A Tiffany's Baby Shower

I had the pleasure to help our friends, Sabay and Leakhena organize and plan their baby shower. They were unsure they wanted to revel the sex of their baby so I suggested doing a Tiffany's Theme baby shower.  There was so much going on and we only had a few weeks to plan the shower.  They are blessed to have such great friends that were will to contribute their time (and money) to the shower. We had a private FB group of about 10 people that helped coordinate the event.

The "Parents to be" advised that they would be having close to 200 guests and they insisted on an open bar.  My kind of baby shower!! After researching a few different venues, we decided with the main hall at UTEC in Lowell.  I recommend this venue because the event coordinator Joelle,  is easy going and willing to work with you.  The hall is new, spacious and beautiful.  It's not your typical dingy and outdated function hall.  The venue also allows outside catering and alcohol as long as there is a licensed and insured bartender serving the booze.  They also have a full catering menu and do delicious food. I had the chance to sample some of it at their grand opening special.

We had two weeks to order supplies and go "Pinterest Crazy." My role was "General Contractor", pretty much the coordinator and executor, aka the "brains" behind the operation.  I handled the finances and the communications and negotiations between the vendors, volunteers and family members.  It was kind of weird having to tell the older people "This is what we need" "You need to buy this and that, etc" and delegating tasks to people that I didn't have a relationship with.

The hardest part was inviting guests on such short notice. We didn't have addresses for everyone so some people were invited via FB, some were invited via text and the older Asian people got hand delivered invitations.

Then we had to figure out how we were going to fit 200 people in the hall, so I came up with a "Work in Progress" function layout, of course it changed the day of the event.

After we gathered idea, I put together a task list so everyone knew what needed to be done within the 2 weeks time frame.

I am no way creative at all, so I'm glad I was not in charge of decorating.  I cannot take any credit for all the beautiful arrangement, decorations, activities nor any of the delicious food.  All I did was post images in the FB group page and the couple's amazing friends and family made it all happen.  I would post a picture of a beautiful cake and say, "This would be cool!" and someone would reply, "I'll do it!"

I'm envious of Mera's creativity and decorating skills. She actually did the flower arrangements and table decorations at our wedding.  For the baby shower, she transformed boring 8' tables into beautiful elegant displays using old and new props as well has hand made edible treats.

I tried to be creative with the little skills I have and made the Tiffany's theme diaper cake and card box.  I had the Mo assemble the bassinet to find out later that it wouldn't fit in our car. Thanks Nath for picking it up!

Nora was amazing! She provided the camera for the photo activity, provided the onesies for the decorating activities and ordered the beautiful baby shower cake and matching cupcakes.  Not to mention, she had her OWN extravagant Winter wonderland wedding only 2 WEEKS away!

Chintra created the flower arrangements in Tiffany boxes using hydrangeas and roses.  She actually sprayed the boxes the night before.  They came out beautiful! She also helped out with the balloons which is another funny story.  Basically Amy was a great helper but she wasn't part of the original emails so she tied them in a spot that was different than what I had in mind.  My type A personality kicked in full gear and passive aggressively had a melt down.  We kissed and made up. 

Jennie, Sabay's baby sister flew all the way from North Carolina with cute Tiffany box favors in her carry-on filled with delicious chocolate.

She also spearheaded the photobooth and guestbook activity and created the backdrop and cute props. It was a huge hit!

Everyone raved about the food! Most of the food was prepped and cooked by the Sabay's mom and Leakhena's family.  It was an INTENSE buffet! There was fresh rolls, eggrolls, sushi, noodles, duck, fried shrimp, huy keung, seafood rice.. ahh  I'm getting hungry.. I can't name them all.  There were a couple dishes catered by Senmonorom in Lowell.

One of Leakhena's relatives made this cute fruit display that looks like a baby in a carriage.

I tried to find a bartender on thumbtack but everyone was charging an exuberant amount for insurance. I actually did my own research and a temporary insurance for 200 people would actually be more than 300.00, damn rowdy Asians!  I chose Kristine, the owner of At Your Service  because she seemed really personable on the phone and also was willing to work with the rates.  She was well worth it! She came early and set her her own table and had her own supplies and coolers. All we had to do was pick up the booze ahead of time and bring it to the venue.  Having an open bar was really nice touch.

The adults had a great time with all the shorts, whisky, beer, wine and of course Jamaican Rum Punch.

To keep the kids distracted, Sabay insisted on hiring a clown. I found a magician/clown/face painter on Thumbtack.  She even brought a real life rabbit to the shower!

We had so much fun and everything went off without a hitch (with the exception of my tablecloths still missing). Many couple approached me and inquired about my "fee".  Although my ego was getting bigger, I responded and said that I'm not for hire and I do it for friends and for food, not for money. LOL

The couple was willing to shell out lots of money for a memorable shower and they sure got one.  Kudos to Nora, Chintra, Mera, Jennie and all the other family members who contributed their time and efforts! Congrats to Leakhena and Sabay!

Welcome baby Sophinna into the world!