Transportation Themed Baby Boy Shower

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My birthday this year was a busy day full of presents, decorations and.. baby gear! No, I wasn’t pregnant with baby #2, but I was helping to throw a baby shower for my bestie and SOTD contributor, Allie! You’ve seen Allie’s decorating skills from my baby colorful baby shower and the nautical themed one she did for her friend, Sarah. Now it was Allie’s turn to be the center of attention at a themed baby event!

Since she found out she was having a boy pretty early on, her mom and I had a chance to plot a cute theme and decided on transportation! Check out the party details below made with the help of Allie’s friends and family!

Invitations:

When I had shown Allie the invitations I designed for my dad’s 60th birthday party and she commented how cool it was that it was custom made, I decided I’d go that route on her party too. Luckily fellow SOTD contributor Jamie, let me know about Cat Print, where she always got her invitations printed for an affordable price (like these from her mom’s birthday surprise). I went with the light cardstock in a matte finish and opted for the free hard copy proof! Love that I got to see what the invite looked like prior to printing the stack and I also loved the great customer service attention I got with every email or question! (NOTE: the price of the invites doesn’t include envelopes so you’ll have to get those separately, which they also sell.)

In addition, it was suggested that guests bring a book instead of a card for Baby Boy K. I included a yellow bookmark for them to write a special message. This helped to avoid the issue of multiple books with personalized messages that couldn’t be exchanged for other fun reads. Fortunately for Allie, I think I noted only had one double in the whole bunch!

Decorations:

I love the play on words the “Bump Ahead” road sign can bring to baby shower, especially for this transportation theme. We lined her mom’s front walkway with these signs that were printed on yellow cardstock and taped to wooden skewers found in the food aisle at the grocery store. (Cheaper than wood dowels from the craft store!) In between these signs were layered, papercrafted vehicles, specially made by Allie’s good friend, Karen and her Cricut machine!

These papercrafted designs were also added to several mini diaper cakes, which sat on red and green chargers (purchased after Christmas as they fit the bright primary color palette)!

When guests arrived, they were directed to the “cargo drop” to drop off their gifts for the mom-to-be!

Food & Drink:

Not only did Karen, Allie’s mom, graciously offer to host the party, but also was the leader in making all the delicious food options for the guests!

Everyone munched on a full assortment of colorful dishes at the “Fueling Station.”

If they were thirsty, they visited the drink area which included an assortment of sodas but also two specialty drink options.

They might’ve hit the “stop light” and took up one of three red (Cherry Limeade), yellow (Lemonade) and green (Ginger Ale) colored drinks.

Or they dunked the ladle in the punch bowl to have some delicious sherbet punch. Creator, Genny, named this the “Scenic Overlook” since Allie and her Hubby Tim “always took the scenic route” on their many exotic trips. (Read more about this yummy drink recipe in an upcoming post!)

The dessert options did not sway away from the transportation theme either! First up, Allie’s sister-in-law, Melissa, made a baby carriage watermelon fruit salad.

Next was sister-in-law KT’s delicious almond cake and cupcakes, with adorable transportation designs!

Activities:

No shower is complete with a game or activity of some sort! Since Allie already did the “decorate a onesie” station at my party, I researched a new crafty idea and found the “decorate an alphabet block” concept!

The basic block shapes were purchased at Woodwoods Ltd. I prepped them with my own custom design alphabet shapes. At the shower guests visited the “service center” and completed the remaining sides to make a unique collection for the baby!

See more details on prepping this activity here!

Since I included the bookmark and direction to give a book instead of a card, it was great to see everyone’s book choices. And even though I was the one that made the simple bookmarks with the invites, I wanted to include custom made ones in Baby Boy K’s collection so I stamped these fun robot guys onto large tags to include our messages. We gifted Baby Boy K two books: Good Night New Jersey (Good Night Our World) so he can learn about the Garden State that his mom loves so much and Giraffes Can’t Dance, a personal favorite of Brielle’s. (Ok me! I’m a sucker for rhymes!)

Favors:

Lastly, guests left with a fun memento of this transportation themed event, when they dipped into the back of this large dump truck and took home one of KT’s sugar cookies in different vehicle shapes!