Life: A Hello Kitty Baby Shower (dessert table)

Baby, Baby shower, Baking, Buttercream, cake, Cake Balls, Cake Pops, Cakes, Dessert Table, DIY, Life, Parties, Pinterest, Sweets

A few months ago my half-sister approached me and asked me to help her with her son and daughter-in-law’s baby shower. If you have been following my blog you know that she had me by the time she announced that it would be a pink Hello Kitty baby shower. I helped her out by doing the dessert table for her.

I began a baking a week before the baby shower because I’ve learned from previous parties that sugar cookies work better with royal icing when they are completely dry. I used Sugarbelle’s recipe for sugar cookies because I’ve always had good results with it.

Once completely dried I placed the cookies in cellophane bags and I added pink ribbon that I already had.

I worked on the Hello Kitty cake the day of the baby shower. I baked a Hershey’s chocolate cake and frosted it with a buttercream frosting. I use the Hello Kitty cake pan mold and I loved how the cake turned out.

My mom loves chocolate covered pretzels so I had to include those in the dessert table. I purchased the pink baskets at the Dollar Tree and the Hello Kitty in front of the baskets are actually stickers placed over cardstock.

Another must have item in any dessert table are chocolate covered Oreos which I love.

I made the same type of sign I did for my daughter’s 1st birthday dessert table.

The sign says:

The dessert table will be open after Dinner!

Please use the tongs, chose what you like!

Leave some for others, Please be polite!

Here’s the final dessert table. I baked brownies, cake pops, cake balls, brownie bites, and cupcakes. I used Billy Vanilla, Vanilla recipe for half of the cupcakes. My niece and sister decorated the background.

I hope you guys enjoyed the dessert table I created for baby Natalie. I’m glad to say that last week my nephew and his wife had a healthy little girl.

Life: 3rd Trimester {Weeks 28 through 40}

Baby, Baby shower, Life, OC Kaiser, Pregnancy, Weeks

Week 28

I’m so glad I finally hit the 3rd trimester because this is when things are supposed to be magical right? I continue to have “morning” sickness and I don’t think it will ever end so I try to make most of the days when I’m feeling better. I had to get my 1st Rhogam shot and I decided to order some nursing bras this week from Motherhood. The hubby was working long hours so he didn’t celebrate Halloween this year. I couldn’t decide what to be for Halloween so I looked up several costumes on Pinterest and I finally settled on being a witch. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money so I DIY’ed most of it. I spent Halloween with my family and I loved that this year everyone dressed up.

Week 29

This week we had a CPR and car seat training class at the hospital where I will be having my little buttercup. The class was very informative but it scared a lot of the parents that were taking it. They basically told us that everything in our house can harm our child. The CPR class was geared towards babies and we didn’t receive a certificate for taking it. I’m really glad we took this class because now the hubby feel more confident being left alone with the baby. This week we received some sad news that our friend’s dad passed away.

Week 30

This week my parents held our 1st baby shower and here is the recap on that. I’m glad I felt well enough to travel because we had an amazing time. I don’t think the hubby realized how many pit stops he was going to have to make because I kept needing to use the restroom. I also attended a wedding with my friend this week and I had so much fun dancing the night away. People couldn’t believe how much dancing I was doing considering that I was wearing heels and I’m 30 weeks pregnant.

Week 31

Like I previously mentioned my friend’s dad passed away a couple of weeks ago and this week we attended his funeral. On Thanksgiving I usually bake a ton of things but this year I haven’t been feeling well so my family had to settle for store bought goodies. We headed over to Costco and stood in a long line to purchase a few pies. On black Friday we headed out to the mall and we bought a few things for the baby. We were also invited to a wedding but it was too far away for me to travel.

Week 32

I had another OBGYN appointment this week and the midwife wasn’t very nice to me. I was hoping she would give me some information on how the baby was doing but all she did was hear the heartbeat. I was a little disappointed about her attitude and I probably should have filled out the survey about her they sent me from the hospital following my visit. Anyways she said something along the lines that there was no way that I was going to tolerate a natural birth and that I should ask for an Epidural right away. This week we had our Baby Care Basics Class and we found it very useful. So far we love all the classes we have taken. I’m really getting bigger now and a lot more tired. Our lovely friends held a 2nd baby shower for us this week. Since I had previously mentioned that our nursery theme was going to be Toy Story they had a western baby shower for us. It was a lovely event and we received a ton of things for the little one. I can’t believe how blessed we have been because my co-workers decided to throw us a 3rd shower this week. They had a potluck for me at work and my little buttercup received some lovely hand made things. I can’t believe this little girl has a bigger wardrobe than me.

Week 33

Speaking of baby showers well guess who got a 4th surprised shower. While I was attending a work holiday party and my in-laws surprised me with yet another shower. I can’t believe how many blessing my little buttercup has received. This week I’ve had a lot more energy so I decided to join my cousin at Disneyland. I pretty much ate my way around Disney’s California Adventure before heading home.

Week 34

There were so many fun things happening in Southern California this week but I couldn’t do any of them. I’m getting more tired nowadays and the nausea hasn’t stopped. One thing we did manage to do was attend a cloth diapering class and we had a ton of fun learning about the different types of diapers.

Week 35

This week I headed over to one of my friend’s house because she wanted to give me clothes that her daughter doesn’t use anymore. You guys know I’m all about free things so I couldn’t pass up the chance to get some more stuff for my little buttercup. My friends have all been real nice about giving us their hand-me-downs and because of that we didn’t have to buy things like playpens, toys, clothes, and highchairs. On days that I’m feeling better I try to squeeze in some friend’s time and this week I got to have lunch with a couple of them. I had an OBGYN appointment again this week and I got to see my regular Dr. so it went much better. My little buttercup has a strong heartbeat and she’s always kicking up a storm in there. The hubby can’t believe how much kicking she does in there. We also had our Breastfeeding with Success class this week and I learned a lot. I’m really glad we took this class because it eases my mind about what I’m about to take on. Christmas is getting closer and we finally purchased our tree. I love Christmas time and the apartment didn’t seem the same without one. This week the hubby surprised me with a date night. He took me to see the Addams Family and for the first time in a long time I didn’t feel sick all night. We had a blast and I couldn’t believe how accommodating people are when you’re standing in a long line for the restroom and your 35 weeks pregnant. My parents came this weekend and they will be staying with us until after Christmas. My cousin and his girlfriend are also having a baby and this weekend we held a baby shower for them. Before the baby shower we spent some time at Disneyland with a few of our friends. I know I probably shouldn’t be doing so many things but I’m seriously having a blast.

Week 36

Merry Christmas to all. I enjoyed spending time with my family this week and I can’t wait for next year to get here already. We celebrated both Christmas and New Years at my aunt’s house. On both days we had a lot of fun spending time with family. We decided to go check out the floats at the Rose Parade and I can’t believe we had never done it before. We walked a lot and hopefully that will be good for my labor.

Week 37

I’m finally “full term” and I can’t believe it. I had another appointment with the midwife this week and she was just as mean as the previous time. She keeps insisting that I should consider taking some sort of pain medication during labor but I shall prove her wrong. She couldn’t check and see if I was dilated or not. We are trying to get in as much fun as possible so we headed out on a date this past weekend. I walked a lot more this week in hopes of my little buttercup arriving soon. I’m feeling better this week but my back is really starting to hurt.

Week 38

I had another appointment with the midwife this week and you all know how much I like her. I’m really glad that next week I’ll be seeing my regular doctor. We decided to finally interview some pediatricians for our little buttercup. As previously stated my little buttercup has had 4 baby showers well this week we had our 5th. The hubby’s co-workers were gracious enough to hold another shower for us during lunch time. They served cake and they gave us presents. I decided that this weekend we are going to go pick up my mom because I’m not sure if I’ll make it another couple of weeks.

Week 39

I’m so glad my mom is here because she has been a lot of help. We are still trying to finish up the nursery because I have gotten so big I can’t do anything anymore. I had another OBGYN appointment this week and the Dr. said I might not make it to the next one. The hubby got sick this week and I really hope I don’t catch what he has. We interviewed another pediatrician and we took a car seat safety class and I’m really glad we did because my little buttercup decided to come this week.

Week 40

My little buttercup is in my arms healthy as can be!

We had a baby shower

Baby, Baby shower, Life, Pizza Hut, Pregnancy

My parent’s threw a baby shower for us this past weekend in my hometown. The party was held at local Pizza Hut because my parent’s house is a tad small and doing it outside was not an option due to the weather. I thought it was going to be awkward to have a baby shower at Pizza Hut but after people started showing up and we started playing games we forgot where we were at.

I made a few sweets to go along with the cake. My mom made jello and my dad bought us a tres leches cake. The manager said we could bring in as many desserts we wanted into the restaurant.

The hubby, my little cousin, and I set up the tables. We put some dishes with Jordan almonds on the tables along with baby bottles with nerds in them. By the way we bought all the decorations at the 99¢ Only Store which goes to show that you can decorate on a budget.

We had a ton of pizza and pasta! Yum! I’ve been on a pizza craze so I loved the menu.

We played several traditional baby shower games including the guessing baby food one. I loved people’s expressions as they were trying to figure out which Gerber we used.

My mom was trying to figure out what kind of food was smeared on the diapers.

My mom’s friend was smelling the diaper to see if she could figure it out. Let’s just say that I made it very difficult for our guests to guess which type of food we used.

We also played another game that involved cotton balls and trying to get them into a dish. I’ve never really quite understood this game but I always have a blast when we play it. Notice me in the back laughing my butt off.

Another classic game we usually play when we have a baby shower and we couldn’t leave out was the clothespins one. The object of this game is to try and see how many clothespins you can fit in your hand before dropping them. FYI… Just because someone might have bigger hands it doesn’t guarantee them to win.

We also played a couple more games that we didn’t take photos of. Everyone who won a game got an awesome gift picked out by yours truly. Once we were done playing games we opened our presents and then we ate cake. Here’s a photo of my cousin’s and I.

Our little buttercup got a ton of things. We are truly blessed for having such amazing people in our lives. We had an amazing time at the party and are truly thankful for those that made it out there. My parents are really excited about becoming grandparents and can’t wait for our little buttercup to get here.

Note: The hubby isn’t in any of the photos because he was kind enough to take them.

Life: Baby Shower Re-cap

Baby shower, Life, Parties

The baby shower was great this weekend and I wanted to share with you a few photos of the event. When I was looking through the photos I realized that I forgot to take a picture of the mini cheesecakes I made for the mommy to be. I used my go to recipe for cheesecake that I previously posted here since that was the recipe the new mommy to be requested. I put them in a cupcake tray with baby feet cupcake liners. I used the water bath and kept the same temperature for about half and hour. I decorated them with a bit of whipped cream and a small teddy bear pick and some confetti candy. I hope you were able to visualize it and I promise next time I’ll make sure to take more photos.

If I hadn’t mentioned it before it’s a girl and everyone is extremely excited!

The mommy to be wanted fresh flowers on the tables. Her father-in-law bought a few bouquets at Trader Joe’s we separated them and arranged the flowers in bases they purchased at the Dollar Tree Store. They turned out beautiful.

The mommy to be picked up these pink pacifiers for her party favors at the flea mart. You never know where you can find a great looking party favor.

The baby shower was held at a community center that her neighbor had access to. The family gave a down payment which was then returned upon leaving the location spotless. We went early in the morning to decorate the community center and transform it into a cute enough baby space.

We set two tables as the main focal point. One was for the parents to be and the other one for the gifts the guests brought. All the decorations and prizes for the contestants were purchased in the Dollar Tree Store. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a nice baby shower.

We played several fun games including this traditional one. For those you that might not be familiar with it I’ll attempt to explain it. You blind fold someone give them a big spoon and a plate. They place the plate on their head and they attempt to pick up cotton balls with the spoon. The contestants only have a few tries to do it.

Another game we played was one that I had never heard of. It mainly consisted of picking out a baby item’s name out of a bag and matching it with someone that pulled out the exact same thing. When both people find each other they sit down. The last two people standing get kicked out. You do this until you only have two people left. It might sound confusing but it sure was fun. Just look at people’s expressions.

Congrats to the mommy to be and my cousin. They make such a beautiful couple. We are all excited and can’t wait to welcome a new baby into our family.