The Shower Was GREAT!!

So my sister and I threw a shower for her daughter-in-law. The baby is due (and I've been chatting about this off and on) late February - change in plans, because he WAS due in March.

I did the cake and provided the food. The food was kind of thanks to GFS (I wasn't messing with spanokopita on my own, thanks!) and then my mom and me. I did mess with Jamaican Dumplings. Google the recipe: they were FANTASTIC!!

Mod Monkey Cake for 30 people

Here's a picture of the cake. They're registered at Babies R Us for the "Mod Monkey" layette. The cake was fudge marble, chocolate filled. The brown used on the design is chocolate buttercream. The colors in the dots are the colors of the Mod Monkey layette, and we even got Jelly Bellies in those colors for the snack bowls we put out.

The menu was as follows:

* Chicken Salad w/croissants
* Goat Cheese, Tomato relish bruschetta
* Jamaican Dumplings
* Cocktail meatballs
* Spanokopita
* Pigs-in-blankets (weenies in crescent rolls)
* Hot artichoke dip
* Cheese tray, veg tray, sandwich twirls
* Texas Caviar
* Chips/crackers with spinach dip

And the baby cake. We also did games. I was hoping to get the other mother-in-law involved in the games, but I ended up being the MC here. My sister, a wonderful nurse, can't exactly command a room if it doesn't have anything to do with a medical emergency... But I can actually get people's attention if I have to.

The games, most of which I found online, were as follows:

~Baby Word Scramble (baby items, scrambled - figure out the word)
~Baby Food Guess (baby food containers with labels blocked out - don't taste but figure them out)
~How Many Pins in the Baby Food Jar?
~Gift Lottery (Which gift will Mom get the most of? Winner for this shower: Onesies)
~Pin the Sperm On the Egg... We saved THAT for last.

We had a lovely time, and even had the playoff game on. Amazingly, my gift wasn't the only handmade one she got. I'm so happy with that, because out of all of them but one, the handmade items came from her girlfriends! A crocheted afgan with 3-D piggy faces and piggie-rumps on it; a handmade quilt; a baby jacket and booties; then of course my selection, pictured below.

Crib-sized afghan; car-seat sized blanket; 2 hats

We joked that the hats were bright enough that, if the somewhat absent-minded dad ever laid the baby down, he could SEE the hat and remember where he left the baby!!

Here's the hanky-moment. The mom-to-be was handed a package by HER mom, with the comment, "I've waited a long time to give you this."

She opened it. We all gasped. In the box was a twin-sized double-sided quilt. It was made by her Grandma, who had died when she was a little girl. In the box was also a note, in Grandma's handwriting, "To Susie for her first baby." Yes, tissues were brought out from purses. I have a lovely shot of it.

I was the official photographer, so I will be preparing a CD for her to use as she wants. We had a ton of food left. Seriously, wayyyyyyyyyyy too much food, but I think that's an ethnic defect we have. We're so afraid we might not be able to feed everyone that we make enough for a small army.

My niece had friends over for the game after the shower, so she took a good 1/2 of it or more, which is fine for us! I'm almost done eating leftovers, and between my mother and sister, I think we're all pretty sick of it now.

I'm glad everyone had a good time, but I'm so glad it's over! Oh, along with my gift, I included a Chicago Bears football and a "My First Bears" cap... My mother, for some inexplicable reason, is a Packers fan. We think she must've conked her head on something... But we wanted to make sure the baby was raised right. I'm assured that he will be. But I wouldn't put much past my mom!