Mod Elephant Baby Shower

I know I've been MIA for a little while, but it's only because I've been so busy!!! I'm finally getting around to doing a quick little post about a baby shower I helped throw for my sister-in-law a month ago. Since she knew she was having a boy, I worked up a mod elephant theme that I thought would be fairly inexpensive to pull together and then also come up with some DIY decorations that could withstand being packed up and traveling to the shower. I live in Maryland...the shower was in Virginia Beach. If you're interested in using the invitation or some of the printable decorations for a shower you're hosting, please visit my Etsy shop . I will be very happy to work with you to customize colors and text!

I made this really simple wreath for the door using crepe paper streamer and a little tulle. I used a metal circle form from the craft store and used the same technique I used here to attach the streamer and tulle to the form.

Since the shower wasn't at my home, but the home of one of my sister-in-law's friends, I wasn't exactly sure what I would need for decorations or how things could be attached to surfaces. So, I made paper pinwheel "flowers" for vases. I printed out signs that could be placed in simple frames and set on tables. I also did a poster (18"x24") that I mounted on foam core board and just set on the mantle. I also created a few sections of pendant garland and used one of them along the fireplace mantle.

I purchased a few yards of coordinating fabric and used them as runners or table cloths. Instead of hemming them, I just trim the edges with my pinking shears, which leave a zig-zag edge that doesn't unravel.

For the favors, in an effort to stick to a pretty tight budget, I used large baby food jars (washed and dried, with labels removed) and filled them with M&Ms that matched the shower colors. I also painted the lids solid white. You could spray paint, but I just used a semi-gloss craft paint and applied it with a brush.

I got the idea for this balloon centerpiece just a few days before the shower. The original post didn't provide much detail for how to make it work, so I just made it up as I went along. I started by tying two balloons (just blown up with air, no helium) together with a 2 foot length of twine and then draping them over the light fixture and let those form the bottom layer of balloons. I did that about 3-4 times. As they started stacking up on each other, (with a little help from the husband on duty) we started shortening the length of twine between the balloons until we had covered the light fixture entirely.

Below is a close up of the elephant "flower" arrangements that I used around the kitchen/dining room and living room. Some landed on the food table, others were used on the mantle, coffee table, and with the favor display. For these decorations, I just used small, square gift boxes from Michaels. I assemble them, and fold the lid down inside the box. I used regular yarn to decorate the outside of the boxes. I just hot glued one end to the back of the box and wrapped the yarn around about 6 times, then cut it, and glued that end on the back of the box too.

Then I made two small tissue pom-poms, and one small tulle pom-pom for each arrangement. I cut the elephant shape out of contrasting card stock, cutting out two elephant shapes, in mirror image, for each arrangement. I then glued them together with a wooden skewer between the two pieces of paper. I trimmed the wooden skewer down once I was ready to put the arrangements together. So, with the elephants on sticks, and three pom-poms (which have sections of wire as "stems"), I pulled the stems and stick together and wrapped them with regular tape (the same way you would wrap flowers together with floral tape for a bouquet). Then I placed the arrangements in the boxes. I secured the arrangements in the boxes by creating a flower frog out of clear packing tape across the top of the boxes, which only required two strips of tape per box. I punched a hole with scissors in the center of where the two pieces of tape overlap and stuck the stems of the arrangement down into the box. You can add rocks or something heavy to weigh down the boxes if you think they may get bumped or knocked over.

And finally, just a few photos from the shower. It was a great success and everyone had a fantastic time. We had great food and played a few fun games. Kristi received lots of cute baby things for her little one!!!