Golden Books Baby Shower

It has been quite a while since I posted something crafty but I have been doing things throughout all this upheaval!  So I am scheduling a few posts to get myself back in the habit of blogging :-)

You may remember that quite a while back I made a mini album for a friend who was expecting, if you want to go back and see it click HERE.  Fast forward a few months and a couple of friends and I threw her a baby shower.  She wanted it low key (she had never been to a baby shower before) and she wanted it to be at their new house.

So in came the three of us (The Cook, The Gamer & Myself) and we divided and conquered, each doing the thing we do best.  The Cook and I brainstormed and after a quick look at Pinterest for additional ideas, we settled on a 'Golden Books' theme.  Both of the expectant parents are teachers and as the baby's sex was a surprise it kept it general and fun.  The Cook made a comment that a book invite would be cute and so the challenge was on!

I used pictures from Golden Book pages and created a mini book for our invite.  The front cover was card with the internal pages all plain paper.  I then laid it all together and stitched it up the middle and made a book.  The computer part took the longest but it was sooooooooo worth it as they were a huge hit and turned out perfectly.

Front cover

We kept the theme a secret from the expectant parents.

The parents didn't want lots of presents but we did ask everyone to use a book as their card.  It could be any book that took their fancy (here a golden book is $3) and we asked that they write inside the front cover as they would in a card.  That way the baby had a beautiful pile of books with personal sentiments inside.  We saw the idea on the internet and really loved it.  I joined together a few poems that I found and printed this on one of the book pages ...

Just one last request, and we hope it's not hard,
please bring baby a book in place of a card. By signing your book, they will remember and share,
your special gift, even when you're not there! New or used it doesn’t matter.It need not cost more than a card,just pick a favourite, it shouldn't be hard.

This was the surprise that the parents appreciated the most.  They loved them! Some were new and some were family favourites that kids had outgrown.

I'll post more about the party and decorations another time.
Chipper