Young House Love

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A Fall Themed Baby Shower

Alternate punny title: Leaf it to me. Oh yeah, there’s nothing like a little corniness on a Tuesday afternoon. I blame it on being downright giddy to have power again. Ohthankgoodness. Anyway, this weekend before the chaos that was Irene I actually helped with a little bridal shower for our cousin Megan who is getting hitched this fall. John’s mom hosted the sweet informal gathering at her place, and each one of the daughters (and in this case, me the daughter-in-law) were asked to bring a few things. I was in charge of a bowl of candy, and a little bit of table decor. Nothing too crazy, just a few small touches to hopefully get people into the fall spirit (as inspired by Megan’s pretty fall-ish wedding invitations):

Megans Invite

Of course I took it as an opportunity to get all craft-tastic (I tried to resist, but I was powerless against the draw of Michael’s). First I grabbed $2.50 worth of colored paper in a few pretty fall-ish colors. Then when I got home I googled “leaf pattern” and sketched out a few different leaf outlines onto a piece of white cardstock with a pen (I just free-handed them, but you probably could trace them right off the computer screen too). Were they perfect? Nah. Were they leaf-esque? Sure.

Leaf Project1

Then I cut them out. It didn’t take ten seconds, but it wasn’t too bad. Maybe five minutes for ten of them. I recommend watching Real Housewives Of NJ in the background to keep morale up.

Leaf Project2

Then I used each cardstock leaf as a template and traced it onto one of my colored craft papers with a black pen. I actually ended up tracing each one a few different times and crowded them in so I’d get as many leaves as possible from each sheet of paper. And yes, I did crack insanely bad jokes like “hey John, leaf me alone” as I went. He was not amused.

Leaf Paper3

Then I stacked an extra sheet under the one that I traced my leaf shapes onto (so I could cut each leaf out once, but get two out of the deal – each in a different color thanks to the stacked paper). Then I did the rest of my sheets in the same way (tracing the shapes on the top page and stacking the paper so I could cut it once and get a few leaves out of it). Total time spent: an episode of Real Housewives. And surprisingly (because I half expected this crazy spurt of craftiness to be a total bust), the varied colors and shapes ended up being pretty darn cute.

Leaf Project4

I mean they’re not über upscale and spendy looking (Posh might not demand them at her next shindig), but they’re sweet and charming in that homemade full-of-love sort of way. Which seems to work when you’re casually gathering with family on a stormy day to celebrate love, love, and more love. I ended up sprinkling them down the middle of the table to make a little leaf runner of sorts.

Table2

Not bad for $2.50.

Flowers Above2

Then came my weird M&M project. I thought tracking down some sort of candy in fall tones could be sweet in a clear cylinder vase (of which we have many, leftover from our own wedding). So when I came across two bags of brown, red, and yellow peanut butter M&M’s at Target, I took the bait and bought them (for around $5 total). Then I sorted them by color in three bowls and stashed each tone in a different ziplock bag so I could bring them with me to the party already-sorted. Oh yeah, and wash your hands before you touch all the candy. In case you’re wondering, I watched last week’s Design Star during this part of the process (I’m hopelessly behind on that show – don’t ruin this week’s episode because we haven’t seen it yet).

Mandmsorting

Once I arrived at the party, my big M&M arranging finale took ten seconds. I just poured the pre-sorted brown ones into my big glass cylinder vase, followed by the pre-sorted red and yellow ones. Bing, bam, boom.

Mandmsfinal

I probably can’t take any credit for the fact that everyone scarfed them down (peanut butter M&Ms are irrefutably addicting in their own right) but Megan and the other ladies seemed to enjoy the little layered look. Weird candy separating mission accomplished.

I also grabbed eight glasses from Target (sold for $2.99 for a set of four, so I spent under $6 total) and John’s mom just took a few clippings from two potted mums that she already had on the front porch to make eight mini bouquets to fill our glass “vases.” I loved the idea of using already-owned potted mum clippings because there are about a million blooms covering them, so it’s way more bang for the ol’ buck. We probably would have needed to buy at least four bouquets of flowers to fill the eight vases that our two mums easily covered with plenty of blooms to spare (we tried to clip from the perimeter/underside of them, so the remaining plants will still look nice and fresh out on the porch for a few more months).

Pinecones Leaves

So with the cups-turned-vases filled with mums and my little paper leaves spread down the center of the table like a festive little runner, it was time for one last touch. Oh yes I did buy six little glittery faux pinecones from Michael’s for 50 cents a pop. Guilty as charged. I can’t help it. I’m like a magpie when it comes to shiny things. Especially shiny fall-ish things in the golden color palette of the leaves from Megan’s wedding invitation. They conveniently came on a little wire (I think they’re made to be stuffed into bouquets or wreaths) so I just stuck them randomly into a few of the little mum vases (which we sent home with each guest as a small party favor).

Table 1

It was a sweet little party. Even though it was rainy and gross outside, it was warm and happy inside. And I don’t mean to harp on odd things like glittery pinecones (I’m from Jersey, ok? Maybe that explains it), but they seemed to be quite the hit.

Oh and check out this cute thing John’s mom put together. We all played one of those how-well-do-you-know-the-bridge-and-groom games, and she hunted down fall-colored ribbons and tootsie pops to tie on top of each clipboard, which she also sent home with each guest. So yeah, come to our family’s showers if you want to leave with vases of flowers, glittered pinecones, ribbon slash tootsie pop riddled clipboards, and M&M hangovers. Do we know how to party or what?

Clipboard

My favorite part of the whole celebration was when Clara and her cousin Jake serenaded us. Once again proving that random is good. Bring on the paper leaves and faux pinecones! And don’t forget that baby solo to end things with a bang.

Clara Jake Piano

Oh and because you know I love a little budget breakdown, here are all the supplies I grabbed:

  • Paper leaf “runner” (made from 6 sheets of Michael’s craft paper): $2.50
  • Five glittered faux pinecones (from Michael’s:) $2.50
  • Eight glasses to use as mum vases (from Target): $5.98
  • Potted mum clippings: $0 (already out on the porch, but they might be $5 a plant at a grocery store for a small one)
  • Two bags of fall-colored peanut butter M&M’s (from Target): $5
  • Glass cylinder vase for M&Ms: $0 (leftover from our wedding, but originally from Michael’s for a few bucks)
  • Total: $15.98

Not bad for eight flowering favors in little glass vases, a festive fall-inspired table runner o’ leaves, and a quirky color-coded dish of M&Ms. I just liked that it felt more Megan-specific to DIY a few things than run to party city and spend $20 on plastic tablecloths and crepe paper. But enough about my insane propensity for faux nature and glittered anything (why yes I did own a bedazzler in ninth grade). Have you guys whipped up any crafty little homemade-with-love party decor? Ever arranged candy by color? I think that takes a special kind of crazy. And I’m happy to wave my little yes-I-sorted-M&Ms-by-hand freak flag nice and high.

Comments

  1. Carrie says

    Wow! A new header for YHL. Enjoyed the fun new look and the shower post. Fav was the darling picture of Miss Clara with her cousin.

    Reply

  2. RachelSD says

    Very cute shower decorations! You’ve got the crafting bug, honey!

    BTW, also like the new YHL header– it’s fresh!! :)

    Reply

  5. Georgia Rowe says

    Such a good idea! were getting married in Vegas next month and having a party back in the uk when were home, so im going to DIY a table runner out of playing cards and poker chipS! wooo

    Reply

  6. Steph says

    Totally thought I had been sent to the wrong page!!!! Thanks for freaking me out with the new header, background and blue colours everywhere ;)! Look very pretty xo

    Reply

  9. Sarah says

    One of my first jobs in high school was at a candy store that sold every color of M&M pre-sorted… it was way too cute! Sold so many for parties, weddings, graduation, I still miss it! Is it so wrong that I may someday pick my wedding colors based on which ones translate best to M&Ms?

    Reply

  10. Janke says

    Now you had me confused for a sec! :) Nice new look, I really like it!

    Also like the shower decorations. We don’t have any bridal or baby showers or “whatever other occasion showers there might be” over here in Germany. Seems to be such a good time!

    Reply

  11. Anna says

    Agree completely, how creative! My daughter (she’s 14) is really excited about them; she wants to make the leaves and display them in a big glass bowl.
    (I’m very glad to see the hurricane didn’t damaged you nor your house).

    Reply

  12. Jessica D. says

    I never seem to be able to watch Design Star when it actually airs so I’m always watching it via my DVR. I’m someone who fast-forwards through the commercials — and Design Star is trying to catch us off guard! I’m always hitting play and rewinding because they throw their logo randomly between commercials! Or they do those short little less-than-a-minute interviews with one of the contestants. Does that happen to you too? If not, I guess I just had a moment of weirdness all by myself :)
    PS – I love the new banner!

    Reply

  15. Subha says

    hey!hey! new header and layout… nice! more of blue.. than the signature grellow… got confused at the beginning! sort of where am I now, and there was no mention about this in the post also.till I saw others comment on it, I was like may be its just me who’s experiencing this..

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha- we actually had a bunch of comments about it waiting in moderation (after finally hitting the hay at 3:00am from transferring site things, we didn’t wake up to approve them until 7:45- sorry for the delay!)

      xo,
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, we figure we can’t win ’em all! We’re so excited to try on some “new clothes” after having the exact same design since early 2008. We thought since we change things in our house every day/week/month, going over three years without so much as a new color or typeface or background was waaay too long to “get stagnant”!

      xo,
      s

  17. Thais Bessa says

    Hi guys, was showing something on your first house to my husband (in the hopes to boost his DYI-ness, lol) and noted a little bug: in the house tour page, when you click “tour our first house”, it takes you to the current house and vice-versa.

    Reply

  19. Kati says

    Why has no one not commented on how great the new layout looks! Little sideways YHL hearts? check. Clara and Burger? check. Loving it.

    Reply

  21. CATHY says

    hey! love the new header(?) soooooo you guys! i love hosting parties. im totally anal and have to do it all myself. i hosted a precious moments baby shower and created all my own invites, games, notes, etc… so they all “matched” without being the same. (the mommy-to-be has a huuuge collection of precious moments figurines) i even made the tissue paper pom-poms to hang from the chandelier in the restaurant by hand! it was a hit if i do say so myself.

    Reply

  22. Lelanie Slater says

    you guys are sooo creative- love it! I also just noticed that you have a new header, am I slow or is it brand new? Mostly I just read the newsletter, that must be how I missed it.Very cute. :)

    Reply

  23. susan says

    Thanks for my Thanksgiving table decorations theme. I loved what you did! Don’t worry too much about Posh since she is recovering from wearing too high high heels. Poor thing. susan

    Reply

  24. Lee says

    I use die-cut leaves for our Thanksgiving table. Everyone writes something they are thankful for on a leaf. I save them from year to year so we have years of thanks on the table! Cheap and cheerful, as the Brits say, and full of meaning.

    Reply

  26. Sarah in Indiana says

    I’m a fan of homemade party decor. I did similar things for my mom’s 60th birthday party. I made a big banner that said “Happy Birthday Jackie!” by printing out each letter so that it filled a sheet of paper, tracing them on cute scrapbook paper, and cutting them out. Then I punched holes in them and strung them on co-ordinating ribbon. It was super cute. But did I blog about it? No. I don’t think I even have a picture. I bought a few little globe vases for next to nothing at Goodwill and filled them with a mix of white hydrangeas from my yard, and blue hydrangeas I had purchased. Then I bought a variety of blue-wrapped candies and sprinkled them on the table as a runner.

    Reply

  28. hunter says

    Super cute. And I don’t know if you’ll ever do this again, but on the off chance you do….

    If you take a bone folder (or a ball point pen that’s out of ink or a stylus or anything else with a nice firm tip) and score a line down the center of a leaf and a line or two out on the sides (like the veins on a leaf) it makes it look EVEN cooler. And if you’re feeling suuuuper fancy, do the scoring while the leaf lays on something with a tiny bit of give. A mousepad works well, as does a firm ottoman or pillow. The curve makes your scored leaf curl slightly and all of a sudden everything looks all ruffly and organic and pretty darn real.

    Reply

  29. Jen says

    I read this post at the perfect time…Katie and I are planning a fall bridal shower for our soon to be sister-in-law! I’ll definitely be using some of these ideas. :)

    Reply

  30. diane says

    Great candy idea that I am going to steal (such an ugly word) for this weeks labor day party. I have been struggling to come up with an idea since I always bring candy and it has become expected. For 4th of July I filled a plastic sand bucket with tootsie roll pops and one of those whirligig things and it received rave reviews, as I am sure your idea will. thanks for solving my problem

    Reply

  31. Krys72599 says

    Threw an engagement party for my stepdaughter a couple of Octobers ago and made the centerpieces and candy favors…
    Went to the Dollar Tree and bought two dozen $1 square vases, about 4″ square, 4″ high. Bought a few bouquets of assorted fall-colored flowers at the Costco and made myself 24 small little floral centerpieces. We put three on each table of 6 people; every couple got to take one home.
    I sprinkled a couple of bags of “Happy Engagement” confetti on the tables, too.
    And for everyone’s sweet teeth… Some Ghirardelli chocolates, wrapped in a black and white paisley or brocade styled cardstock, with a black or white ribbon and two linked silver hearts tied into the bow. A bowl on the desert table for anyone who wanted a little somethin’ sweet…

    Reply

  33. Mary Karen Reynolds says

    I had to laugh when I read that you sorted m and ms. I had a beer tasting party for my husband’s 50th on Saturday. I used a lot of beer “colors–” yellow, orange and brown when decorating. So I bought one of those mega m and m bags from Costco and hand picked all of the yellow orange and brown candies to serve in shot glasses at the end of the night for that munchy time. (Of course, I later realized the Halloween m and ms are available at Targe!) I thought I was crazy, but now, I cleary see I’m just creative and not crazy at all.

    Reply

  34. Emily D says

    We had a “candy bar” at our wedding and i needed green candy, so I too have sorted m&m’s by color. I love the fall colored ones you used, I will have to remember that!

    Reply

  36. Meggan Britton says

    I have definitely done the candy sorting to an extreme for my friends wedding. Her colors were a rainbow, so each table had a color. The centerpieces were glass jars full of candy in that color with matching pinwheels stuck in them. It turned out so cute, but we were sorting candy for hours! Gumballs, Starbursts, M&Ms, Skittles, and I don’t remember what else. It turned out super cute though!

    http://pinterest.com/pin/158136500/
    http://pinterest.com/pin/114743040/

    I loved the way the leaf table runner turned out. Good job!

    Reply

  37. Sarah R. says

    We had a surprise party last fall for my mom’s 75th birthday. We used brown plastic table cloths and potted mums on the tables. I used pretty fall-colored craft paper to wrap around the plastic pots and tied them with coordinating ribbon. My brother printed photos and facts about things that happened the year she was born, so we sprinkled those around the tables and had bowls of “retro” candy around. We did a photo board of her too. It was simple, but had a good impact.

    Reply

  38. Tiffanni says

    “Leaf me alone” is a favorite joke between me and my hubby, so we both cracked up when we saw that in your blog. Our other favorite “I sink so”, which of course has a funny sink inside joke, might come in handy for one of your bathroom/kitchen projects in the future :)

    Reply

  39. Megan Morahan says

    Wow, that is an invitation from us, at Vistaprint.com. My amazingly talented friend, Elly designed that fall wedding invite. We really hope that Megan and Anthony love it. Let us know if there is anything else that is needed for the big day!! I use your site to help inspire me, and this post just made our day at Vistaprint. Thanks for sharing how our invite inspired you too.

    Reply

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