A step-by-step guide to throwing a magical Hundred Acre Woods baby shower to remember!
* photos courtesy of @megtullos *
My pal Logan from @parkhopperdesign and I wanted to throw our friends @mallory.drew and @frenchieinorlando a picture-perfect baby shower they will treasure forever. After a few months of planning it all came together and was even better than we ever could have imagined! Here’s a step-by-step guide to planning your own magical themed baby shower.
STEP ONE: CHOOSING A VENUE & THEME
Things to consider: indoors or outdoors? does it fit the budget and allow enough room for decor, food, etc? how big is the guest list and will they all fit comfortably? does the venue fit the theme? is there enough parking?
We had originally explored renting a tea room for the event but because the options we had were are already so branded or themed (i.e. didn’t fit our desired color palette we knew Mallory would love), we decided to take our baby shower to the Hundred Acre Woods and really commit to the Winnie the Pooh theme. In the end, it really helped the aesthetics come together and it was great to have all of the space for mingling! Our baby shower was held in a public park in Orlando, FL so I encourage you to reach out to local public parks for your options! This also meant that in the event it rained, there were a few pavilions nearby we could take cover or rent in advance (though in this case thankfully it wasn’t needed!)
Here are some unique theme and venue ideas to get you started!
Lion King / Baby Safari event held in a zoo
Alice in Wonderland themed tea
Little Mermaid Baby Shower by the beach or at your local aquarium
An at-home or “en-casita” Encanto themed shower
Outdoor baby Bambi themed picnic
Be sure to have a backup plan ready if you’re planning an outdoor event and there’s a chance of inclement weather! If this becomes a last minute issue for you consider leaning into it and making it a part of the theme ($1 flip flops for gifts for the guests to wear, adding umbrellas to drinks if it fits the theme, etc)
STEP TWO: NARROWING THE COLOR PALETTE
I’m a big fan of color theory and how colors make people feel. If you’re hosting a baby shower for a little boy on the way it may be tempting to have blue and white be the color palette, but consider mama’s personal preferences and adding a few additional colors to make the theme more unique!
For our Winnie the Pooh picnic, we wanted the main colors to be pink and yellow (welcoming baby girl!) but our mama prefers more boho bold colors so for the balloon decor we went with a custom mix of pinks and yellows with some sage green and mauve balloons to mix it up a bit!
STEP THREE: THE ESSENTIALS
Determine any must-haves and priorities for the day. For us, we wanted to feature some local small businesses to bring our vision to life so we planned which steps we would outsource and which we preferred handling ourselves. We decided to take charge of the crafts and food options and hire local vendors for the cake and cookies, setting up the base of the picnic, and for capturing the special moments for us.
Cake & Cookies: Iced by Taylor
Picnic set-up: Orlando Picnic PopUp
Photography by @megtullos
Now is also the time to finalize the time of the event. With our picnic being outdoors we wanted an earlier time slot to avoid those pesky afternoon rain showers Florida is accustomed to! Having a time of 11:00am – 2:00pm also means lighter refreshments versus a large meal which made planning the picnic food much easier.
Something to keep in mind while choosing a time: if your guest list is larger and you believe guests will prefer bringing wrapped packages in person to sending to the parents’ home, make sure you are allocating enough time for gifts. Our picnic was less than 20 and we knew that many would be shipping their gifts to mama’s home, but we still elected to extend the event to three hours to allow enough time for mingling, grazing, and game playing in addition to the gifts.
STEP FOUR: FOOD & REFRESHMENTS
Logan and I wanted to spend a day crafting and creating a custom menu for the event to make sure even the smallest detail was accounted for. An early afternoon picnic calls for charcuterie, tea sandwiches, and plenty of sweets to go around! We also wanted to incorporate a simple and colorful mocktail bar because our friend Mallory has been loving enjoying a refreshing mocktail while pregnant, and we wanted everyone to be able to join in for the fun! This was super easy – fill some plastic containers with juices (we had orange, pineapple guava, and passionfruit) and have some ice, sparkling water and fresh fruit to garnish!
Charcuterie trays
Charcuterie trays: For a guest list of 20, we put together three medium-sized boards and placed them around the tables to be passed for the guests to share. To keep it sanitary, each place setting had its own set of tongs to use and we made a separate small board for the mom and dad-to be to enjoy together. This is a good opportunity to note: make sure all cheeses are pasteurized and any meats used are either pregnancy-friendly or for dad only!
Tiered Trays & Tea Sammies
As soon as we settled on an afternoon picnic we knew we wanted to incorporate some light tea sandwiches. We found these beautiful plastic tiered trays to add layers to the table and balanced a traditional tea tray with some custom changes for our own personal preferences. As a rule of thumb, start with sandwiches on the bottom, scones on the middle layer, and sweets on the top. Make sure you choose 2-3 types of sandwiches with a variety of fillings so there’s something for everyone!
Top: Layered guava cakes (purchased from Publix – and HIGHLY recommend!)
Middle: Coconut macarons and cranberry scones (purchase from Publix bakery)
Bottom: Homemade tea sammies: ham and cheddar, tzatziki and raddish, and wine country chicken salad on wheat bread (Quick tip! Logan is a genius, freeze your bread before making the sandwiches so they are easier to cut into bite size pieces. It works wonders and keeps them from falling apart!) We held them together with toothpicks which was also very helpful for storing and transporting.
STEP FIVE: CRAFTS
Logan and I dedicated a whole day to creating the crafts and food for the event so it was a lot of work but also a LOT of fun! We purchased a balloon arch kit on Etsy to do-it-ourselves so this was the first task, blowing up balloons! Not going to lie, I lost sleep stressing over creating these balloon features but they ended up being much easier than I anticipated! Rather than create one large arch we split them into two to decorate one of the welcome signs as well as Mallory’s chair – and they turned out great!
To add a personal touch, we also crafted the welcome signs and painted little pots with honey drips for on the tables.
For the signs, Logan had some help from her grandparents assembling the wooden posts and then she used the Cricut to attach vinyl letters – we thought it was so cute to put some of the letters backwards just like the sign was made by Pooh or Tigger!
For the pots, we painted little drips of honey and then planted fresh flowers in each one. They made the perfect centerpieces along the picnic table but also served as prizes for winners of the games!
STEP SIX: GAMES
What’s a baby shower without some fun games?! Choose two or three games for guests to play and make sure there is a variety as well as a small prize for the winners! Pinterest has endless options for shower games. We went with “what did the dad say?”, “guess the distance of Mallory’s belly”, and “make your own baby”.
While all of the games were fun and got the guests involved, the Make your Own Baby out of Play-Doh game was a hit! Each guest makes their own baby and places them in a cupcake liner and then Mallory and Theo got to choose their favorite. We did two separate winners – best baby and scariest baby!
STEP SEVEN: THE DETAILS
Don’t forget the details! Small details like candles, greenery, and flowers can really add a lot to your table and help your aesthetics pop. We had help here from Orlando Picnic PopUp who showed up with the most beautiful pieces but if you are doing this yourself highly recommend Trader Joes floral section! We actually grabbed a few floral items and had them stashed in our bin on-site in case we needed any extra.
Lastly, day-of be sure to bring the essentials and make sure you have everything you could possibly need. We kept a bin filled with items like packing tape, string, scissors, garbage bags, etc. and ended up using almost everything!
That’s a wrap on the most magical celebration! I hope this Winnie the Pooh picnic baby shower inspires you for your own event!
xoxo,
BRE
Business Belle Bre 