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A Nautical Baby Shower
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Baby Shower

A Nautical Baby Shower

After all of the pregnancy and baby posts for my sweet boy James Brody the last few months, you may think that this is another post celebrating him. Nope! There’s another bundle of joy coming into our lives in a matter of weeks; my very first nephew Gabriel Francis Lewis! That’s right, I’m going to be an auntie and I couldn’t be more excited. Don’t get me wrong, I feel like an auntie to my very best friends babies because I love and care for them so much, but this time it’s my sister that’s pregnant and it feels so special.

My sister is 9.5 weeks behind me in pregnancy, so yesterday she hit the 34 week mark. We’re looking at just about a month and a half until we’re back in labor and delivery again to meet Baby Gabe! It was so much fun being pregnant together, and it’s going to be even more fun raising our sons together! The fact that she lives only 5 minutes from me is the absolute best. Chloe’s going to love having two little boys to boss around in a few years.

My mom, our friends Meena and Kelsey, and I hosted Gabe’s nautical themed baby shower. His nursery is going to be ocean/whale themed, so we were able to incorporate lots of decorations that could be used in his nursery as well. 

Of course we had to do a whale themed clothes line to help her get his wardrobe started! Most of these items can be found at Carters or Target! The Nautical bandana bibs are from Amazon. {4 for only $14.99!} They have other patterns if you’re interested too. I received the dinosaur set at my shower and had to get some for Gabe. The burp cloths and breast pads are handmade by family friends, and the personalized onesies and bibs are made by our friend Amy Jo who has an Etsy shop called Milk Belly Designs!

Speaking of Amy Jo, she also created this gorgeous diaper cake for Gabe! Even though she couldn’t be at the shower, her personalized touches were all over the place!

The diaper cake sat in the middle of our under the sea candy bar! We had everything from sour seaweed to the catch of the day, gummy sharks to fish bait, and salt water taffy to a school of fish! We bought some white treat bags from Amazon and some sweet thank you whale stickers to add on for guests to fill up and take home with them. It was definitely a hit.

Here is what our Under the Sea candy bar consisted of:

Fish Food: M&M’s

Salt Water Taffy

Whale Kisses: Dark and milk chocolate kisses

Seaweed: Sour noodles (blue and green separated)

Fishing Bait: Sour noodles (red separated)

Gummy Octopus

Whale Poop: Peanut M&M’s

Gummy Sharks

School of Fish: Swedish Fish

Catch of the Day: Tropical Fish Lollipops

Chocolate dipped pretzels

As far as baby shower games go, we didn’t really go the traditional route. Since the shower was co-ed, it was really more of an opportunity to just hang out, mingle, eat good food and open lots of presents. But you can’t have a baby shower without a little something! This time we put a spin on the traditional “Don’t Say Baby” game. Instead of using clothes pins, we used lifesaver necklaces made with mint Life Savers and bakers twine. Whenever someone said “Baby” if you caught them, you could steal their necklace. Whoever had the most necklaces at the end of the night, won a gift card!

We also had a diaper raffle for everyone who brought a pack of diapers for the parents-to-be! You can never have too many diapers when welcoming a little one into the world. Everyone that brought some was able to enter their name for each package they brought and at the end of the night we drew a winner for another gift card! Speaking of diapers, we also set up a “Midnight Changing Station.” The idea is to write a silly note of the back of a diaper to lighten the mood when changing diapers in the wee hours. I love doing this for new parents because they get lots diapers and a few laughs too.

As far as food goes, we had quite the assortment! Since it was an evening shower, we provided dinner. My dad smoked some pork and brisket on the pit, so we had sliders with all the fixin’s and sides! We also had buffalo chicken dip, raspberry chipotle meatballs, baked beans, coleslaw, veggies, chips and dips. On top of that, we had tons of desserts to choose from aside from the candy bar. Brownies, a truffle pudding, sopapilla cheesecake, an actual cheesecake and two cakes! I completely forgot to get pictures of all the food before everyone started digging in, but I did snap a picture of the vanilla cake with it’s sweet whale topper that we found at Hobby Lobby.

I think that covers all the details of the shower! Now it’s all about the mom and dad-to-be and the ones who love them most. It’s not a party without a moment to take ALL the pictures.

Just before pictures, we had to snap a picture of Matt and Emily, but of course Chloe had to be in it. Emily is quite possibly Chloe’s favorite person in the world.

Then we had to get the traditional hostess, parents, best friends and family pictures at the end of the night.

Hostesses with Emily and Matt

Kelsey-Amy-Donna (Mom)-Emily-Matt-Meena

Emily & Matt with all the parents…and Chloe (at least she’s smiling this time!)

It was an absolutely wonderful shower! The new parents received so many amazing gifts and were showered with love the whole night. It’s always wonderful to see people come together and celebrate especially when it’s for two very deserving people.

Emily and Matt,

We love you both so much and can’t wait to meet your baby boy. He is going to be the most perfect addition to our crazy family. I’m already excited to see him and Brody grow up together as best friends and cousins! Prayers for an easy rest of the pregnancy and labor and delivery. I can’t think of two more amazing parents than y’all. Gabe is a lucky little boy.

xoxo,

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