It’s an Operation Shower Event

I’ve blogged/talked about Operation Shower a bit…I love this organization and am so appreciative of the opportunity to be a part of supporting them.

I think that it’s especially important on this Veteran’s Day, to let you know who they are and what they do.

More importantly, WHY they do what they do.

Please take a moment to watch this video about one of the recent showers they hosted.

Operation Shower “Baby Be Mine” Event

We are hosting a fundraiser to help them continue their mission. It will be held on Monday, November 18th and you can buy your tickets here.

We are hosting a line dance party, not a baby shower…I’ve had inquiries about that lol For the donation price of $15, you receive admission, food, drinks, prizes and the chance to win a mini-vacation!

If you are unable to physically attend, you may still make a donation here. If you’re supporting this particular event, please dedicate your donation to PSLDance…it just helps Operation Shower to keep track of whom the donations are coming through, we don’t receive any payments 🙂

Thank you for all of your support, but most importantly, be sure to thank our military and their families who sacrifice for us daily.

A Royal Welcome

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hosting a Pretty Little Princess themed baby shower for a little girl making her way into the world.

For this event, I was fortunate enough to be able to work with Holli from HoneyBash Celebration Shop and to say she is a life saver is not enough. She is probably the most patient person ever…if I had to deal with me, I would have screamed! But she’s just awesome like that! I was asked to do the shower in the colors of pink and purple, with a touch of bling, so I was able to select one of the packages from her shop to use for the party. She definitely made me realize the value in using other people’s talents to bring an event together and I will definitely be partnering in the future 🙂

Most of the paper items in the party (banners, signs, food labels, and cupcake toppers) were designed by Holli and embellished a bit by yours truly; I constructed the fans and floral arrangements.

 

Just a little crystal bling to make them fit for a princess!

 

 

 

 

For this baby shower, I did all of the desserts, set up the candy bar, and even got to use some of my culinary talents on the food table; I make a mean pasta salad.

 

 

 

 

 

The guests were welcomed with an opportunity to write well wishes for the mom-to-be. The book had to be fitting for a little princess…

Before the shower started, we actually had a guest making balloon animals for the kids. Talk about a hit! She casually mentioned that she could make some to keep them entertained…I was trying to get one myself!!

 

After everyone was full and content, we started the games. There were the traditional games with a twist, and some unique ones. We played:

• Don’t Say Baby: This game is usually played with clothespins or necklaces and the object of the game is to take them away from someone who says “baby” or crosses their legs during the shower; the person with the most at the end of the shower wins. For this shower, we played with a “twist.” Four guests were given crowns at the beginning of the shower, but everyone was playing. If the crown wearer said “baby” or “Jazlynn,” they had to forfeit their crown. The four people at the end of the shower who were still wearing crowns all got prizes.
• Guess the celebrity baby: People have to guess which celebrity’s baby picture was in the collage. The most correct guesses wins.
• Baby animals: The correct name for the baby version of the animal has to be identified. Guests have 60 sec to identify them and the most correct guesses wins.
• Baby Picasso: The guests have to draw their best rendition of a little princess on a paper plate; the plate has to be on their head and they have 90 sec to draw.
• Never Have I Ever: The guests have to confess what they’ve done in this PG-rated version of Truth or Dare. If they’ve done something, they have to put change into the baby bottle piggy bank and all of the money is used to start the baby’s first savings.

 

 

 

 

All in all, it was a success! We laughed, played, had a great time, and I made some new friends! Wishing many congratulations to the parents-to-be!

 

 

 

 

Thanks also, to my amazing photographer Isaac! He’s an all-around great guy and wonderful friend 🙂

 

 

 

 

Decor, Styling, Desserts: Creating Awesomenessity!

Printables: HoneyBash Events

Photography: Isaac Singleton Photography

Thanksgiving May

Today is May 1st. In addition to being May Day, this month is full of things and people for which to be thankful: tequila and tacos on Cinco de Mayo; teachers who give their time and energy to shape the future (7th); moms who are essentially teachers with less sleep and less thanks, and nurses who help to heal us (12th); among many other holidays. The most important to me is the celebration of those who fight, have fought, and have given their time…and lives…to protect our freedoms.

May is also National Military Appreciation Month, which is fitting to also celebrate Armed Forces Day (18th) and Memorial Day (27th.) If you’ve followed my blog or know me in any way, you know that I have so much love and appreciation for our military. If you’re curious,or may have forgotten, you may read about it here.

This morning I was sent an email from one of the suppliers that I use and it stopped me in my tracks. I was able to read the story of Corporal Adam C. Jones, who lost his life in 2011, while serving his country in Afghanistan. Sadly, his story isn’t unique and there is nothing in this world which is truly free, especially our freedom and independence. Factory Direct Craft is donating a portion of proceeds to Adam’s Hope, the charity established in memory of Cpl. Jones, which works to provide continuing support to all of our military currently serving. To read more and donate, please go to the Adam’s Hope website or “like” and support them on Facebook.

But that’s not all! There’s always more to do to help support our troops! There’s a varied saying that starts “Behind every great man…” and in this situation, behind every great man and woman serving our country is a spouse and family serving with them.

Creating Awesomenessity has also teamed up with Operation Shower! OS is an absolutely wonderful organization that works to provide a “Shower in a Box” to all of the expectant moms of military spouses. Being a military brat myself and having a love for children, I was incredibly honored that they would allow me to assist in their efforts. If you would like to support this cause, it’s really simple! They have a registry set up with Babies-R-Us so that you may purchase items and they will be sent directly to the organization. It’s found online at http://www.babiesrus.com/operationshower…no fuss, no muss, all appreciation!! If you’re not one for the online shopping, you may also stop by your local Babies-R-Us while picking up gifts for an expecting friend or relative, purchase an item from the Operation Shower registry, and ship it to them yourself. They are most in need of board books, baby rattles, and receiving blankets; the address is:

Operation Shower

18 S. Central Ave

Clayton, MO 63105

Thank you again to all of our troops. Regardless of political affiliation or opinion, what you do deserves the highest honor and support from those of us unable (or unwilling) to walk in your shoes.

Thank you for supporting our troops, they appreciate you more than you may ever know…

 

Showered with Love

Two weekends ago, I had the pleasure of co-hosting a shower-themed baby shower for my dear friend Carolyn. Her sister is a member of Delta Sigma Theta and I had this awesome elephant that I wanted to use for something, so it totally worked out!

So, very simply, the theme was “Let’s Shower Carolyn with Love!” Her daughter has been named Madison and the colors were centered around the baby’s room colors. Aunt Tracey did all of the food catering and I got to do the dessert table, games, and favors.

When the guests entered, there was a table set up for them to sign in and to write well wishes for both mom and baby.

that is a pretty cool elephant!

double duty…guest book and bedtime story for the little one…

The food was so good! I remember eating two plates. I’m just glad I wasn’t the only one…

I found the little elephants in the $1 bin at Michael’s and decided that I wanted them to be white, for a cleaner and more uniform look. I thought to myself, “Self, they’re small, plastic, and harmless…a coat of paint should suffice…” Three coats in, I’m swearing by the application of primer on any and everything…

For the centerpieces, we had umbrellas, strung with “raindrop” crystals and elephants. If you know any member of this sorority, you know there’s never a shortage of elephants! I was very thankful that auntie had plenty to share!

We played a variety of games, but what I thought would be the most fun to do would be to play “Never Have I Ever,” the G-Rated, baby shower version. The object of that game was to put a coin into Madison’s first piggy bank for every activity that you’d done. It was hilarious! Until I realized that I was putting the most money into it. I guess I should be thankful to have experienced so many things in life, because it sure cost me that day lol

For dessert, we had cake and cupcakes. Mom requested chocolate and wedding cake cupcakes, so that’s what we had. I mixed the icings and flavors and ended up eating a wedding cake cupcake with dark chocolate icing. Can you say the best of both worlds? The only reason I didn’t get another was because I was a little slow on the draw against the other guests.  It’s for the best, I suppose…

We had such a wonderful time and the most beautiful hostess for the shower. Now we’re all just sitting around patiently waiting for baby Madison, so we can spoil her in real life…

Make It Awesome!

Sugar and Spice, and Everything Nice…

The pictures are in!

In early December 2012, I had the honor of hosting a co-ed baby shower for parents expecting a sweet little girl. The theme was Sugar and Spice; the colors were pink, bronze, and chocolate; mom, aunt-to-be, and almost everyone there are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. I was just thankful they didn’t opt for pink and green… 🙂 Mom’s style is very simple and minimalistic and I was thrilled that she loved the way that everything was set up. It was a small challenge for me, only because I like a lot of stuff and for things to be full and busy, but she was very pleased. The best compliment was that the shower guests walked in and said they immediately recognized her taste and style.

We had close to 80 guests and I must admit, despite all the pink, I had a blast! The guests were wonderful to attend to and we enjoyed hours of laughter. The shower was held at the Westin Beale Street. We played some of the traditional games and threw some newer ones in the mix, just for the guys…

The Westin catered the shower and the guests enjoyed 4 types of spicy chicken drummettes, coconut shrimp with peach mango salsa, ginger chicken salad on crisp wonton, BBQ shrimp shooters, and pulled pork and chicken nachos.

 

So the games…

The running games of the day were the traditional Don’t Say Baby, Guess the Celebrity, and Guess the Number of Candy Hearts. Instead of using clothespins, all the guests were asked to wear pink pearls as an homage to one of the sorority’s traditions.

The celebrity’s baby pictures were set up for the guests to postulate over. Can you guess who any of them are? I had to look them up again before the shower and I put the thing together…I counted the candy by hand and learned a very important lesson in the process: use bigger candy.

The first active game on deck was Shake Your Groove Thang. The object of the game was to be the first person to get all of the golf balls out of the box. Pure hilarity ensued. The dad-to-be had some moves on him, but he didn’t win. The guys were such good sports about participating and I really appreciated that. My husband told me later that men don’t like coming to showers because women have a tendency to make them play silly games. Oops. I just wish I had a copy of the video…

Next we played the traditional shower games…match the baby animals, unscramble the baby related words. One lady knocked it out of the park! We also found out that she was a new mom, and she graciously proceeded to school myself and the audience on exactly what a layette is. I shall henceforth refrain from calling it the footie pajama body suit thing…

This was not the table was busted for Googling answers…lol

We also played the game where you had to bring out your inner artist by drawing your most fabulous rendition of a baby. On a paper plate. Whilst said plate is atop your head. I played this game at a bridal shower and rocked it! I didn’t even bother to submit my attempt to the mom-to-be…I left it to the real artists.

A true pack of Picasso’s I tell ya!

After all these games concluded and the prizes were awarded for the guessing games, the guests got into the dessert station and prepared to watch parents-to-be open the gifts. The dessert station consisted of a candy bar and cupcakes made by myself: chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, banana with honey cinnamon frosting, apple spice, pumpkin spice, cinnamon spice with butter cream frosting, and ginger spice; I can assure you that it was no easy feat making sure all of them made it to the shower.

There were so many gifts. They and their baby girl are blessed to have so many people to love, care for, and support them…we ran out of room on 12’ worth of tables!

That little girl doesn’t even know she hit the shower jackpot!

All in all, everyone had a great time. I truly enjoyed working with this family and wish them all the blessings they can handle with their little girl, who made her way into the world on December 28^th. Welcome to the world baby girl!

And I extend a special and truly sincere thank you to the wonderful photography team of Lyndsi Metz Photography. They are truly an amazing and supportive couple! It’s not everyday that the photographer volunteers to shake his groove thang in front of strangers!

As always, I have to thank the hubby who was there to support me and decided to have a little fun himself and agreed to bust out some baby shower mood music. I really love that guy 🙂

Make It Awesome!