Modern Geometric Minimalist Baby Shower | EmmaCat

After the last few parties I’ve hosted, I’ve realized after the party is over, I’m left with darling decor and props that don’t necessarily have a home or use after the event is over.  Party staples such as cake plates, crates, flatware, etc are re-used over and over, but things like vintage kitten figurines or custom pineapple prints are unfortunately a one time use. So when I began planning my sister’s baby shower I decided I’d be more intentional with her baby shower and choose a theme she could re-create in her nursery.

With that idea in mind, I asked Emily what her plan was for baby Emma’s nursery. She sent me a couple inspiration pics and said, “I’m thinking kind of minimalist”.

Minimalist? Please define.

If you know me at all, you’ll know I’m probably the furthest thing from minimalist, more like hoarder. So I did a little research. It was exactly what I guessed… minimal. Less is more. Simple, abstract, lots of black and white. I thought, I can work with this. Maybe this will be less work than most parties I throw?

Just a few days after we had talked about her “minimal” nursery, I spotted Oh Joy’s new party line at Target. There was a pack of paper plates with a black, white, pink, turquoise, and gold triangle shapes. It felt minimal. And modern. I tossed everything in this pattern in my red cart and felt like I had a good start.

Next on the agenda was invites. Erica of Harper Gray has created invites for my last few parties and let me tell you, she is a true talent! I joked that I liked invitations printed on paper thick enough to eat my dinner off of, and guess what, Emily’s baby shower invites were just that thick. I think I gasped when they came in the mail. And not only thick and perfectly coordinating, each invite had a beautiful gold foiled edge. Stop. A girl after my own heart.

The shower was given at my home, so I was able to rearrange some decor to make space for the party. As always, I swapped out photos on my gallery wall with sweet bible verses, sayings, baby’s name and initials created by Piece Love Paper. You guys, this is the greatest and most simple way to add decor to a party. And how darling will these be framed and hung in the baby nursery??

Another quick and easy way to turn your home into a party is with some fun sofa pillows! Ever since I found Fancy it Pretty on Etsy, I’ve been dreaming of all the fun party pillows she could make. She absolutely nailed it with these amazing pillow covers, they turned out absolutely adorable.

A fun surprise for Emily that doubled as party decor was this fun teepee set up. Be Little You and Me makes the cutest teepees in all sorts of fun, cool fabrics. My favorite is their natural canvas teepee because it’s so neutral. It’s adorable as is, but for the shower I jazzed it up a little with this amazing felt garland and added a very MINIMALIST baby quilt as the mat (that again, Emily can use in her nursery!). I had looked high and low for a black and white quilt with no luck. The closest I could find was grey so you can imagine how over the moon I was to find TYC Baby Boutique on Etsy filled with mod, black and white baby blankets and quilts!

And because everything is better with glitter, I picked up white feathers from Michaels, sprayed them with glue, sprinkled gold glitter on them, and attached them to the teepee poles. So fun!

Agnes, Edith and Margo got cozy in the teepee waiting for guests to arrive.

In keeping the mod/minimal theme plus the goal of recycled nursery decor, I thought it would be fun to use lit marquee lights behind the dessert table spelling out baby’s name. Who doesn’t like to see their name in lights?!

They were the perfect backdrop, simple and sweet, and will look incredible hung above Emma’s crib in her nursery. Lollipop Lights makes the cutest lit letters in just about any font and color, and come with a battery back attached to the back of each letter so there is no fussing with wires or cords.

While creating desserts for this shower, I found myself working with fondant, something I’m not the biggest fan of, but felt it fit the theme. I kept it simple and geometric by cutting out triangles and stamping them with baby’s name. It was super easy and Emily loved seeing Emma’s name on her cupcake! (Fondant stamps from Maison Du Bon Bon‘s instagram shop)

I didn’t want the sugar cookies for Emily’s table to be cutesy, so using typical baby cookie cutters (onesies, baby bibs, and rattles) I turned bibs into mod looking cats, gave the rattles edible gold hearts, and drew I’m so Fancy on the onesies. I added a few glitter arrows and triangles to fill in the table.

I thought it would be cute to shape my rice krispy treats into baby blocks and dip them into coordinating candy melts to match the theme. This was SO simple, and turned out super cute. Wilton had the perfect pre-colored candy melts, which made it even easier.

My grandma loved her matching turquoise #emmacat onesie cookie! (how cute is she at 80!?)

Because the shower was at 2pm,  I didn’t serve a full meal but had light salads so everyone would have room for dessert.  I saved time by ordering Emily’s favorite salads and breadsticks from a local restaurant and displayed them in vintage pink bowls and cake plates.

I saw a print recently that said “nothing haunts us like the things we didn’t buy”.

Word. A few years ago I fell in love with this bar cart from Target. I realllly wanted it but told myself I didn’t need it. Look at me being so on budget!! Since then, I’ve wished time and again that I had bought it because soon after I denied myself the amazing gold bar cart, Target discontinued it. But guess what…They recently brought it back!! Imagine how excited my kids were when I told them they could push it all the way through Target and to the check out line. Yep, Merry Early Christmas to me. It’s the BEST!! I was so excited to use it at Emily’s shower. Say goodbye to leaky beverage dispensers with silver hardware. Make your life easy with a few fun pitchers of lemonade, sparkling water, or in my case, Fresca with lime, and set out some fun cups for your guest to drink out of. Voila, fashion meets function.

My friend Sarah from Paper White Designs makes the cutest fringe garlands and paper twirls (you might remember from my Favorite Things or Party Like a Pineapple parties). She created the most stunning geometric hanging shapes in the colors of our shower. They can be displayed lengthwise with vertical dangling shapes, but I liked how they made the perfect hanging accent on our beverage bar. Later, I thought Emily could get crafty with them and turn them into a fun mobile above Emma’s crib.

Let’s be honest, most baby shower games are cheesy and no one really likes to play them.  I scoured Pinterest for a new, fun idea but came up with nothing but guessing the price of baby products and melted candy bar diaper games, bleh. No games.  But who doesn’t like to get crafty?? Instead of games, I set a table for everyone to decorate baby blocks for baby Emma’s nursery.  I found unfinished wood blocks on Amazon, picked up some fun scrapbook paper, and dusted off my old Creative Memories paper cutter.  They were super simple and turned out adorable!

I was so excited to surprise and spoil my sister with a special shower she would love, filled with sentimental things she could use again to decorate her nursery. Her last surprise of the shower was a gorgeous Joovy Qool stroller in a chic white color. I was so thrilled to see it in person, I literally put it together the second it arrived on my porch. It’s the cutest stroller, almost makes me want another baby..
Almost.

Wait.  Everyone in our house sleeps through the night.  I’ll just take Emma for a stroll.

Paper White Designs surprised us with these darling confetti pops she made custom to match the shower. They were perfect to shower our mama-to-be in confetti…outside. Let me tell ya, these confetti pops were a hit with the kids. Confetti was EVERY. WHERE. My goats are going to be eating confetti out of my grass for months.

I’m not sure if I fully achieved the “minimalist” concept, at 4am the night before the shower, the work wasn’t feeling super minimal, but let’s be honest, I really don’t know how to do minimal.  I’m kind of a go big or go home personality.  I absolutely loved how everything turned out and was so happy for the opportunity to  spoil Emily and baby Emma.

Aunt Jenny can’t wait to meet you Emma Cat!!

 

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