Babybabybabybabybabybaby

Have I ever mentioned that I like babies? Well I do. I really like babies. A lot. As in, I will eat your baby's face off if you give me a chance. You know what else I like? I like throwing a party. I will throw you a party right now if you want, just to prove it. C'mon. Ask me. I dare you.

ANYWAY. When this beautiful couple

did me the honor of letting me host their baby shower, I hopped to it.

Wanna see?

I decided on a (loose) Chinese theme right away. I loved the idea of bringing good luck, prosperity & fortune into the celebration. I painted those lanterns & scanned them into Photoshop, where I laid out all the text. I wanted Asian-inspired writing, but not the kitchy "fortune cookie" style. (I find that type kind of offensive, honestly.) I settled on Thuphap (free from Urban Fonts) & used it for almost all of the printed materials at the shower. (The little red characters in the corner say "boy").

I mailed the invitations in Chinese red envelopes that have the symbol (fu) for "luck" on them in gold.

Poor Josh strung up about a gazillion lanterns. Since we have vaulted ceilings, we strung kite string between the curtain rod & the stair banister, then hung the lanterns off those.

Action shot!

I also got some parasols & tied them to the stair spindles.

In Chinese culture the dragon is a symbol of power, & general awesomeness & bad-assery, so we had to have one of those.

Since we know our new little man is going to be the baddest ass of all. (Wanna know how I know? These are this parents)

(He is a kite who was hanging over the buffet, which for some reason I neglected to photograph).

The first game I settled on was "guess how many paper cranes are in the jar." (I know origami is technically a Japanese thing, but its origins are Chinese, so I called it good.) I had never made an origami anything before the shower, but I'm pretty sure I could make them in my sleep now.

These are the little slips I made up for people's guesses. (I made that ball by sticking cocktail umbrellas into a Styrofoam ball.)

Winner!

We also played Baby Pictionary (like regular Pictionary, but with clues like "breast feeding," & "humidifier.")

This is Wyatt, who is adorable as hell, but totally sucks at Pictionary.

Since we played in teams of five, & there were two rounds (so ten winners total) I couldn't really do super-fancy prizes, so I gave these little ceramic cranes in lucky red envelopes to the winners instead.

Josh downloaded hilarious songs that featured the word "babe" or "baby" & we played Name That Tune, Baby! If you want, you can download the sheet & song list from my Flickr by clicking the picture. The winner got an iTunes gift card.

Raise your hand if you like playing Name That Tune, Baby! Woot woot!

I also made a trivia sheet, but we didn't have time to play it. You can download it (& the answers) by clicking the pic.

For food we made my beloved peanut sesame noodles from Smitten Kitchen, veggie egg rolls, chicken lettuce wraps on wonton spoons, & this amazing green mango salad (also served on wonton spoons) that you should make tonight because it is the JAM.

I wanted custom fortune cookies, but I couldn't find a company that could accommodate the number of different fortunes I wanted. I eventually found a diy kit that came with empty cookies & little cello wrappers so I could make & insert my own fortunes. 

I also made little vanilla-tangerine cupcakes to send home as favors. The best part was the candied orange peel I made from this recipe. (Or the ghost poop frosting. I can't decide).

Here they are, all stacked up in their mini take-out containers, next to the almond cookies I dipped in chocolate. Because there isn't a lily I won't gild.

I invented a cocktail. Isn't it all sweet & genteel looking? With those little cucumber slices floating around in there, all dainty-like? Well it is a wolf in sheep's clothing. That shit will fuck you up. Trust.

Here are the tables. I made the table toppers from Lisette fabric, & I sprinkled each table with the fortune cookies & Fortune Teller Fish. They're not exactly Chinese, but they're fun & the fit the color scheme.

The flowers were mostly tulips in take out boxes (I put jam jars filled with water into the containers, then stuck the tulips into those), tarted up with dragon picks & cocktail umbrellas.

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Christ, have I gone on long enough already? One more picture, you say? Of the quilt that I made them (preferable blurry)? OK, fine, you don't have to cry about it. Here.

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So, in conclusion, anyone have any ideas what I can do with 50 porcelain wonton spoons?