We introduced the guests to the theme with a custom invitation created in standard Microsoft Word with a few downloaded fonts from dafont.com, and a few free clipart images. If you've not checked out Dafont, you must. If you love typography and textual effects, it is a great resource. And they just so happen to have a Harry P font that is remarkably Potter like. I printed the invite on the parchment colored paper. I addressed in deep red ink and included a stamped white owl on the same colored envelope. Because I love all things themed, I created a House crest and included this verbiage. 

The House of (Name) proudly announces:

A baby boy is on his way
bringing with him lots of 
Mischief, Magic, and
snuggles for his Muggles.

Join us for a baby shower celebrating 
Rachel

Saturday, June 13, 2015
2:00-4:00pm
(Location)

We hope you join us for what is sure to be
 an afternoon of wizardry and well wishes
for the Momma to Be.

For decor, we wanted to keep it themed and fun, but not overdone. So we opted for some statement elements as well as some that could be used in C's room. 

• B created the classic brick wall with 9 3/4 sign for the entrance. 
  
• I made a directional sign to some of the iconic HP locations.
• The gift table was adorned with a stack of packages, delivered of course by the messenger owl.
• I created a paper banner to go over the food table out of precut pennants from Hobby Lobby (they have two sizes and lots of colors) and then printed the letters of this name in Harry P font on cream colored index cards. Then I strung them on the string provided with one package of the precut pennants.
• B found some great Harry Potter prints on Etsy and elsewhere that will grace the nursery but were too perfect not to include in the shower. I added a "He's a Keeper " sign to the mix.
• B created a table runner with baby photos from both sets of grandparents and the parents and a sonogram. Each person was assigned one of the four Houses. Baby C's had the colors of all four because his house is yet to be determined. 
• In one corner of the room, we strung acceptance letter envelopes on fishing wire. 
• We included another messenger owl in a cage on the dessert table. 
• B made sure we had a sorting hat and all full Harry Potter series. We included framed baby pics of the parents to be to complete the little arrangement. 

We scheduled the shower post-lunch on a Saturday so we didn't provide a full meal, but had lots of yummy appetizers and desserts.  I continued the theme into the menu. We had some savory, sweet, and some shower staples. 

Some of my favorite menu items to make for the shower were the golden snitches and the kettle corn. 

While you might not have many occasions to make the snitches, they're easy and fun. There's no real recipe and Pintereset can provide you lots of ways to make these. I opted to use the gold-wrapped Ferraro Roche (hazelnut chocolates) as the base. Then I hot glued a large white feather folded into a "V" onto the bottom where the foil gathers. Warning, they do take a little bit of time and the feathers, of course, are messy. 

Popcorn is an easy, cheap, and popular party treat. When I threw Nick's little sister's shower, we incorporated popcorn (because she was ready to pop, ba dum bum!) so I wanted to include it this time around too. But to make it a little more interesting, I wanted kettle corn. It was important that it could be made ahead of time AND use an air-popper. I found a recipe on another food blog, but since I stumbled across it, the blog domain has been vacated, it appears. So, I'll give you my interpretation of the recipe.

Neither Rachel, nor B or I are big shower game lovers so we opted for Movie and TV Mom trivia and a rendition of What will Baby C Look Like? To play, you need multiple copies headshots of each parent as a baby. Slice the photos at the forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, and chin. Then ask each attendee, or a group, to use the pieces to build what the bundle of joy will look like. It's always interesting to see which dominant characteristics the family members predict. 

We organized this shower during the time Nick and I were packing up our rental and moving into our new home. While I don't recommend managing such big events simultaneously, it all worked out wonderfully. It was an honor to host this shower with B and incredible to celebrate Rachel and Baby C! 

Let's cut to the chase. I am not sure where May, June, or July went. This break wasn't on my blog calendar. It wasn't intentional. And, it's certainly not good for our relationship. Let's move past this. I'm still committed to you. And, I hope you'll return to our regularly scheduled programming too. 

Frankly, I'm not sure where we begin to catch up. Though, we've not missed much in the way of food or life events. It's just been steady. You know we bought a house. I wish I could wax poetic about all the lessons and blessings homeownership has brought me, but I am not sure I am appropriately grateful yet. I do know so many people long for this milestone and the gravity of this opportunity isn't lost on us. We're trying to relish it. We're trying to soak up every ounce of the fresh paint smell and reel from the incessant hum of the air compressor oh wait, I mean... Seriously, our house in Middle America, the best of the Midwest, it is good. It's growing on me. We're making it ours. 

I owe you extensive updates about our projects--the new floor, the painted trim, the refreshed walls, the leftover ceiling drama, my hodge podge decor tips...plus, we've got a lot left to do: tile floors, cabinet resurrection, a custom kitchen table and storage solution, and our backyard oasis. I guess it's swell that the mortgage is essentially like a lifetime commitment so we'll have plenty time to chat and compare notes.