Description
My sister in law is having a baby and I threw her shower. She wanted an understated vintage baby book shower. We didn't want it to scream baby but wanted it to be boyish, soft, and have a very vintage feel. Using lots of burlap, lace, baby blue, and a lot of vintage Golden Books, we pulled it off. Details of book pages were throughout the decor on homemade pinwheels and heart garlands. Vintage baby blocks, baby toys, suitcases, and vases added to the charm.
Design Inspiration
My sister in law has a very specific taste. She loves shabby chic decor and had an old milk bottle that we used as our inspiration and was used as a vase at the shower. She was also an English major in college so books are very important. We knew books would play a big part.
Decorating Style
Cute, soft, understated, classy.
Project Details
Door Wreath: DIY on a floral styrofoam wreath. Used fabric and tulle.
Burlap "Its a Boy" Banner: Twochikadees on Etsy
Balloons: DIY fring balloons. I made tissue paper tassels in lots of colors and fixed them to 36" helium balloons. Added touches of burlap and metallic fringe.
Heart Garlands: I cut out hearts in varying colors of card-stock and attached them to clear fishing wire. Some of the hearts had book print on them.
Pinwheels: DIY pinwheels made from bookpages
Paper Lanterns: Party City
Wooden Baby Toys: GreenBeanToys on Etsy
Cake: I made the cake and then made ombre butter cream ruffles to match the decor colors
Vases: Wrapped in burlap and teal color tulle and added a button to some of them
Favorite Items
The balloons turned out to be my favorite. They were time consuming to make, but really took the shower to the next level.
Advice
Don't go overboard with one specific part of the theme. I wanted books to be a big part of the shower but didn't want the theme to scream books. Instead of making the theme "Very Hungry Caterpillar" I used books by stacking them as a centerpiece or using book pages to decorate hearts. Just because it's a baby shower doesn't mean it needs to be bright blues and yellows and baby animals.