THE APRON GAL

My friend Cami was recently pregnant wit her second little girl. My friend Stephanie and I still wanted to throw her a little gathering just to celebrate her as our friend and have an excuse to party, of course.

We came up with the theme, "Books and Bows," just to encourage people to bring smaller gifts like a book with a bow since it was her second girl. 

Steph and I had tons of fun brainstorming what to make and how to decorate and I think it turned out beautiful!

First, decorations. 

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We took the theme along with the color pink very seriously! Steph tied pretty pink ribbon around the flowers, forks and water. It tied everything together so well. 

 Steph also handmade these shredded crepe ribbons, how awesome are those?

 I framed this little welcome message for the guest of honor and reminded guests of the theme as they entered. I also bought some cute hair bows and put them under that small cloche with a ribbon around it. Finally I propped the frame on a favorite childhood book of mine to tie it all together. 

 Did I mention those pink doilies were handmade by my grandmother

and my mom just gave them to me over Christmas?

I think they added the perfect feminine touch to the stacks of books

we used to add height and stick with the theme. 

Although Stephanie definitely had the vision for putting everything together so well.

 I tied my books up with bows and flowers...

I think it looked better in person, but maybe not ;)

 Bows

 Pink Lemonade with lemons in a beverage dispenser with chalkboard signs. I got those cute chalkboard signs 2 for $3.50 at World Market. I can't find them for you online but I have seen them in store or I am sure you could find similar ones somewhere else too. 

Stephanie just being beautiful. 

We used red paper straws [they look more like hot pink] with the decor. 

I got a box of 144 at Sur La Table for $5.95 so I still have 125 left for future parties. 

That is a steal if you have ever tried to buy paper straws before!

Ok, onto food.

Clockwise: Raspberry Chipotle Sauce over cream cheese, grapes, vanilla cupcakes, mini cheesecakes, veggies and banana nut mini muffins [Artichoke dip not pictured, sorry!]

Everything was delish-Steph did the cupcakes and artichoke and 

I did the cheescakes and dip.

I also made these cookies. My pride and joy.

Took me all day, glad you were worth it cookies. 

These were the gifts for guests to package up in clear bags with ribbon. 

 I couldn't find any bow cookie cutters so I decided on these cute duckies

and added bows by hand. That part was fun, I admit.

Both cookies used the Our Best Bites cookie and glace icing recipe and I baked the cookies the minimum time so they were soft, per my friend Allison's suggestion. I also let the first layer of glace dry before I added the embellishments on both cookies.

I also couldn't find a book cookie cutter so I found a large square and then cut off some cookie from the top to make it look like a book. 

Then I added frosting for the words and sprinkles just for some sparkle.

I thought they turned out cute! Do you think they look like books?

 Cami, our guest of honor and Steph, our gracious hostess.

Hostesses with the mostesses. 

Did anyone notice I have a bow headband in my hair? I am so witty. hehe.

We had a blast eating, chatting and playing the match the celebrity with their baby picture game. [Another awesome thing Steph put together]

What do you think? Did you like the theme? Any other cute ideas?