Dana's Baby Shower {a gluten-free baby shower, recipes included}

I am so beyond thrilled that I will be welcoming a niece anytime now! My sister-in-law is due with little Emily on October 19, and I could burst from the excitement!

I was so happy to throw her a baby shower a few weeks ago. Dana is not a pink girl (crazy, right??) so I stuck with a peach, lavender and mint color scheme. Dana also has celiac's so I stuck to a mainly gluten free (brunch) menu.

INVITATIONS:
Invitations always seem to serve as a jumping-off point with me., and I scoured etsy for hours as soon as we found out Dana was pregnant! If it was a girl I knew I wanted a garden/floral theme, and I fell in love with THESE invitations by Snail Mail Designs, who was kind enough to customize the colors for me!

TABLE SETTINGS:

Macarons in vintage milk glass I've collected over the years, baby pictures of the mommy and daddy to be in ikea frames, and make-shift vases. (I spray painted classico spaghetti jars - black first, let it dry thoroughly, and then peach, mint or lavender. I then lightly distressed the paint with medium-grit sandpaper to give it a vintage feel.) The flowers were a mix of peach roses, lavender spray roses, fresh lavender and white mums.

Paper plates and napkins from Target (spritz brand) and custom cutlery from Sucre Shop:

Mint and lavender paper straws, lavender tablecloths and glass bottles that are actually cleaned out Archer Farms brand iced coffee bottles!

FOOD:
The savory part of the meal consisted of cheesy hash browns, florentine bake, southwestern egg bake and cinnamon french toast bake. (I'll include the recipes for all at the end of this post!)

This sweet custom chalkboard by Swoon Custom Chalk let the guest know their menu options! (How talented is Michelle of Swoon Custom Chalk?? That girl is amazing!)



You can also see the beautiful lavender, peach and mint fabric tassel garland my friend Stephanie made for the party!

I laid out brown paper as a runner, and stamped the name of each food. This helped serve as a SUPER easy clean up when it was time to put the first course away, and switch over to the desserts!)

(sorry about the crappy cell phone pic!)

I also made some really simple yogurt parfaits. Greek yogurt + fresh berries + store-bought gluten free granola:

SWEETS:
I was wrestling with what type of desserts to serve for a brunch shower. I figured cupcakes are an awesome little treat anytime of day, and ordered S'Mores cupcakes and (gluten free) Dulce de Leche cupcakes from Lizzy D Mini's. They were fantastic!! We also had cranberry orange bread, scones, and store-bought (gluten free) snickerdoodles and lemon cookies.

Seriously, who knew gluten free could be so delicious?

I completely blanked on favors, but had some beautiful, custom calligraphy treat bags by the uber-talented Lauren of A Fabulous Fete, and bought big, old bakery cookies to put inside, so those *kind of* acted as favors:

DRINKS:
Orange juice, individual chocolate and white milks, and Starbucks Caramel Macchiatos.  But my personal favorite was the make your own mimosa bar. Just because the guest of honor couldn't drink didn't mean the rest of us couldn't ;) I laid out several bottles of champagne, fresh orange juice, POG juice (pineapple/orange/guava) and pineapple juice.

ACTIVITIES: 
We did a few games (identifying baby food, wacky celebrity baby names) but the biggest hit of the shower was the headband-making station! Lori Baskin Boutique was kind enough to send her amazing headband-making kit, and I also supplemented with some other pretty supplies. There were enough matierials for each guest to make baby Emily two or three headbands, and I laid out tags so that they could write who they were from. Completed headbands were all pinned up to a cork board, and there was a fierce competition for the favorite headband! Emily went home with about forty headbands, in sizes ranging from newborn up to toddler! I am SO glad this headband-making station was such a big hit, and even more excited about the amazing headbands Emily has waiting for her!!

PARTY PICS:
(Taken by the mama-to-be's sister!)

The pretty mama-to-be!

 This girl is verrrrrrry excited to be a big cousin!

Grandmas-to-be:

 Aunties-to-be!

I had so much fun celebrating my favorite sister-in-law, and my niece on the way!

VENDORS:
Photography: Tara Marie Photography
Cutlery: Sucre Shop
Tablecloths: Tablecloth Factory
Paper Straws: Shop Sweet Lulu
Headband Kit: Lori Baskin Boutique
Cupcakes: Lizzy D Mini's
Custom Calligraphy Treat Bags: A Fabulous Fete
Emily banner: CM Handmade
Custom Chalkboards: Swoon Custom Chalk  // for business inquiries, email: swooncc@gmail.com
Tassel Garland: Sand and Starfish

RECIPES:
I made recipe cards for my original recipes, and linked to the rest. Enjoy!

French Toast Bake: THIS recipe, with a loaf of Udi's gluten free bread substituted for the Texas toast

Cranberry Orange Bread: THIS recipe

Scones: THIS mix

Cheesy hashbrowns: THIS recipe, with (gluten free) corn flakes substituted for butter crackers on the topping.

Like what you see? Please PIN away!