Our Botanical/ Greenery Inspired Baby Shower

With my husband, David, being in the military, we didn’t exactly get to do things the “conventional” way. I didn’t get an engagement party, a bridal shower, a bachelorette party (nor him a bachelor party), a honeymoon, or any of those other experiences that girls always look forward to and usually get to have. David was always either deployed or away training in the field, so we got married at the courthouse back in 2014 as soon as he got back from his first deployment. I don’t say any of this to complain though. I was really okay with missing out on all of these things. I mean it was my choice to marry a man in the military, and at the time I was just SO dang excited to finally get to be married and live together, that I didn’t even think about any of those experiences that I would be missing. Because of this though, I always knew that one day I wanted to at least have one special ‘milestone’ experience- a baby shower. Before I was even pregnant, I would dream about my baby shower and what an incredible day it would be. I think I mostly did this because I wanted to be pregnant so bad for quite a while, so the thought of having MY own baby shower some day seemed like some far off magical dream. So when I finally did get pregnant, you can imagine how excited I was to start planning! But then…. Covid hit. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be experiencing my first pregnancy in the middle of a global pandemic. My dreams of a baby shower were shut down right before my eyes. This was honestly really hard to come to terms with, along with everything else that this virus took away during what was supposed to be such a magical time in my life, but that’s a whole other blog post I could get into…

Having a Baby Shower During the Pandemic

Well, after lots of prayers and wishes, June rolled around and things were finally looking up. I was going to get to have my baby shower after all. Fortunately, we had it at just the right time, because right afterwards another “spike” happened in Arizona, and they closed a ton of places down again. If it were any later, I’m sure I wouldn’t have felt comfortable having it anymore. So I just thank God that I was still able to have one and celebrate our sweet baby’s arrival with my family and friends. It was obviously still much different than it normally would have been though. None of my best friends that live out of state, as well as a lot of family, were able to travel in to be here for it. We also of course took tons of precautions to keep everyone safe and had signs posted around with “rules” (like telling people to try not to hug for example-which was hard!) which is something I definitely never would have pictured having to say at a baby shower. I know that I am one of the lucky ones though. I know many pregnant women that did not get to have a baby shower at all, especially if they were due before me, back when no gatherings at all were allowed. So I am SO beyond grateful for this day and for ALL of the hard work and time that my family put into making it all happen for David and me. They did all of the work and literally all we had to do was just show up. It may not have been quite as “normal” as it would have been in the past, but it still ended up being the baby shower of my dreams. Everything came together beautifully and I just felt surrounded by so much love. Us and our baby boy were spoiled with gifts and he has no idea how loved he is already by so many wonderful people. I really could not have asked for anything more and I will always be so so thankful for this amazing day and everyone that was a part of it.

Before all of our guests arrived, I ran around and took pictures of all the decor, and I’m so glad I did so I can look back on these forever and eventually one day show our son what the baby shower welcoming HIM looked like! As for the “theme”, I didn’t necessarily want anything specific. I just knew I wanted lots of plants/greenery (eucalyptus, succulents, etc.) and mostly white and green colored decorations with some pops of blue just to tie in the “boy” part. I just wanted a serene, light and airy vibe, (I guess like my photography style?) and my amazing mama helped make my vision come to life!  I will try to link whatever I can underneath each picture, for you other expecting mamas- but most of this stuff was all handmade, so I might not be able to link too much!

Grey letter board sign- Walgreens (but they sale similar ones just about anywhere)

“Oh Baby!” napkins and plates- I can’t find a link for these, but we got them at Target in the dollar section!

“It’s a Boy” ribbon around the silverware- Michaels craft store

My one big request was that I really wanted cute cookies like this after seeing them all over Pinterest- haha. My sister had them made for me by someone local here in Chino Valley! If anyone is interested just comment below and I can try to get their contact info for you!

I LOVED this white balloon arch! It took us a while to blow up and put it all together but it was so worth it. I believe my mom got it at Michaels, but I can’t seem to find a link for it.  You can get these at a ton of places though, like Target, Party City, or online from Amazon.

Blue pom pom garland– Target

Oh Boy Banner– Amazon

We made these decorations ourselves! Used rolled up diapers for the piece in the center (which I can now also use for the baby, so win-win). And then wrapped the burlap around it, glued a stick to the cute little owl, and then stuck it in the middle of the diapers. As for the little ‘oh baby‘ signs, those are just little cupcake signs we stuck in with the succulent plants!

Unfortunately the only photos I got of David and I were just these iPhone photos that obviously aren’t as great of quality- but we were so busy just enjoying the moment with everyone that I’m grateful that we even got these at least 🙂

I hope you all enjoyed getting a little glimpse into our wonderful baby shower day. If you have any questions about anything you see, ask me in the comments below! xoxo