From Motherhood Dreams to a Natural Baby Shower: Celebrating New Beginnings
I know that it may seem like a detail compared to other things that have been happening since the beginning of 2020, but I’ve been trying to get pregnant for several years and going through a lot, to finally be able to carry our little miracle. This is why I wish I could have enjoyed my pregnancy without the stress of a deadly virus going around the globe, and with the support of my closest friends and family. Instead, like a lot of future mothers for 2020, we had to announce our pregnancy to our loved ones online, cancel our gender reveal party, and well, not share any pregnancy updates any other way than through a screen. Again, we know that we are extremely lucky to have been blessed with a healthy child, and a (more or less) healthy pregnancy all along, while spending even more time together and to share my pregnancy more intimately; there’s good and bad in every situation.
Anyway, the world (when it comes to confinement) is getting better, and small gatherings are back on. We try not to go out for anything and everything, to stay as safe as possible, but we’ve been going to a lot of lost places; hiked a few mountains to set a picnic on top, have walked and swum in wild beaches, spent a couple of weekdays at the lake, waterfall, and the river with the dogs, and we’ve been seeing close friends and family at home around nice summer lunches.
Our gender reveal was going to be a big event, with a lot of guests, cocktails, mocktails, all sort of food, and fun games, as a big celebration to the wonderful result of all these years of hormonal treatments and big surgeries. We fell in love with this tiny bean from the very first second, and were absolutely in wow with this news as we (especially I) had lost all hope to one day get pregnant, and even though we are still amazed by our journey, as we’re only less than three months away from welcoming our precious son, it’s become all about him, and the story to get to him, no matter how hard it’s been, it’s almost irrelevant compared to the impatience, love and excitement. So we decided not to make our Baby Shower about me, the mama to be, as it usually is; but more about honoring our son’s arrival, and creating memories for him and our family. However, no matter if you want to be the center of attention (as you deserve, mama!) on this particular day, or if you want to honor your journey, baby’s arrival, or if you’re planning your best friend’s baby shower, this board is something you can use too!
We’ve decided to do something that resonates with us as a couple, and the way we want to raise our son.
This is why we’ve decided to go with something intimate, happy but neutral and natural, and very flowery. Something elegant and simple, yet fun and original, with healthy and delicious plant-based food. We want a casually sophisticated day, with happy and gentle music, covered by the laughters of our favorite people gathered outdoor under the summer sun.
We are going for a boho and earthy theme, with the elements, water, air, and earth, leaving the fire aside, and instead, include animals in! So when it comes to colors, we’ve decided on browns/tans, natural palette of blue, white/off-white, and greens.
We’ve planned on designing our Baby Shower invitation ourselves, and are sending it through email for a more ecological party, and a good save in the budget; we’ll print only a few (10) for us to keep as a memory and put into our son’s photo album, and of course, to send to the grandparents too. Here are some ideas and inspiration of what we have in mind, to match the theme, something simple and elegant, but with a childish side.
Still matching the theme, we visualize something sober, and minimalistic, green and flowery; something natural.
We are counting on a sunny and warm Summer afternoon to celebrate outdoor, and a nice setting of the buffet table, a few balloons, and a lot of plants from my mom’s garden, and some personal touches.
For the flowers and plants, we are going for green tones (mostly leaves, such as olive trees branches and leaves), mixed with a few white flowers as well as some dried grasses and lastly, flowers, to add some brown tons.
We decided not to exclusively celebrate only the mother to be but instead, our growing family as a whole. This is why our guest list is very long, we decided to not do a girl-only baby shower, but a family friendly brunch. The playful part of our shower may be a little messy, but we have planned a few activities for everyone to participate whilst keeping within our budget. This is why we decided to not do a onesies station and such (which are also a great addition to a baby shower). However we planned a few easy and on-budget games, including some for our son, to be able to enjoy as he grows as well: a frame with his ultrasound signed by all his family and friends that have loved him since day one, a box of wishes and encouragements for him to open at anytime he needs to, a polaroid station to remember the very first party honoring him and more. We also decided to add a few extra fun activities such as guessing animal gestation, dancing with a balloon baby, a pacifier hunt etc.
We have not made our choice yet, between plants and vegan treats, so here are some of our thoughts for now.
We are going for a light brunch: mixing sweet and savory, keeping the foods on our color theme, and the general basic and cute baby shower theme.
The food will be completely plant-based and healthy-ish. We’ve hired and partnered with some talented pastry chefs in the South of France for the detailed food and the cake, and we’ll also be making some food such as guacamole, vegan tzatziki and more.
Plant-based, organic, natural, good looking and simple cake, that will match the main theme: plants and animals.
Healthy drinks such as infused waters, iced-teas, and mocktails (maybe a cocktail or two and some fruity rosé for the alcohol consumers).
We’ll simply do a mix of recent and older songs that have been written by the artists and writers to their children, and some fun songs full of good vibes, as well as a few classic songs remade into lullabies. Here are a few examples of what we’ll be playing.