In less than 1 year, my beautiful daughter Jade, met her boyfriend, got in engaged in Hawaii, married her fiancé, and became pregnant with her baby girl, Gemma. Such an amazing year filled with blessings and celebrations.
Beyond thrilled and honored that Jade asked me to host her baby shower, I set out to start planning what I felt would be the perfect baby shower for her. However, at the same time, knowing at my age it had been many years since I had attended a baby shower. I wasn’t sure what type of shower to plan that would impress Jade, plus her friends and family. Feeling overwhelmed, I started researching baby showers on the internet, quickly coming to the conclusion that baby showers are now almost as extravagant as weddings. Unsure that I could pull off planning such an up-to-date/modern baby shower for Jade, I almost threw in the towel and suggested that one of her girlfriends take over the job of hosting. But I’m not one to give up or disappoint my daughter, so off I went searching every kind of baby shower on blogs and Pinterest.
As a hostess, it is important to include the Mommy-to-be in the planning process. Jade wanted her shower to be at my home instead of a restaurant, she also wanted it to be outdoors. Fortunately, living in Malibu our backyard overlooks the ocean and being that the shower would be in August, a tropical themed baby shower seemed to be the perfect choice. Plus, Jade got engaged in Hawaii! While wanting the shower to be tropical, I still didn’t want the feeling that it was a luau. To me, it was important to keep the focus and decorations on the fact that it is a shower for a baby girl. My color palette of light pinks, gold, and white were chosen first, then I started planning the tropical theme around those colors.
Don’t feel you need a tropical backyard or ocean view to throw a tropical theme baby shower. The decorations and overall vibe are enough to throw a fantastically themed tropical baby shower indoors or out.
Jade’s Tropical Baby Shower included over 30 of her closest friends and family members. It was a beautiful sunny and somewhat humid day with the Mommy-to-be looking gorgeous (and like a bride) in a white maxi length strapless dress and floral crown. As guests entered the house, they were welcomed by a customized chalkboard sign and were given a pink lei.
Please take a lei and put it on.
When you hear someone say “baby”
you can take their lei.
Whoever has the most leis
at the end of the shower wins!
A fragrance bar filled with essential oils in Spanish glass bottles with cork tops were displayed on a table top, so guest could create their own individual fragrances. Using a dropper, the oils were filled into a glass roller bottled labeled“Aloha Gemma”, which guests were able to take home. Quickly, guest started taking pictures in front of the dessert table which had a backdrop of large paper flowers with a custom wood sign of Gemma’s name in the center.
Once guest passed through the entrance of the house, they made their way to the backyard where appetizers of potstickers, crab cakes, and zucchini fritters were being passed. A bar tender served mai-tai cocktails, pink lemonade, and custom drinks of choice. Swans and pineapples floated in the pool while huge Gold balloons spelling “Gemma” waved across the green grass. An inviting crafts table provided stencils and paint to design little onesies, as well as ribbon and bows which could be glued together to create headbands. Inside, a buffet of fresh salmon with dill sauce, turkey meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, fruit, salads and an assortment of Hawaiian food were displayed over palm leaves. While guestfeasted on a tropical themed luncheon, games were being played. Jade sat in her throne, a wicker chair adorned with garland matching her crown, opened gifts. Afterwards, the most delicious coconut cake with passion fruit filling was served and guest were encourage to select additional items of KrispyKremedonuts, Milkbartruffles, and cake pops from the dessert table. To end the tropical baby shower off perfectly, each guest received a card with lip balm thanking them for making Jade’s baby shower the balm.
This was an forgettable day and year!
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PrintTips for Hosting A Tropical Baby Shower
Baby Shower Planner– Organization is key! Start off by printing this Baby Shower Planner. The planner is great for keeping track of the guest list, food, budget, and much more. The inspiration board was my favorite!
Guest list– First of all, get the list of invitees from the Mommy-to-be. It’s her baby shower and she should control the who gets invited and who does not. The planning can begin once you know how many are invited.
Invites– Don’t use Evite or any other electronic invitation for this event. A baby shower is so special and your invitations should represent the tone of your shower. Try customizing your invites from Zazzle.com. At the same time, customize a diaper raffle insert, address labels, and thank you cards.
Inspiration Board– Start looking for ideas on the internet, magazines, and Pinterest. Print or cut out pictures and attach to paper and staple together to create an InspirationBoard. I did this and carried my inspiration board of papers around with me whenever shopping for supplies. It helped keep my vision in check and know what items I needed.
Tables– Decide how many tables you will need for food, games and crafts. I decided on 5 tables, purchased clear container bins for each table, and labeledeach bin. In these bins, I stored items needed for each table, such as table cloths and miscellaneous items. This way, set up day will go much smoother. Determine the size of your tables too, such as 4 or 6 feet and include table size on label. I orderedperfectly fitted table clothsfrom Amazon. Once I set up each table, I stored the bins underneath for easy clean-up.
- Table 1 – Dessert Table
- Table 2 – Food Table
- Table 3 – Fragrance Bar
- Table 4 – Craft Table
- Table 5 – Game Table
Dessert Table– I wanted the dessert table to be the highlight of the shower and a place for taking pictures. Paper flowers in shades matching the shower theme and invitations were made using a pattern from Etsyand taped onto a white board. A custom wood sign personalized with the baby’s name “Gemma” was placed in the middle of the board. This sign was later given to Jade to hang on the wall in Gemma’s room. Desserts included, a naked cake of coconut and passion fruittopped with an “Oh Baby” topper,cake pops standing on clear acrylic cake pop displays, pink KrispyKremedonuts, macaroons, Milkbartruffles and cookies. Various desserts were displayed on acrylic risers. A framed photo of my daughter and her fiancé in Hawaii on their engagement was included on the table too, along with a couple of ceramic pineapples and gold votives.
Food Table– A buffet was served utilizing buffet chaffing dishes, serving platters, and bowls. Palm tree leaves were scatter below and bowls and platters were topped on crates providing some dimension. Gold trimmed plastic plates with gold utensilskept it elegant but still allowing for easy cleanup.
Fragrance Bar– A DIYperfume kit was set out on a table where guest could mix their own tropical fragrances and take home in a glass roll-on bottle labeled“Aloha Gemma”. Kamilyinprovides all the ingredients for this full service perfume bar.
Craft Table– Keeping guests entertained, a craft table was set up with a onesiepanting station, including paints, paintbrushes, stencilsand a DIYheadbands making kit.
Game Table– This table included a large frame of pictures of the Mommy-to-be at various ages, a jar for the diaper raffle along with extra raffle cards for those who forgot to bring theirs’ but brought a box of diapers. Pineapple bags filled with prizes, were displayed on this table as well.
Party Theme and Decorations – Narrow your theme down to about 3 or 4 colors. For this tropical themed baby shower light pinks, white, cream, and gold were the colors of choice. Amazon will be your favorite go to for party decorations, food trays, games, and all kinds of trinkets.
- One of the highlights was the custom chalkboard welcome sign, ordered from Hue Creative. The signed was placed on an easelwhich was ordered from Amazon.
- Pineapple tops were spray painted with light pink and gold and placed along side orchid plants on tables.
- Gold balloons by Balloon Creationsspelled out “Gemma” centered in between two large pink balloons with fringe.
- Pink and gold baby shower decorationswere placed throughout the backyard.
Flowers – Jade wore a tropical floral crowndesigned by Island Lei’s and Bouquetsand had her own special rattan chair adorned with matching garland. The chair was perfect so that she would always have a place to sit and was placed in a spot where guest could watch her open gifts.
Games– We played a total of 6 games and I do not suggest adding anymore. 6 was plenty! Due to the large number of guest, 2 prizes were given for the diaper raffle and baby shower bingo. Game cards were printed out, at a local printing shop, and stored with enough ink pens for each guest.
- Diaper Raffle
- Don’t Say Baby
- Guess Mommy-to-be’s age
- How Big is Mommy’s Belly
- What’s in the Diaper Bag
- Baby Shower Bingo
Food– Do to the size of this party, I chose not to cook, but to cater instead. An array of food was ordered from Jones on Third, Gelsons, and a Hawaiian catering company. Had I prepared my own food, or if you insist on preparing your own food, here are a few dishes on my blog that would have been great to serve.
- Chicken Pot Stickers + Sweet Soy Dipping Sauce
- Mustard Crab Cakes
- Geoffrey’s Malibu AhiTuna Tartar
- Macadamia Nut Banana Bread
- Stout Braised Grass-fed Beef Sliders + Ginger Slaw
Dress– It was important that Jade and I wore dresses that matched the theme. Jade wore a white strapless dressfrom Etsyand I wore a tropical dress from Show Me Your MuMu.
Music– Start downloading your tropical music playlist now. The baby shower started off with vintage Hawaiian theme music and as the shower vibe picked up, Bob Marley was in full force.
Snapchat – Get started on designing a snapchat filterand purchase it in advance. Unfortunately, I live in an area that does not get great internet and no one could use the snapchat filter. Lesson learned, be sure to get a chalkboard or framed signedproviding your internet link and password.
Party Favor– A personalized EOS lip balm favor card was passed out to each guest at the end of the baby shower. A hole punch and lip balm for the cards were ordered from Amazon.
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