I was absolutely honored to throw a baby shower for my oldest friend as she prepares to welcome her third baby this month – a sweet little girl who is already so loved. When they tell you there’s something special about a friendship that has seen you at all of life’s stages, the last two decades have taken us to every corner of crazy and back. Below find out a little bit more about the how’s and why’s of what has turned into my absolute favorite party theme to date: Bouquets and Boards for Baby P!

Now, before we start, let me tell you a little something about a real southern woman. Southern women are so much more than Debutants in their Yurman’s and Lily’s at this weeks horse race. A real southern woman is a fierce, no bullshit, above and beyond at any cost kind of woman; she will leave you wondering how she did it all and made it look so effortless with a smile and a string of pearls. And that’s Nancy. So when she told me that she wanted something more elevated from a standard, over the top baby shower that felt more like a cozy get together for some of her closest friends, I knew just what to do (*removes pink balloon arch kit from cart*).

And that’s how the Bouquets and Boards theme was born! The premise of the party is that everyone brings a bouquet of flowers in their favorite hue of pink as well as one item that they love to see on a charcuterie board. We put everything together for a yummy snack while we combined flowers to create our own beautiful bouquets to take home with us! Not only did this provide an activity for everyone to do outside of watching Nancy open presents for an hour – even though we ultimately did open a couple of the cutest little baby items – but it also felt warm and intimate for a group of friends. This was the perfect *girl’s girl* type of party while still being a little more subtle and understated.

Now here’s how we did it:

Another long term friend, Sabrina, and I looped in Dad-to-be that we wanted to throw a shower, and make sure he knew the door was always open for his themes and thoughts. I went into Canva and created these super cute invites to reflect our theme, and then used the Design your Own feature on Evite to create and send out our invitations. It appears they have plenty of tools to design your invitation in Evite itself, but I prefer to use Canva and then just drop the finished image into Evite. All of their Design your Own options are a part of their premium evites, which for a smaller party will cost anywhere from $20-40+, but you also get the option to send virtual e-thank yous included that you get to fully design and can either send one general or personalize for each guest. We loved the virtual thank yous for quick and easy turnaround, because at 35 weeks pregnant, there isn’t much time or energy to spare!

We kept the decor for the event minimal but impactful – taking a variety of golden/white/natural wood photo frames and printing out fine line floral drawings to place on the tables. Around the food boards we had a beautiful gifted diaper cake and some white floral garland. You know I love a good balloon arch, but ditched it in lieu of a smaller BABY balloon set. She has a beautiful home that was already party-ready, and a stocked playroom since we were expecting about 8 kids as well.

We couldn’t have our first guests arriving to an empty party, so we did get the boards started with some fresh and dried fruits, nuts, dips, and a variety of meats cheeses and crackers. We left plenty of space for our friends to fill in the food gaps – and kept an additional charcuterie items stashed in case the board needed a little something extra. One of my biggest things with hosting is I’d rather have too much than too little when it comes to food and food displays, BUT I try and keep items that I would enjoy or can send home with the guests of honor so nothing is just going to waste.

We also had a sweets and drinks table, don’t forget the champagne! Alongside a few bottles of bubbly we had several sparkling ciders, juices and fresh fruit. Our sweets included a small dessert-uterie board with cookies, chocolates, and super yummy cake pops that Sabrina made; every child in attendance was eyeballing those cake pops as soon as they came in the door. Also on the table was the most delicious chocolate cake to come out of NC, from Mom-to-be’s favorite bakery. If you’re in or around the Holly Springs area, Bestow Baked Goods is the ONE! Their pricing is on par for true bakery cakes vs something from the grocery store (not hating, still delicious), but the end product absolutely reflects the quality in price and aesthetic.

Between Sabrina and I, we already had nearly everything we needed in terms of beautiful wooden display boards and serving dishes, table cloths/runners, drink dispensers, cups/plates/napkins, etc. which always makes things just that much easier. The build your own bouquets area was no exception – we scoured our cabinets and came up with 12+ vases, all similar but just different enough in size and style to create a cool look. The morning of, we went to a local shop and got a couple bouquets of filler like baby’s breath, carnation, tulips, etc – you can find these at some shops and grocery stores for $5-10 a bunch. Again, not having our first guests walk into a bare bones party. We made sure to leave several vases open so ladies can drop their flowers when they arrived! Aside from the filler flowers, we purchased some flower paper so at the end of the shower everyone could easily wrap up and take home their creations.

Once guests began arriving, everything just flowed naturally. There was lots of snacking and chit chat while the kids played upstairs. About midway in we made our way over to the dining room and spent some time putting together our flower bouquets! This was a fun activity that some of the girls (ages 6-8ish) wanted to join in on, and everyone had a blast. With a little time to spare, Nancy opened some of her gifts – even though initially didn’t want to do the whole “everyone is staring at me waiting for reactions”, which is so relatable lol – and we kept nibbling on the snacks and catching up before it was finally time to say goodbye.j

Overall, it’s safe to say that everyone in attendance had a phenomenal time and we were all excited to share our love with the newest baby to join the bunch in February! A BYOB “Build Your Own Bouquet” party would be a great fit for all kinds of showers and occasions, or just because! Let me know if you try it!