Combine succulents, corrugated cardboard, kraft paper, a color palette of mints and turquoises and about 200 paper airplanes and you get a perfectly modern and dare I say “hipster” baby boy shower. Ok – I wish it was hipster – but coming from decidedly NON hipster people, we did our best to make it handcrafted, unique and out of the box.
Starting with a single simple element and color pallet makes planning a shower (or any party) so much easier. During one of our planning pow-wows, we folded almost 200 white paper airplanes out of regular printer paper. Since they were making up the bulk of the party decor, we wanted to be sure we had plenty and we ended up using every single one! In the living room, planes flew over the guests from gold curling ribbon. Simply attached with double stick tape, they fluttered overhead and made a big statement for not a lot of dollars!
More paper airplanes hung from more gold curling ribbon helped make the backdrop for the DIY Italian Cream Soda bar.
But the biggest installation of all was the 50 airplanes hung behind the food table. Taking the “Anthro” approach, I squeezed as many in as I possibly could and the result was SO fun!
VirginiaAve supplied the turquoise paper airplanes in large and tiny sizes. The tiny airplanes + toothpicks made perfect mini cupcake toppers! The cupcakes sat atop a metal basket in the center of the table. You can see under the basket, the table is covered in kraft paper and large paper airplanes were randomly stamped all over it. The stamp was made on the Shilouette using the stamping medium.!
The tiny paper airplanes kind of stole the show for me.
The table was layered with the craft paper (on a roll in the gift wrap section at craft stores and the mail supply section of most other stores) and with white corrugated cardboard for texture. Even the serving pieces got a little fancy with gold dipped ends.
In addition to the berries and cream seen above, we served ham and brie and salmon with dill cream cheese sandwiches on baguette. Each slice was wrapped in kraft paper and secured with a piece of washi tape. The wrap just helped keep the goodies inside the baguette. Plus we think it looked pretty cute.
Also on le menu – one of the most amazing “salads” known to man – bleu cheese, red and green grapes and walnuts. It comes from the catering department of one of our favorite grocery stores and it’s divine. To make it easier to eat, we preschooped servings into black and white candy cups. There is nothing worse than chasing a rolling grape around your plate!
Instead of floral centerpieces, various succulents were wedged (plastic pot and all) into giant painted tin cans! The cans were given a light coat of Martha Stewart opaque glass paint.
I used precut and wrapped floral wire to add a paper airplane to the succulent cans. Poke a hole, secure with double sided tape and done!
And to cover the dirt in the arrangements, I just stuck some gold shred around the top as needed and let it hang out randomly.
The same arrangements made appearances on the coffee table (+ kraft paper!) and in the entry. Not only was it cost effective ($3 per succulent that will get replanted), paint and cans on hand and $2 for all the shred) but it was a unique alternative for a boy shower and theme that traditional flowers didn’t fit with.
One of my favorite parts of the entire party was the DIY Italian Cream Soda bar. Our friend Maria sketched out and lettered the directions on a piece of chalkboard painted particle board and all of the supplies were laid out within easy reach. The stamped kraft paper made clean up a breeze – no sticky syrup residue to wipe off the counters!
I found the syrups premade at Williams Sonoma and we rebottled them in these cute bottles from Target with labels printed on the Silhouette adhesive cotton canvas we love so much. Guests could choose from classic vanilla, lemon lime or lavender. My favorite, hands down, was the lavender!
Also printed on the adhesive cotton canvas were labels for the homemade eucalyptus sugar scrub – our favors for the shower. Behind the scrub you can just make out the three tiny airplanes that were stung on baker’s twine and hung inside a glass cloche.
Lastly, even though it was the first thing you saw when arriving, is the front porch decorations. I love reassuring guests that they are at the right house – a strand of paper airplanes and color coordinated balloons announce “You’ve arrived!”. A simple canvas with two washi tape covered clothes pins hot glued on made a perfect hanging spot for a paper airplane appliquéd onesie (that went home with Mom to be). Below, a “Welcome! Come on in!” note was printed onto the cotton canvas (I seriously LOVE that stuff!) and attached to the stretched canvas. This party piece is reusable and works for any party!
Loved this so much I pinned twice!