Vintage Housewife Baby Shower (s)

In January I set myself a huge task: host two baby showers, both on the same weekend.  It was pretty epic and had serious potential to be completely overwhelming.  Handling it as best like a pro that I could, though, both parties went extremely smoothly and well.

First, I had to decide one major thing: host both baby showers back to back, or on separate weekends?  Since I have a very active and fulfilling family life, I like to keep my weekends (or at least one weekend day) free for my family.  But, the showers also needed to be in January, which was right after the insanity that was December (my daughter's second birthday, my brother's doctorate graduation, Christmas in California, and my wedding anniversary) which has left NO weekend day free for an entire month.  January is also my husband's birthday, and add in New Years festivities in there. January was filling in quick.  Ultimately, I decided to get them done in one swoop: one on Saturday and one on Sunday of the same weekend in January.  This meant I only had to clean my house once and I could keep the same decorations up with ease.

'What's that you say about decorations, Rhianna?' - yep, you read right. I had the same decor for both parties.  If you are doing two parties why not make the theme exactly the same?  A very smart decision, if you ask me! I went with a vintage housewife/mom theme with a red, white, and teal color scheme.  I came across a great Etsy shop called Xreations which did two great vintage themed invitations.

Sometimes it is worth a few extra bucks to use a pre-made invitation template/design than make one yourself. Besides, for the cost of stock illustrations of vintage housewives, this option made complete economical sense!

Next was to build upon the theme with decor, decorations and food.  I decided I wanted to do *something* that would be memorable and keep-able for the parents, so I found another Etsy shop, MTipsy, which sells baby shower specific paper goods.  I went with the "Wishes for Baby" option, which is a card that let's guests fill out their wishes for the baby.  Things like "I hope you learn _____________" and "I hope you never forget ______________."  I found it sweet, and a great thing to keep and give to their babies when they are older to see what friends and family wished for them.  Another card I got was a Baby Mad-Libs type game. This was used for only one of the baby showers since it dealt specifically with first time parents (and the other baby shower were welcoming their second baby).  The Mad-Libs was a small fun addition, something guests could fill out as they arrived, and something the mom was able to keep.

I have used the Etsy store Paper Patterns for two years now and have always had stunning results.  This time around I needed a vintage-inspired centerpiece and banner.  Both needed to be generic enough to use in both showers, and this time I decided to be super generic so I could maintain the possibility of using it for other stuff as well. I decided on a "Congratulations" banner and a simple centerpiece with one interchangeable item to make it more custom for each party: a rolling pin with the mom's name on it.  I stuck the centerpiece picks in a glass coke size pack container for style.

Food was a bit tougher, as I had a small budget and wanted the items to seem somewhat vintage/retro. After weeks of debating with others on what the food should be, it was finally decided: popcorn (used only at one shower due to the number of participants), glass bottled cokes, IBC glass bottled root beers, gelatin salad, cheese ball and crackers, garlic chive dip and pretzels, veggie tray and dip, strawberries (used only at one shower due to the number of participants), punch, cookies, and cake. Everything was easy to make, and could be made in advanced so they were ready for plating the day of the event.

I had my husband leave up the white and red light up paper stars we have as Christmas decorations in our home. They fit with the colors and added some sparkle. Other decor included a crystal champagne bucket I have that I used to collect cards and a clothesline with my daughter's red, white, and teal clothing hanging from it. It was a cheap and cute idea, I got many compliments on it.  I am also a big promoter of ribbon. I find it is another cheap decorating item that is reusable. I tied the ribbon onto my cookie stand, punch bowl stem, individual punch cups, cake server handle, candy bowl handles, and more.  When the party was over, all the ribbon was saved for use later in another party, hair ribbon for my daughter, or other craft projects.  I also had a slide show going on my TV showcasing some 1950's adds for all sorts of things.  A quick internet search came up with some great ad options to choose from!  The favors for the party were wooden spoons with a simple ribbon tied around them.

Besides the "Wishes" and Mad-Libs cards I did 3.5 shower games: Do You Know Your TV Moms, The Price is Right, Name that Smell, and Trivia (either baby trivia or Australia trivia depending on which shower it was).  The Do You Know Your TV Moms was a game involving 10 vintage TV moms from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Guests received one point each for knowing the name of the character, the actress name, and the TV show name (for a total possible score of three points per mom).  I used a simple PowerPoint slide deck to show the photos of each mom. The laptop the deck was on was hooked up to my TV, thanks to my awesome husband's mad skillz. Here are the 11 (we had a bonus mom) moms we went with:

1. Wilma Flintstone (voiced by Jean Vender Pyl)on The Flintstones
2. June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley) on Leave It to Beaver
3. Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) on I Love Lucy
4. Carol Brady (Florence Henderson) on The Brady Bunch
5. Jane Jetson (voiced by Penny Singleton) on The Jetsons
6. Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones) on The Partridge Family
7. Morticia Addams (Carolyn Jones) on The Addams Family
8. Samantha Stevens (Elizabeth Montgomery) on Bewitched
9. Lily Munster (Yvonne DeCarlo) on The Munsters
10. Olivia Walton (Michael Learned) on The Waltons
Bonus:  Maureen Robinson (June Lockhart) on Lost in Space

The next game we did was a mini-Price is Right where guests were asked to guess the 1950's price on the grocery item (closest price without going over won the point, guests who guessed the exact price received two points). The prices came from the website The People History (except for the postage stamp price, which came from fiftiesweb.com). I gave guests the price I paid for the item when I bought it (the 2013 price) and then they had to write down their guess what it was in the 50's on an index card and hold it up.  The items were:

1. Postage Stamp - 3 cents
2. Campbells Tomato Soup - 10 cents
3. Carnation Milk Can - 14 cents
4. Gerbers Baby Foods - 10 cents
5. Jiffy Cake Mix - 10 cents
6. Kelloggs Shreaded Wheat - 18 cents
7. Maxwell House Instant Coffee - $1.19
8. Miracle Whip - 55 cents
9. Palmolive - 7 cents
10. Ritz Crackers - 32 cents

The next game is a baby shower classic: Name that Smell. The game involved melting different chocolate bars into a diaper and having guests guess what candy bar it is.  Guests are passed each diaper and are allowed to smell, touch, and even taste the melted basin of the diaper to help them with their guess. We had six candies we used:

1. Hershey Bar
2. Mr. Goodbar
3. Krackel/Crunch Bar
4. York Peppermint Patty
5. M&Ms
6. 3 Musketeer Bar

The last game we played was used as a tie breaker for one shower, and as a separate game for the other.   It consisted of basic trivia questions themed to either baby history or Australia (since one of our shower's pregnant mum is Australian).  Want to know the questions (and answers)? Then check them out below!

Baby Trivia

Australian Trivia

The first disposable diaper was invented and patented in:

a. 1948 *

b. 1958

c. 1968

d. 1978

Who is this?

a. Dame Edna*

b. Amy Pond

c. Benny Hill

d. Russell Crowe

The first US patent of a nursing bra was granted in:

a. 1913*

b. 1916

c. 1931

d. 1961

The following are all Australian bands EXCEPT:

a. AC/DC

b. INXS

c. Jet

d. Muse *

Gerber was founded in:

a. 1917

b. 1927*

c. 1937

d. 1947

Cricket is played on a field with a center rectangular 22 yard long ______.

a. Zone

b. Grass

c. Line Out

d. Pitch *

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese was introduced in:

a. 1907

b. 1917

c. 1927

d. 1937 *

Who is the current Queen of Australia?

a. None

b. Elizabeth II*

c. Julia Gillard

d. Cate Blanchett

Johnson & Johnson was founded in:

a. 1886*

b. 1906

c. 1926

d. 1946

Vegemite is made from

a. Yeast Extract*

b. Hazelnuts

c. Bush Tucker

d. Billy Tea

The original pacifier was actually a corn cob, used in England, during the:

a. 1660's

b. 1680's*

c. 1860's

d. 1880's

In Rugby, a _______ is a means of restarting play after a minor infringement.

a. Ruck

b. Maul

c. Scrum*

d. Wicket

The earliest use of the word "playpen" cited in the Dictionary in:

a. 1902*

b. 1922

c. 1942

d. 1962

William Kent developed the pram, or stroller, in:

a. 1703

b. 1733*

c. 1903

d. 1933