Ahoy, It's a boy!

AHOY, IT'S A BOY!

Banner Made by Jessica S. owner & creator of 'Shop Millie Monster'
Visit her Etsy Store here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShopMillieMonster

"Sushi & Sake tonight?" I said, Diana looked out the passenger car window and replied slowly, "Well. I actually can't have either of those things for awhile"  I looked at her in confusion, then with big smirk, it was as if the light bulb lit up, I'm sure it was reflecting through my eyes. "ARE YOU PREGNANT?!", I yelped.  Tears welt up in her eyes as I stopped at the next red light shocked, surprised, and so happy that my beautiful long time friend was starting a family of her own.

We opted for Lazy Dog Café for dinner, and then it came up "Will you help with the baby shower?", I'm sure my face turned pink with excitement, "Can I PLEASE?!"

I've always loved parties, all aspects really.  The planning, the details, the celebration, the food, the booze, and more importantly being in an environment celebrating with family, friends, and good people....that's what a party's all about right? Well actually its mainly about the booze, but the other things are good additions I suppose.

When she found out she was having a boy, the ideas swirled.  Pinterest also become a very prevalent thing in both of our lives.  Pinterest = Crack   Anyone who says otherwise has yet to experience the endless ideas and creativity that Pinterest provides...no matter what you're into, there's a board and pins galore.  (If you haven't experienced it yet, do yourself a favor, feed the addiction, you're welcome & in advance, I'm sorry, www.Pinterest.com)
We finally decided upon a theme: PIRATE
Not only do I have an entire room in my house dedicated to Pirate décor, but I have always been fascinated with pirate history, culture, and of course, loot.  I hit the ground running.

Last year, I had looked into Event Planning school.  The funding wasn't available for me at the time, but I kept learning different ways I could by trolling the internet, using professional event planners websites and guides to gain any knowledge I could.  I was hungry for it. I became a weird soiree sponge.  Luckily for her I had saved much of this information, including spreadsheets with guest list templates, budget guidelines, and more.  My momentary obsession was being put to good use.

Let the planning begin...........

After 'Pinning' our lives away for a week or two, we met up to have lunch and lay out the final decisions.  I'll let the pictures below show you what we decided on. Etsy/Shopping links are included where possible so we can give credit where credit is due.

    If you have any questions, or want more info, email me: Le.Esquelet@gmail.com

Dessert & Candy Bar Table

Main Dessert & Candy Bar Table.  Candy bar on the left.  Glass jars with Whoppers (Cannon Balls), Blue Hershey Kisses with the little tags that say 'Its a boy', Silver Hershey kisses, and Licorice (Rope!).  Clear Cellophane bags and small plastic scoops for guests to use.

Black Table Cloth, draped with fishnet (cheap, easy and can be used for SO many things!)
Both Chocolate & Plastic coins spread out on all the tables, much better (and cleaner) than confetti!   Plus the chocolate coins are edible...just be sure your guests don't try to bite into a plastic coin. Or at least invite those with slightly more common sense, they'll probably bring a better gift anyway.
Ikea lanterns with battery operated tea lights (candles are better but also burn faster and give off smoke.  You will be relighting all night, and no one wants smoke flavored cupcakes.  Battery operated is a good alternative)   Mimosa Punch...I'll get to that wonderfulness shortly.

Cupcakes: Plain & Simple, Vanilla or Chocolate with red buttercream frosting (so it doesn't have to be refrigerated) We ordered our own little black pirate skull flags to top them.  Lots of party websites sell similar.  We used www.Shindigz.com
Customized Baby Photo and name announcement.

Alternate View with Candy Bar.  Food Table in the background.

Black Silhouette Pirate Ship Centerpieces ordered from 'Cutting Paper' Etsy shop.  Check out her goodies here http://www.etsy.com/shop/cutnpaper?ref=pr_shop_more
It was really windy on the day of the shower so the ships were taped to cardboard panels which were then covered in tissue paper.  The net was actually draped over the ship to help them stay up in the wind, and turned out looking like we planned it that way...

Alternate view of centerpieces.

Goody Bags were displayed in a gold treasure chest (the kind you buy & paint from Joann's or any other craft store).
Chocolate gold coins and miniature bottles of rum.(Half Sailor Jerry Half Captain Morgan. 

The tags were custom made by Jessica S. at Millie Monsterhttp://www.etsy.com/shop/ShopMillieMonster?ref=seller_info  'Ahoy it's a boy'

And at the bottom, the baby's name 'Jae Darwin Ko'

The pirate ship silhouette tags were made by 'Your Little Cupcake', check out her Etsy store here http://www.etsy.com/shop/YourlittleCupcake?ref=seller_info

Rum Bottles & Chocolate Coins made for perfect Pirate themed goody bags.
This also doubled as how they announced the Baby's Name.