baby shower.

I am having the most charming time in Santa Cruz. Five of us (plus a baby in utero), two dogs, a cat and lots of luggage have smushed ourselves into my best friend's tiny 1 bedroom cottage. The neighbors offered us their guest room, none of us want to leave...I'm sleeping on the kitchen floor and it's just all too funny.

All that to say, I've nestled myself into the cutest coffee shop in Santa Cruz, so I could share photos from this weekend's baby shower for my best friend. Here we go!

Becky, my bestie, is a very outdoorsy girl. Less into the "cutesty" ruffles + pastels, and more digging the natural vibe. She's also got a hardcore crush on giraffes, so I picked up your basic plastic toy giraffes and painted them cream to keep things sophisticated. The tables were easy-peasy and ultra budget friendly...a box of things I shipped out in advance.

I stocked up on earth-friendly bamboo flatware, something you can find at most party stores, which the mama loved. The grey tablecloths were just your basic party store find, too....yellow runners were trimmed down tablecloths from the Mara Mi line, and ribbon from the Dollar Store. Yes...The Dollar Store. :)

I wanted the flowers to have a less-coiffed vibe...a bit wild and natural! Thanks to my wedding planner-turned-friend, Jacin, I had the inside scoop on the San Francisco Flower Mart, and was able to get my paws on anything I wanted. Girls at the shower asked which blooms I used, so here's the rundown:

Succulents
Ranunculus

Spray roses

Seeded eucalyptus

Craspedia

At the last minute, I threw together a little wrist corsage for the mama, too. Cause who doesn't want to wear flowers in a really chic way? Normally I'd have covered the taped portion with ribbon, but it was 1am and the ribbon was buried in a box. A girl's got to know her limits. ;)

One of my favorite parts of the shower was a station set up for photo-taking and letter writing. I asked the guests to take a photo of themselves using my Instax Instant Camera and then address a little letter starting with "Dear Mama" or "Dear Baby".

It was so touching to read words from friends and family members. A few of them spent the entire shower doodling little hearts + messages, and some even teamed up to share their sentiments.

Food is the one part of parties that I...just don't get into. I'm way too scared to do it. Thankfully, a friend of Becky's offered to take over that portion of party planning. Whew. But we kept it very, very brunchy. Fruit salad, doughnut holes on skewers, ribboned bacon and a yogurt bar.

Okay, plus a few coffee cakes and quiches. Maybe not ultra simple, but fairly easy.

Don't worry...I made sure there were stripey straws...with cheery little flags. Cliche? Yes. But I'm pretty sure it's not a party without stripey straws.

But here's my favorite part of the "food portion":

Adooooorable baby bow bowtie cookies from Sweets By Rose (click to check her out!). Rose shipped these striped, polka dotted creations all the way from the East Coast, just for this shower. Not only were they the sweetest little things you've ever seen, they also tasted like sugar cookie heaven!

You should probably contact her for all your treat needs, or follow her on Facebook to see all the goods. She seriously hooked me up, and they were the perfect little individually wrapped "send off" gift for all our guests!

All told, we kept it short, sweet and a bit grown-up. I'd say it was a success! :)