bundle of joy.

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of honoring my very best Chicago friend, Ellen, with a baby shower!  Ellen and her husband, Andy, are expecting their first child in early September (Jeremy hopes that the baby will arrive on his birthday).  I am super excited for them to become parents, but admittedly, terribly sad-- Ellen and Andy are moving about 500 miles away to eastern Ohio in three weeks, as Andy embarks on his career as a college professor.  Such is life in academia, I suppose.  We have to go where the jobs are!

The shower was a lot of fun to plan-- it is rare that I get to plan an event for myself to enjoy!  I was fortunate enough to have two co-planners in two of Ellen's close friends, Anna and Gwen.  Each of us filled kind of a unique niche in the planning genre, so it was a great way to divide labor, creativity and funding!

We held the shower on the campus of Loyola University Chicago, in a little hidden gem of a room, the Mundelein Center Greenhouse.  Overlooking Lake Michigan, the Greenhouse was the perfect location-- sunny, breezy and easily configured for different seating arrangements.

This view faces east over Lake Michigan.  I LOVE the round balloons that Anna found!

Ellen is a very crafty lady, so we chose some activities that focused on her interests.  Gwen purchased a shadow box and craft supplies, and we allowed guests to spend some time crafting a memento for the box.  Anna also supplied an instant camera and scrapbook, where guests could take photos and write a note to the family.  We strayed from the cheesy games in favor of another Ellen favorite-- trivia!  It was a fun, interactive way to enjoy the shower.  

Since the shower was held in mid-afternoon, we served light snacks like veggies, hummus, chips, salsa, fruit skewers, cupcakes and sparkling limeaide.  The cupcakes were delicious-- I wish I could say I made them myself, but I  have to admit they came from The Fresh Market , one of my favorite stores!  

The banner reads "IT IS YOUR SHOWER" - bonus points if you can name what TV show it was inspired by!

After the games and obligatory gift-opening, we spent some time talking and mingling.  The afternoon ended with the best part of any event-- the favors!  We hadn't really thought much about favors until a week before the shower, and were admittedly strapped for ideas.  I love the way that a local cupcake boutique, more, packages their goods, and suggested the idea to Anna and Gwen.  We took the idea and ran with it, since we already were ordering cupcakes for dessert.  I absolutely adore the way they turned out-- Anna designed the labels and Gwen found the perfect ribbon to complement the idea.

Takeaway boxes, labels, ribbon and cupcake - total cost around $2.50 per favor!

The idea for this shower was that simplicity and the guest of honor's personality should dictate the event.  We were inspired by countless items in Ellen's google reader, which helped frame some of what we did.  I definitely recommend soliciting the help of friends when planning an event like this-- it made things much less stressful and costly, and it helped to have others to rely on!

Most of all, I was so happy to be able to share the day with Ellen.  Friends in a big city are quite hard to make, and Ellen has always been there for me.  I am sad that she'll soon be so far away, but I am so happy to be a part of her life!  I can't wait to meet her baby boy soon and enjoy all that is to come for their family.