Out Of Town Baby Shower

This past fall I had the honor of hosting a baby shower for my dear friend Nicole. This was the 5th baby shower I had thrown but my first out of town one. Being an out of town shower, I had to be creative and organized to pull off an event that was hours away from home. I was surprised how easy it was to host the event and how a few touches made an event warm and personable. I am so excited to share with you and thankful for my friends Alex and Chris for letting me use their beautiful photos.

I called several places and settled on The Grant House for our event. The location was a short drive from Nicole's home where we stayed and I loved the look of the place. Being in the historic district the home had a very classy old time feel. We were able to have a private room and the staff worked so well with us. I took care of everything over the phone or email and the even ran smoothly. I highly recommend the location.

Nicole was about 6 months pregnant which is a great time for a shower, You look pregnant but feel great! 

We left our babies with their dads and headed out with a few little decorations in the back of the car.

I picked a "little man" theme for her shower. Their party favors were a potted purple and blue pansy. I added a chevron bow tie on a skewer to keep the little man theme on the table and we used the favors as decorations.  

The only activity I had planned was to sign books to make a library for Theodore. Being the second child, I wanted him to have some books of his own. I set the books on the gift table for people to sign with a sign that read "Oh, Boy! Nicole's little man is on his way. Please sign a book to add to his library." 

Everyone was able to write a message and Nicole could read this books for years to come remembering all the people that love and support her. Theodore also can look back and have books knowing all the people that pray for him, love him, and look after him. 

                     The menu had "Welcome, Little Man!" written at the top and continued the theme.

I selected the lunch menu ahead of time and had prices taken off so people knew they could get what they wanted without concern of cost or confusion that the meal was covered.

We prayed for Nicole, ate lunch, enjoyed dessert, and had lots of fun conversation.

At the end we opened gifts and were able to pass around all the sweet blessings from the guests.

In all, hosting a shower out of town was so much easier that doing it at my home. I was surprised that the overall cost was the same at a restaurant than if I had done it at home and I did not have to clean! My biggest challenge was making it feel like a warm and inviting shower when I was limited in decoration and space. Using a private room was incredibly helpful and doubling up party favors as decorations brought that warm touch I wanted while saving on space. I was so please with how the shower turned out and have great memories of blessing such a lovely, dear friend.