My Sister's Baby Shower

My sister is expecting her first baby.  Which means that I'm on my way to welcoming a little niece or nephew in January, and I couldn't be more excited about it. We don't know what she's having, which is really exciting actually, and we're awfully anxious for the little one to get here. 

My mom and I threw a baby shower for my sister this past weekend.  We crammed 23 lovely ladies into my small home and celebrated her and her munchkin.  There were a couple of games, plenty of gifts and an abundance of food, of course.  I won't bore you with the family photos or mandatory belly shots, but will show you pictures of some of what we ate.  It's hard to play host and photographer at an event like this, but I did manage to snap a few before the guests arrived so I could show you what was made.

The cake.  Triple chocolate fudge with a triple chocolate frosting.  Nothing says decadent quite like that.  I've been loving the little bunting trend seen in a quite a few places these days, so I opted to make my own for this cake using the theme colours we chose: pink, blue and chocolate brown.  Fresh flowers rounded out the simple decorations and the general consensus was the cake was a crowd pleaser.

Orange curd tarts with raspberries and white chocolate.  This was the easiest sweet I made.  I used a simple orange curd recipe, which I piped into tarts fashioned from a pate brisee.  Topped with raspberries and a small shaving of white chocolate, these easy-to-make sweets are going to make another appearance over the holidays.  I made the curd three days before the party and stored it in a glass jar in the fridge.  The tarts were assemble the evening prior to the event and I grated the chocolate on at the last minute.

 

I have had these chocolate truffles bookmarked from The Pioneer Woman's website for months, anxious for the opportunity to make them.  Again, they were another do-ahead sweet, stored in the fridge until the morning of the event.  While the original version is topped  with sea salt, I used coloured sugar on mine, in keeping with the theme colours of the party.

 

I worked (out of the home) four days last week, so these little beauties were picked up from my local bakery (hey, what can you do?).  My family thanked me for keeping my sanity by opting for a few purchased items for the party.

More store-bought sweets.  Assorted candies in the colours of the shower.

 

These favours were lots of fun to make.  I used Orangette's recipe for caramel popcorn (my favourite by far) and packaged it up into little cello bags.  I made a cardstock tag for the bag using my computer, coloured paper and a little foot hole punch.

Each guest left with a little bag of sweets for the ride home.

The remainder of the food was standard shower fare; cheeses, fruits, veggies and dip, tea sandwiches and my sister's mother-in-law's handmade spanakopita, which was absolutely delicious.

Don't you just love new babies!

 

 

Comments

[Mardi@eatlivetravelwrite]

Your sister is one lucky lady - what a spread!!!

[Aimee @ Simple Bites]

Gorgeous! I'm so hungry now..

[Tami]

Looks lovely Jan. I spoke with the lucky mom-to-be yesterday who was thrilled with your as-always amazing work and generosity. I hear it went beautifully. Fantastic food, friends and family all under one warm, welcoming roof and hosted by The Hostest With The Mostest. Can't get better than that. Wish I was there!

[Jaimie Cote]

Everything was amazing. Thanks Jan for hosting such a great shower. Beth is so lucky to have you as her sister.

[Jennifer Jo]

That food looks awesome, and like an awful lot of work!

I'm craving chocolate cake now.

[Paula]

Such a cute and lovely set up for the shower. Those tarts look delicious and I love all the baby clothes hanging by the from the mantle.

[wanda]

Everything looks amazing!!

[Denise]

wonderful x

[Jan Scott]

Thanks, Denise.  It was a fun day.

[Jan Scott]

The cake was fabulous!

[Jan Scott]

Thanks, Tami! oxox

[Jan Scott]

Thanks, Aimee.  It was a lot of fun to put together.

[Jan Scott]

Aw, thanks, Jaimie.  Im the lucky one though!