A whale of a good time at Baby W's Shower

I was thrilled when I found out we'd be coming to New York for August because among many other exciting reasons,  it meant I would be able to attend the baby shower for Baby Williams. I'm not sure if you've picked up on this or not, but I bloomin' well  LOVE baby showers! (haha you said what I did there..). 

I love everything about them. I love the decorations, the cake, the gifts, the food, the exchange of mummy wisdom, the excitement of the blooming mum-to-be, the themes, and the chance to pamper and spoil the mama before she starts the exciting chapter of parenthood.

I was excited when my friend Julie, as a hostess, asked if I'd like to help make a cake for the shower, given that Mama Mandi can't eat gluten either. I was thrilled and knew the perfect cake would be the Flourless Almond and Orange cake, and so gladly accepted. I offered to make a few little decorations to contribute to the nautical themed shower as well, which placated my crafty needs that haven't been able to indulge in much craftiness in our home away from home here in Manhattan. 

My photos are only quick iPhone snaps, so apologies for some grainyness here and there!!! 

Julie and I made and "dressed" two cakes for the shower. 

There was the main Orange and Almond Cake, frosted with a cream cheese frosting. 

And then the diaper/nappy cake. Julie had done all the hard work of rolling and assembling all the diapers, and I got to just swan in and dress it up a little with some nautical ribbons/rope that I found at Mood this past week. 

I loved that we drank our mimosa's out of named mason jars, topped off with nautical paper straws of course!

Susan, Cristen and Julie spent the weekend preparing all of the savoury delights, 98% of which were gluten free! Mandi and I loved being able to have plateful (after plateful) of delicious food that wasn't going to make us sick! They made gorgeous turkey meatballs, chicken salad boats, brussel sprout salad, veggies with hummus and fruit salad. 

And what did I contribute to this smorgasbord of heavenly food..... something fun to eat them with!!! Little whale and flag food picks!

We all had a chance to guess the birth date of Baby W, with the winner getting first babysitting honours, and anyone who guessed OVER her due date, promptly scratched off the Christmas Card list! I loved Susan's handiwork and kind of want to make one of these boards for household notices!!

I made some of my Confetti-filled balloons to dot around the room, and these ones were filled with navy stripe and baby blue to fit the theme. I thought about putting teeny tiny whale confetti to put inside each balloon, but then it would have felt odd stuffing tadpoles inside latex!

I had fun making a little bunting for Baby W, which we had positioned along the front wall to set the scene.

If you follow my Instagram feed, you'll have seen these amazing soaps that Julie ordered on Etsy. They were so cute, smelled utterly divine and I just loved the special touch,  "from Amanda's shower to yours". The soaps themselves were from Possum Hollow Farm Soap and the little whale canvas pouches were from A Southern Flair. I wish I could post a "scratch & sniff" panel so you could smell them!!

I had Baby M spend the day with her Daddy at the boy's BBQ, as she has a way of captivating everyone's attention, and I wanted Baby W to be the focus of his own shower! But when the boys returned at the end of the shower, she was a pig in mud playing with all of the helium balloons! I so wish I had my proper camera to take some decent photos of her! Perhaps I will have to do this again one day, shame! 

It was such an incredible baby shower, these girls sure know how to host a party. I hope Mandi has a relaxed final month of pregnancy and I can't wait to hear all about Baby W when he arrives, on September 24th, which was my guess date!!