A Valentine Baby Shower Theme - And How to Pull It Off

As most of you probably know by now (if you’ve been reading along with my past posts) I’m in my late 20s, and love parties, crafting, babies, and my friends. Now is such a fun time in my life, because I get to enjoy them ALL! Weddings have been a weekend staple in my social life over the past few years, and now my dear friends were starting to have babies. So much joy!

Specifically, a close friend of mine, one I’ve known since our first years in college, was about to have her first baby. K was the second friend of mine to have a child in the last 5 months. She had been through so much with me over the years, and stood by me as a bridesmaid in my wedding. Now, I just couldn’t let the opportunity pass by to throw her and her baby to be a shower.

She was having a little girl, so the baby shower theme ideas were seemingly endless. However, I’m not one who loves sitting through the corny baby games, so I wanted to treat this shower as a fun, theme party. Not just baby themed, but I needed something more.

Now, if you are anything like me, the idea of a traditional baby shower is not the most appealing thing in the world. Like I mentioned above, sitting through forced pleasantries while sniffing a diaper filled with mashed candy bar to guess the “poo”, or seeing how fast you can put a diaper on a baby doll just didn’t get me jumping off my couch in excitement.

The date of her shower was February 8th, right before Valentine’s day. So I decided to combine the fact that she was having a little girl with Valentine’s day and throw a “Baby Love” themed shower. This was going to be full of all things pink, red, and sparkly. Hearts everywhere and pink champagne, with a touch of baby love mixed in. I mean, pink sparkly hearts just scream baby girl, am I right? Heck, they scream girl at any age- which is why this was going to be perfect for K’s baby as well as her friends.

I wanted to make all the women that were invited feel like not only were they celebrating K, but that they were also celebrating the little bundle of love she was bringing into the world, all while being swept up by the theme of the Valentine’s season. Very sophisticated and chic, without being “corny”. I was sold on the shower theme. Now, how was I going to pull it off?

Using some tips and tricks I’d learned from my DIY wedding, I pulled some ideas from up my sleeve to create her DIY baby shower love theme. Below, I show you a quick sample of the ideas I came up with, and how much each cost me to pull off.

First, were the small food and drink signs:

Red and Pink Cardstock: $9 (for a pack of 25, 12×12” sheets)
Gold Pens: $5 (for a pack of 2)
- Silhouette Cameo Machine (OPTIONAL): $270 (used this for my signs)
Total Cost = $14 (FREE if you utilize the same materials you used for your welcome poster, and assuming you didn’t buy a Cameo JUSt for this project)

Second, was the personalized name seating cards:

Red and Pink Cardstock: $9 (for a pack of 25, 12×12” sheets)
Gold Pens: $5 (for a pack of 2)
- LightTracer (OPTIONAL): $42 (used this to trace the fonts)
Total Cost = $14 (FREE if you already have a LightTracer and/or Silhouette Machine, and utilize the same materials you used for your drink signs and welcome poster)

Third, were the 3D heart garlands:

Red and Pink Cardstock: $9 (for a pack of 25, 12×12” sheets)
Fishing Line: $2 per spool (only 1 spool needed)
Hot Glue Gun and Glue: $9
- Silhouette Cameo Machine (OPTIONAL): $270 (used to di-cut heart design)
Total Cost = $20 (ONLY $2 if you utilize the same cardstock you used for the signs and seating cards, and have a glue gun at home.)

Fourth, were the custom pink and gold sparkle banners:

Sparkle Cardstock: $2 per sheet (4, 12×12” sheets needed)
Metallic Gold Cardstock: $1.50 per sheet (3, 12×12” sheets needed)
⅛” Pink Ribbon: $3.50 per spool (1 spool needed)
Small Hole Punch: $4 (I already had one on hand from another project)
- Silhouette Cameo Machine (OPTIONAL): $270 (used to die-cut banner design)
Total Cost = $7

Fifth, were the tissue paper garlands:

Tissue Paper – $12 (5 colors, Lilac, Gold, Light Pink, Dark Pink)
1/8″ Pink Ribbon: $3.50 per spool (1 spool needed – already purchased for sparkle banners)
Total Cost: $12 (not including the ribbon, which was already included in the craft above)

Sixth, were the custom gold vases and florals:

Wine bottles: FREE (if you don’t drink, you can buy crafting wine bottles here)
Bottle Cutter: $16.25
Spray Paint: $6 (I bought mine from Home Depot and used metallic gold. Similar product can also be found online here)
Gold Glitter Glue and Gold Glitter: $12
Floral Foam Blocks: $5.30 (make sure they’re the wet kind to retain water)
Flowers: $50 (from Costco and Trader Joes)
Total Cost: $89.55 (for 8 complete floral arrangements with custom vases)

Seventh, were the chocolate candy heart pops:

Candy Canes: $6 for 65 candy canes (2 per pop)
White Chocolate Melts: $7/ lb (1 pound used)
Lollipop sticks: $4 (for 100 sticks)
Total Cost = $17 (for 32 heart pops)

Eighth, was the ombre pink cake:

Cake Mix: $1 (flavor of your choice – I used Red Velvet)
Icing: $3.50 (2, 16oz tubs of Betty Crocker frosting)
Icing piping set: $7.25 (I upgraded to the 18 piece set for an extra $2.75)
Food Coloring: $3
Strawberry Filling: $2.50
Total Cost = $17.25

Ninth, was the pre-made baby scrapbook:

Scrapbook: $20 (similar one found here for $12.11)
Scrapbook embellishments: $12.11
Ribbon to decorate: $5.35
Total Cost = $37.46 (GREAT present for the mama-to-be)

And last, was the delicious homemade food:

Stuffed French Toast Roll Ups – (Safeway – French Bread (1 loaf): $3.50 – Cream Cheese (8oz): $3.00 – Strawberries and blueberries: $15 – Powdered Sugar: $2.00 – Eggs and Milk: $8) – recipe to follow
Baby Melon Fruit Salad – (Costco – Watermelon: $9. Cantaloupe (2 used): $5 – Pineapple: $3) – tutorial to follow
Turkey/Havarti/Pesto/Avocado Sandwiches – (Safeway – $25 total for 12 half sandwiches)
Cucumber/Cream Cheese/Avocado Sandwiches – (Safeway – $10 total for 12 half sandwiches – loaf of bread split between turkey sandwiches and veggie sandwiches)
Asian Salad – (Costco – $2.50/bag – 2 bags used)
Quiche Lorraine – (Costco: $12 for both quiches)
Bacon and Swiss Quiche – (Costco: see above)
Heathy Wheat Berry Salad – (Costco: $12/box – 2 boxes used)
Cheese and Cracker Platter – (Costco: $10 cheese platter and $4 cracker box)
Total Cost = $138.50 (to feed 15 people – and we had a TON left over)

How to Get the “Baby Love” Shower Look Yourself

I’ve already done a tutorial on homemade signs, which you can find here. This tutorial is specifically focused on chalkboard signs, which you can tweak to perfectly fit this theme. For example, instead of black poster board and card stock, just substitute with white. And instead of white pends to look like chalk, sub in the color of your choice.

A WORD TO THE WISE: do be careful! If using graphite transfer paper to trace your designs, the graphite WILL get on the white poster board. Have a LARGE eraser on hand to erase all the smudges. If they are too dark, they WILL NOT come out, so be careful not to press too hard on places where you are not actually tracing designs (see picture below).

And again, for the decorative signs to match, I used the same DIY tutorial as I did for the large signs. However, I used the method for the small chalkboard signs and created designs on my Silhouette Cameo. Then, I printed them out on red and pink cardstock, with the gold sketch pen, and filled them in with my own gold paint pens.

For the escort cards, I used the steps from my calligraphy tutorial (and my trusty LightTracer), to trace the names to match the look of all the signs I had placed around the house. Matching signs and calligraphy all around to tie the room together.

I had also planned on draping lilac fabric through my outdoor awning to give a billowing effect. It would have been beautiful, and blended my outdoor space perfectly with the decor inside.

Unfortunately, Northern California was experiencing a torrential downpour that weekend. Any outdoor seating or activities I had planned were quickly scratched. Fortunately, I didn’t set up anything outside in advance – or it would have been ruined. Beware of this if you are planning your party both indoors and outdoors, and always make sure to have an indoor option if there is ANY chance of unfortunate weather.

As for the rest of the decor, it was much more involved. Since I don’t already have tutorials on how to make the the custom garlands, banners, vases, and delicious/cute themed food, I’ll be giving you the in-depth instructions over the next couple weeks.

And if you don’t already have one, you may want to quickly read my Silhouette Cameo review before the next few tutorials. It was used a LOT for this party, and will be playing an integral role in the how-tos.

Until then, I hope you get inspired by the pretty pictures I took at Kendra’s “Baby Love” Valentine’s shower, and the delight that is clearly seen on all the guests faces. It truly was a day FULL of love.