenty of great inexpensive alternatives. we love a “bar” theme, we’ve done bagel bar and waffle bar and it doesn’t cost much but it’s super fun and memorable.

for this one, we just got a giant bagel order and set everything up on my cabinet to look really bountiful! the food was affordable and didn’t require any prep at all besides laying it out.

and the waffle bar from a my bff’s bridal shower a few years ago, we just laid out tons of toppings (and picked up some fried chicken)! so simple and people loved it.

drinks

again, i like to keep it simple for drinks, but it’s always fun to have some signature cocktails/mocktails. for the most recent shower, we purchased pre made cocktail kits and then mixed them with booze in pitchers. to keep track of which was which, i just designed a little sign with the ingredients and named the drinks after the parents-to-be. super easy and feels fancy!

because i love to host, i also own two large beverage dispensers that i use for most parties. they live permanently in the garage, but i am so glad to have them every time we’re throwing a party. it’s easy to just fill them with ice teas, juices, or just water like i did above. then i’ll usually have a cooler or ice bucket on the ground that has water, wine, beer, sparkling water.

want a good tip to not waste money on beverages? don’t buy la croix. no one wants to drink it! you’ll always have a case leftover! now i only get perrier cans, small pellegrino bottles or topo chico– but i’m a sparkling water snob lol.

games + activities

sometimes the traditional games can be fun (at my bridal shower we did toilet paper wedding dresses and it was a good time), but it’s also fine to skip them. i always just make sure there are a few activities to do besides just socializing and eating and drinking.

it also depends on how long you want the shower to be– if it’s only going to be 2 hours, you don’t need much to fill up the time– if it’s 3 hours, i’d probably add at least one game.

we’ve done a lot of onesie decorating for baby showers because it’s easy, cute and there’s a chance the onesies will come out cute enough to be actually be used too. we’ve done iron on letters, paint markers and tie dye (tie dye is so cute but SO MESSY)

and our other favorite is the face collages– take a straight on picture of both parents and line up their features as much as you can, make them the exact same size and then print copies of both. cut them into slices and lay out with some tape. always super fun and so easy to put together. ps, we’ve done this with adult pictures but it was the best ever with kid school pictures!

another fun activity for bridal showers is the newlywed game, come up with 10 or so questions, and go record a video of the fiancee answering them. setup your guests in front of a tv and play the video while pausing to see if they match. we’ve done this at a few showers and it’s very cute.

simple favors

you don’t need to spend much for party favors, but it is a nice gesture to have something to go home with. for my best friends bridal shower, i just did little matchbooks and i made tiny smudge sticks with some palo santo sticks i got in bulk online. for another baby shower, i made simple floral bath salts.

we’ve also done cute little candles many times, i love these because they’re something people will definitely use and not a giant waste of money. etsy has tons of cute inexpensive favor options.

advice cards, always!

for me, these are crucial now! we have made them for every shower, and for arlos first birthday party too! they’re just a really special touch and something the guest of honor will cherish. plus, guests enjoy filling them out so they double as a simple activity.

if you’re printing at home, make sure to do it on thick cardstock– for this last shower, i just uploaded everything and had it printed and delivered to keep it stressfree.

a beautiful dessert table

the dessert table is very important to me, but i’m not even a huge baker. i just think it’s really important to walk into a party and see a beautiful dessert table!!

i’ve even purchased cakes from the grocery store and decorated them with flowers or fruits because you know i like easy. as long as they look good (and taste good), it really doesn’t matter how homemade everything is. luckily i do have a girlfriend who makes gorgeous delicious desserts so i usually delegate a few to her.

i just like enough desserts to cover a table, that might be 3-4, or more if you’re really going crazy,

recruit co-hosts

this one is important! the bigger the budget, the nicer the party! so unless you can spend a ton of money on your own, enlist a group of friends to help. decide on a budget beforehand and if everyone contributes evenly you’ll have a lot more to spend.

AND of course, that means way less work too. delegate and keep it chill! hosting is hard work, so it’s nice to be able to outsource help.

some hosting essentials below:

The post how to throw an amazing baby or bridal shower appeared first on almost makes perfect.

a few weeks ago i threw a baby shower in our backyard and i’m finally getting around to sharing! my good friend shoshana is expecting her baby boy in just a couple of weeks now (!!) and asked to have her shower at my house. with a little baby myself, this sounded super daunting but luckily it worked out and was such a lovely day.

i had a little committee of co-hosts and without them i could have NEVER done it on my own.
… ps, always. enlist. co-hosts!!!!!

i’m going to put together another post of my tips of how to host an effortless and laid back shower, because i’ve done it a few times now and i was asked for my tips randomly a lot after this one.

we don’t do a lot of games and we always skip the opening of the gifts. no one wants to watch it and no one wants everyone to watch them open and have to be “on” while doing so, so to me– unless the bride-to-be or mom-to-be is asking to, we skip it. way more fun to spend that time socializing, eating or doing more enjoyable activities!

my friend is pretty eco-conscious, so that kept our decorations pretty minimal because i intentionally didn’t get stuff we thought she would consider wasteful! for the table settings, i got bamboo plates, bamboo cutlery and we used my leftover linen wedding napkins (still going strong after almost a decade!)

i designed some simple signage to place around the party, i always think something small like that goes such a long way in making a party feel designed.

we love advice cards for birthday parties, bridal showers and baby showers. they’re fun, easy, and always really sweet for the recipient. at this point i’ve just made them the same for multiple showers with a different design.

for food, we kept it really inexpensive and simple by ordering a large catering box from my favorite bagel shop (hanks) and asked for things to not be plated. instead, i laid out a big roll of butcher paper along the cabinet outside and organically placed everything to look like one giant bagel board.

my co-hosts made a few dishes like quiche, fruit salad and green salad to go with the bagels. we only spent a couple hundred on food and it was perfect!

for drinks, we kept it very simple here too! down below we had a cooler with wine and sparkling water, but i bought pre-made cocktail kits to have three signature cocktails. having custom drinks feels so fun and fancy, but i didn’t want to make the effort to actually make said drinks, so this was the perfect solution.

we had one cocktail with vodka, one with tequila, and one mocktail for shoshana. i made a little bar sign so that people could keep track and named them after the couple.

two other activities we’ve now done a few times over the years, a baby face collage activity and a decorating onesies area.

for the face game, you just need two pictures of the couple straight on. in photoshop, line up their features as much as possible with each other and then print a dozen of both. cut them into slits and leave them out with tape. this is the first time we’ve done it with kid faces versus adult and it was sooo much better! the combinations were hilarious and everyone had fun doing it.

for the onesies, i just bought a big variety pack of plain onesies that come in different sizes. i bought little gift bags to go inside, and these served as the backing so that the markers wouldn’t bleed through, AND i tied little gift tags to each bag so that shoshana could know who made what.

we just put out on a table along with a big variety of fabric markers and people loved making them. there were a lot of artsy guests so this table was packed and i wish i’d actually gotten even more onesies because i didn’t end up getting to make one.

for a simple little party favor, my bff had these sweet little candles made on etsy. there was actually debate in our group about whether people think party favors are worth it or not, i’m curious how other people feel!

there were a lot of things i did to save myself time and energy that i’m glad i did– we used a rental company for the tables, chairs, tablecloths and we rented heaters as well. i didn’t handle desserts whatsoever and delegated them out completely and another co-host handled the flowers, she just went to trader joes and made a bunch of little arrangements that we spread all over the party in white vases.

make it easy on yourself and don’t take everything on!!!
not to mention, you’ll have a larger party budget if everyone is splitting!

sources

plates / cups / cutlery / butcher paper / pens / gift bags / onesies / candles / napkins (similar) / vases (similar) / pitchers / drink dispenser

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