My Parties

I remember when I was a kid a Mason jar was used for canning vegetables, making preserves, collecting spare change, or it was a last resort sweet tea glass when all else was dirty. My how times have changed.

A Mason jar now is a decoration staple. You see them in weddings, showers, and even as a household tchotchke. I am no different. It was the inspiration to the baby shower I threw this past weekend. How easy and super cute!


The shower I hosted this past weekend was for a co-worker friend of mine. This is her first baby, and it was for a little girl. The good thing about this shower was that it could work for both a girl or a boy. All you would need to do is switch out the color on a couple of accent decorations I used. 

The color scheme I used was burlap and white, with pink and chalkboard accents. I am a member of the Local Country Club, which saved me on venue cost. Side note: if you host parties or events, becoming a member of your city country club might save you a ton. I have access to their ballroom, smaller rooms, as well as poolside. Super worth it. I love monthly payments on things, just sayin'. 

They provided the linens, flatware, rustic decor currently in the space, as well as the food. I brought in the centerpieces, candy bar, and the baby touches. 

I had to go to several places to find a good, affordable price for the glassware. I went to Garden Ridge (clearance aisle) and Hobby Lobby. Garden Ridge actually proved to be the best place, but only the markdown area. It is unreal how much glassware actually costs. Good side is that I will have this arrangement for future events. 

I looked at Target and Ultimate Party for the pink candy. Harder than you would think. Not many candy shops in my hometown. I realized I forgot one glass vase, so I took one of my Mason jars and used it. I wound up liking it better, it tied the theme in. If you see the left, white display, this is where I put the game prizes. I bought several different nail inspired gifts. The shower was all girl attendance. If you had mixed gender, you could incorporate male manscaping tools. Instead of giving "favors", I provided pink chevron candy bags, for the guests to fill before they left. The kids loved this, plus you do not want to have to worry about taking candy home. Several times I have forgotten and found melted joy. Not cool. 

The centerpieces were very simple. I bought the 32 oz. Mason Jars 12 count at Target. My daughter and I rode around the subdivision I live in and scoped out the wildflowers growing by the lake. There were some little white flowers that were perfect. I am not sure what they were, looks like a Hawkeye weed/Baby's Breath combo. One bit of warning though, make sure you cut the flowers and arrange outdoors. My daughter and I found a couple of visitors right after. Uninvited bug guests. Luckily the staff and I cleaned and inspected. No health violations, I promise! Either way, it was free and turned out to be beautiful. My husband and daughter went out the morning of and cut a ton of them to hold of wilting. We had to get a large quantity so when they were arranged, it filled the space. The venue had tea light candles, so when I crossed the burlap runners, I added the Mason Jars with the white flowers. Another accent I used was chalkboard labels. The link has the square, but I bought the round labels. I added these to favors, around the Mason jars, candy bar, etc. I used white chalk and wrote the baby's initials on them. It was a personalized touch. Loved the result. 

The venue catered, so I had more time to add my touches. I added an arrangement like I used from the centerpiece in the background to tie the tables together. I also bought some pink paper straws and put them inside one of my jars as a cute touch. Around the front of the food table, I put hung some black and white twine starting from the middle and stopped halfway around the table. I used some iron on transfers to make monogrammed onzies and hung them with clothespins. This was a cute idea I saw at a friends shower. Another word of advice, do not forget to mirror the image before printing. Waste of transfer paper if forgotten.

This was a fun party to plan. Exhausting, but super fun. The thing about hosting and arranging events is the fact that the cost is crazy during the first several parties, but you reuse so much of what you buy. It gets to be more manageable and saves money in the long run. Your effort and hard work is a memory for that guest of honor.