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JENNI’S PINK POM POM BABY SHOWER

I’ve been waiting (impatiently) to share one of my favorite events… Jenni’s baby shower! Almost three years ago I co-hosted this charming fete for my bestie along with two incredible and important women in Jenni’s life, Lori and Amanda. Although it was a couple’s shower, we decided on a pink pom pom / chevron theme to match Amara’s nursery (scroll down to see) and just told the boys to get over it! Plus I guarantee 99% of the guys never noticed the girly theme when there was plenty of drinks, great food, and lots of late-night dancing going on! And Jenni and Gabe’s friends can DANCE, people. Actually the dance floor was my favorite area strung with tons and tons of pom poms!
The dessert table laden with all pink desserts and a garland of little tissue paper squares.
Gabe and Jenni! Youngin’s…
I found this pink box in the office section at Walmart!! and filled it with teeny treat bags full of Gabe’s favorite candies, Reeses Pieces. Gotta give the dad one thing, right?
Lori made the BEST oreo truffles…omg 
We wrapped the vases and tables with ribbon – simple!
Late night s’mores around the fire pit were the perfect way to end the night!
My favorite thing to make for baby showers- a diaper cake! To fit with the pom pom theme, I just made tiny ones and stuck them in with floral wire.
To give the cake an ombre look, use matching tissue paper and ribbon: two fuschia tiers, one light pink tier, and two white tiers. Normally I use Pamper Swaddlers diapers since they’re all white… but honestly I had these on hand and didn’t mind the touch of green.
More of our diaper cakes HERE and HERE.
We asked Jenni and Gabe’s parents to send us pictures of them when they were little for the centerpieces, so we could imagine what Amara will look like! (Spoiler: exactly like Gabe).
We even anchored some poms in the pool to carry the theme throughout the yard. Amanda’s home is stunning, right??
I made this chevron photo booth backdrop with just squares of pink and white tissue paper. Just layer the squares- no cutting! I used double stick tape on two large pieces of foam core and Lori’s insanely handy hubby hung them with fishing line. 
Photo booth props: empty barnwood frames from Hobby Lobby, and a baby bump pillow were favorites. We also left a blank scrap book out for guests to write their best advice and wishes!

Here’s the gorgeous Jenni in Amara’s nursery- the inspiration for the whole shower! She and Lori hand painted this wall! To see Amara’s white and modern big girl room, click HERE, though after all that hard work painting, I can’t believe Jenni switched the look!
The invite! Inspired by the pink chevron wall above. By Rock Paper Scissors.
What a joyful night! We celebrated the crap out of these two. Deserving people who created the most special little lady, Amara. Let’s do it again, Jenni! (She’s reading this going, noooo way!)
-L

ARI’S THIRD BIRTHDAY PARTY

We LOVE to throw parties here at Love & Lion and wanted to share some past parties with you as sort of a #TBT kinda thing 🙂 So this Throw Back Thursday, it’s Ari’s third birthday party. 
At this point in time I had just had Max, so a major party with lots of details (like Jenni and I normally do) was out of the question. I held the party at an indoor play place and brought in minimal decorations and food – just enough to make the party look personal and cute. When you’re not in your own space it can be a challenge to make it look the way you want (like trying to cover up a cheesy mural on the wall!). My advice is stick to a simple theme like colors or patterns and weave them into each aspect- decor, food table, invites, and favors. I went with black and white with a yellow accent and the slogan “Yippee Ari is 3!” 
I think the biggest transformation of the room was covering the tables with this chevron wrapping paper found at Hobby Lobby.
The theme all began with invites designed by none other than Lauren of Rock Paper Scissors.
 I just did very simple food – pizza, pretzel chips, hummus, veggies, fruit squeezies, and cupcakes.
 For favor bags I printed on paper lunch sacks and sealed with yellow washi tape.

Here you can see 36 months of (well worth) torture. When I told Ari it was time to take his chair picture last month he replied, “Oooh boy. That’s gonna be hard. I move around a lot.”

 I covered store bought party hats with patterned paper to match the theme.

Ari’s number 3 shirt from our favorite kids store, Tweed.
And here’s my favorite picture from the day. That would be my husband dropping a LIT cupcake on Amara while everyone sang “Happy Birthday”. Classic. Amara was unfazed and Ari asked if he could another cupcake. My reaction was so scarily slow you can literally see my brain trying to process what just happened. Sorry, Amara! 
That’s it! Super simple but considering I had just had a child, I was very happy with how it turned out. Can you say, control freak? Ha! Hope this gives you a few ideas for when you throw a party not in your own space
-L