And Then My Name Was MAMA: Cute as a Ladybug

This past Saturday came and went with a blink of an eye. I had so much to do in one day and so very little time. I co-hosted a Ladybug themed baby shower with a friend for a friend. With some much needed reinforcements, I think it went off pretty well. My duties were as followed:

Make Diaper Cake, Prepare Games, Get Prizes for Games, Get Cake/Cupcakes (YUM!) , and get the pin, and memorabilia book. Check, check, check, check and check.

The baby shower was a ladybug themed Tea Party...I Know! So cute! The Tea Party is always a hit in my opinion. What better way to celebrate the oncoming arrival of a baby girl?? The ladybugs are a FAV for the guest of honor and not to mention Good Luck. I am so happy to help and contribute to a friend's happiness in any way that I am able to. For these projects though, I would need my reinforcements.
A diaper cake...Easy Peasy, right? UH.....Nope, not for this not so crafty chick! After watching several you Tube videos with males and females making the most amazing Diaper Cakes I have ever seen, I thought, hey I can do this. After stopping by the store on 3 different occasions to buy the materials I would need, asking employees and strangers in the aisles for advice, I began my eh, masterpiece. I rolled 96 size 3 diapers and rubber banded them accordingly. Then, I began my tiers. I desperately wanted to use all of the diapers I rolled, but after a few attempts realized it just wasn't happening. It was too large to fit on the pretty base I bought, so I had to re-vamp the initial visual I had in mind. I think I ended up with about 60ish. Everything was banded together and my 3 tiers were set to be decorated. Oh crap...I forgot the spindle thingy that goes in the middle of the entire cake to hold the 3 tiers together. Had to improvise and use a paper towel roll I had on hand. It worked, success!
Next was the fun part....decorating, until I came to the realization that tape, although the next best thing to food in my opinion, does not work for everything. I was attempting to wrap my nice diaper tiers with black ribbon but the tape was not holding the ends together. So off to the store..AGAIN. This trip I purchased glue dots, super glue, and double sided adhesive tape of some sort. (suitable for fabric) I enlisted in the help of a friend who helped hold the ribbons for me and helped me affix the rest of the goodies onto the cake. She even sewed the topper and socks onto the cake so that they wouldn't come off. Those who know me KNOW I can not sew. I even got out of that "Betty Crocker", "Susie Homemaker" class in High School. You know, the one where you learn how to cook and sew and carry around a baby doll with a special key to make it stop crying. Well, I somehow managed to elect out of that elective class. The Aftermath...A pretty awesome Diaper Cake ..If I do say so myself. I have just proven to myself that I too can make a "acceptable" version of a diaper cake.

Rolling..Rolling...Rolling

3 tiers

Finally Finished!

On Display and looking pretty good

For the games I did the following:

1) The Price is right...Or close enough

I attached 10 items bought from Walmart onto the Diaper Cake. I told all the guests what the items were. They had to guess the price of each item and total it. Whoever came closest without going over won a prize - I recently attended a baby shower where they did this but put all 10 items into a basket and showed each one. You could always do this as well.

2) Drawing Teapots or Babies...or something like that

Each guest received a paper plate and a pen. They had to place the paper plate on top of their heads. They had 2 minutes to draw either a Teapot or a baby (the ladies actually did pretty darn well) We even had one lady who drew both!

3) Tea Words

Each guest had 2 minutes to write down as many words with the word "Tea" in them as possible

4) Guess that Tea Bag

I placed 6 Tea bags without labels into a bowl. Each of them were numbered 1-6. I told the guest which flavors of tea were in the bowl and they had to sniff the bags and figure out which flavor each tea bag was.
*I, clearly not thinking...went in order 1-6 and told them what flavors were in the bowl in the exact order that i numbered them! Duh Duh...Next time I'll mix it up!

Drawing Teapots

What I did for the prizes:

I purchased 3 coffee mugs from Wally World (WalMart), honey, tea cookies, a bottle of bubbly, and a Lindt chili chocolate bar for prizes. I filled each of the 3 coffee mugs with several assorted Tea Bags, one with honey, and two with the Lemon Tea cookies. The last prize was the bubbly and Lindt Chocolate bar. (I almost kept this one for myself) I took cellophane wrap , black and red tissue paper, red thin ribbon and wrapped and tied each prize. To coincide with the ladybug theme I attached 3 tiny lady bugs to each ribbon.

The last and most exciting part of my duties as co-host was to provide the cake/cupcakes. Of course I chose CUPCAKES. I do not bake..I mean I can follow box directions and even tweak them a little but baking from scratch, real baking..I still have not mastered this skill. I enlisted the help of my friend, Iris Alexander. She made me the cutest chocolate ladybug cupcakes ever! She has made us cupcakes, and some really delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies before, so I had to ask for her help. They ended up going home with each guest as a favor.

Iris posing next to her cute little critters

It was Iris's first time working with fondant.

All in all the baby shower was a success. The host, Christina, opened up her home and killed it with the decorations, food and beverages. She was equipped with cucumber sandwiches, scones, petit fours, fruit with whipped cream, Tea (hot and cold) and flavored water choices. The 2 hours flew by and the guest of honor Christine, had a great time. She left feeling loved and with some great new items for her newest edition to come.

When in doubt...You Tube it..You too can make a diaper cake!