Golden Treasure Baby Shower

We were approached by Baby Lifestyles to be a contributor for their spring eglossy. That's fancy talk for online magazine. We were very excited and couldn't wait to hear what they wanted us to submit. What's our theme going to be? Valentine's Day? Easter? We got the word that they wanted us to tackle St. Patrick's Day. Huh? The quasi holiday that gives everyone who knows someone Irish the excuse to drink their weight in green beer? And don't forget to make it baby related. We don't back down from a challenge. In fact, we were going to make it the classiest St. Patrick's Day baby shower anyone this side of the Blarney Stone has ever seen!

We needed a jumping off point. A theme that would not include leprochauns or references to public intoxication, etc. We based our theme on the Irish legend that you'll find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Perfect! Green and gold are great together, babies are a treasure, we were off and running.

Jeff starting sketching out the printables design, while Jennifer got busy by organizing a menu. The desserts should have a reference back to green or gold, but not necessarily be Irish in nature (i.e. green tea, mint, lime, and basil). The real fun comes in the fact that since this is a fake party, the food can be fake too, it just has to look pretty. Most things ended up being at least edible, however you would not drink the limeade.

The shamrock rattle quickly became the new symbol of the party. We knew we were onto something adorable. If this party was going to be magazine worthy, we needed to call in some other professionals. Florists and photographers. These tables had to literally come alive with color. Florist Samantha Farrington used monochromatic vegetation with loads of kale for a crisp and modern look. Our party would not have looked half this good if it wasn't for photographer Sarah Anderson's amazing shots. We were both speechless when we got the pictures back. Thanks ladies.

We also painted the geometric print on the backdrop. Every great table needs an equally great backdrop, but after painting this bold lattice pattern, we were afraid it was going to take away from the splendor of the table. Well, we can be wrong every once and a while. It's just the right accent, and the lattice pattern in used to give dimension to the shamrocks in all the printables. 

 

The dessert table highlights a little bit of everything in our treasure tale. The moss covered pebbles were a great find and they surround our "treasure chest" of gold coins and intricately decorated shamrock rattle cookies with just a hint of gold shimmer. The cake pops also get the green and sparkling treatment. The mini dessert trend continues with these delicious pistachio mini cakes wrapped in gold ribbon. We finish our desserts with layered green tea and ginger custard. Jennifer did such an amazing job with crafting these treats.

A treasure hunt for a Golden Treasure Baby Shower was a must! Jeff created the fabulous mossy topiaries with golden stems. And how perfect are the vintage gate and fountain in the background! The sign is handed painted on fabric "shingles". Jeff also had fun coming up with the rhyming clues for the fictional game that no one would ever see. That's how detailed we are.

Our favor table featured these amazing looking golden jordan almonds, that like most of the party were gorgeous, but inedible. We created a new take on the traditional pots with these mini cones in a custom stand. The "potted" favors are framed by these wonderful potted trees.

Our theme is a reminder that nine months of pregnancy brings about it's own precious treasure.

*Vendor Credits*

Photography: Sarah Anderson Photography
Flowers: Samantha Farrington
Wood Cake Pop Sticks: Etsy seller WoodCandySticks

Event design, printables, invitations, and all dessert items were done by us!
Honeycomb Events & Design is Jennifer Billingsley and Jeff Peabody


Printables available on Etsy

Ships Ahoy!

We designed this baby shower with our client to celebrate her son and daughter-in-law's first baby. The baby's nursery was in a whale theme but the mom-to-be was having another shower in this theme. They wanted a shower that coordinated but didn't copy the whale theme. We thought a vintage nautical design would be perfect in a range of blues, off-white, and a touch of rustic red. Our sea-faring inspirations came from the iconic rope wrapped anchor.

We were blessed to start planning the shower from the beginning. This gave us the chance to design and craft the invitations.

Instead of a printed sign behind the dessert table we hand painted a large anchor and the baby's name on a large piece of canvas that lended to a more vintage look. We painted and distressed crates and then stenciled the words "Adore", "Easton", and "Always" on them. We made decorated crab cookies as favors and used the crates to display them. The mom-to-be took the crates home to use as nursery storage!

We used a mold to make color coordinated anchor decorations to place on the cake pops for a great dimensional look. 

And when we think of nautical, we think of weathered wood that's been exposed to the salty air so we an antiqued look to everything as well as treats that were both sweet and salty. We crafted these delicious salted caramel shortbread bites that were very popular. We also made red velvet whoopie pies because the mom-to-be loves red velvet cake.

To make all of the paper products look vintage, we printed on watercolor paper. The result was better than expected! The cupcake toppers had that look of being weathered by the sea air which was all because of the textured paper. Instead of a traditional pennant shaped banner we designed nautical flag shaped banner that was used in front of a table as well as mini nautical flags that wrapped around the vintage gallon jug.

We created a 'message in a bottle' station for the guests to write words of advice and encouragement to the new mom. Above this table was a huge television that our client asked for us to cover up. We designed a large sign which just looked like an amazing three dimensional sign and not just a TV cover up. On this table we also placed an amazing model ship! With a little paint and creativity, we made it a one-of-a-kind personalized piece of art.

The shower was so much fun to create and it was great that the mom-to-be wanted and was able to use the personalized crates, canvas artwork, and detailed wooden ship for the baby's nursery.

This party is available on our Etsy shop! Click here

Vendor Credit & Resources

Event Design, Invitation and Printables: Honeycomb Events & Design

Personalized canvas artwork with anchor: Honeycomb Events & Design

Cupcakes: Icing on the Cupcake Sacramento, CA

Cake pops, whoopie pies, and crab cookies: Honeycomb Events & Design

Floral centerpieces: Grandma-to-be, Cindy Keck

Crates (that were painted blue): Joann Fabric

Vintage Pepsi crate: etsy seller, amyrebeccadarabcsek

Anchor mold: globalsugarart.com

Rustic Faux-Bois & Owl Dessert Table as seen on Amy Atlas

We're so thankful to Amy Atlas for featuring our dessert table on her blog! What a great compliment and a fabulous showcase for this gorgeousness! 

This dessert table was created for a second time mom who wanted the gender of the baby to be a surprise. We thought, let's go neutral and embrace the season with a rustic modern dessert table! We designed our own chic owl illustration and all of the custom printables in the fall color scheme. Combine these with some fabulous modern and woodland pieces and it gives the table a lot of warmth and charm. 

We wanted to use burlap in a refined way. Paired with some grosgrain ribbon and the mom-to-be's initials, it makes a darling cupcake topper. 

We brought in a striking pop of color and a taste of fall with fig tartlets on a mossy green bed.  

We also made the owl cake pops and put them on a branch formed from fondant. 

Each guest took home a cupcake in a mason jar with their own wooden spoon. "It's been a Hoot!"

We even designed the custom invitations!

This dessert table was designed and styled by Honeycomb Events & Design. We also made the cupcakes, cake pops and tartlets as well as photographed the table.


Want to throw your own Rustic Faux Bois & Owl Baby Shower? You can purchase the Printables.

Lavishly Luxe

Hello Kitty cake pops are all the rage, nothing new there. We were happy to provide them for a client who wanted them for her birthday celebration at the fabulous New Parish in Oakland. But how do we reinvent the wheel? We've done Hello Kitty before, to rave reviews no less. How do we make this Hello Kitty theme feel special, unique, fresh? When all else fails, go glam, and go glam hard. Our client loves pink and gold, and surprisingly it's a great color combination. The quiet, feminine undertones of pink mixed with the bold, opulence, and glitter of gold gave us a new creation that was more than just a sum of it's parts.

The tissue balls gave the table some nice height and visual interest. They're easy to make, once you get the hang of it. Chocolate covered strawberries were requested by the client, and fit nicely with the rest of the table.

The Hello Kitty cake pops were front and center in our tasting cups. The chocolate covered pringles are always a crowd favorite. There's something about the crunch mixed with the salty/sweet tastes that are irresistible. Several other treats in pink and gold added to the luxe appeal.

This overhead view shows the great gold leaf patterned paper along with the custom made table runner.

This table, more so than others, displayed the intricate details and layering of custom printables. There's nothing like a lot of elbow grease to make a small table feel like a million bucks.

A Dog Gone Good Time

A good friend of ours was throwing a birthday party for her daughter. She wanted it to feature their beloved yellow lab, Pedro. We weren't able to be there in person, but sent along a printables collection designed especially for them.

Cupcake toppers and wrappers. Jeff drew a picture of Pedro and used it as one of the party logos.

Favor tags with every guests name.

Tents, labels, and patterned papers. Collection available on Etsy.

The real Pedro and his digital likeness.