Sunday, January 16, 2011

Long Distance Baby Shower

My cousin Dallas' wife Lynda is expecting a cute little boy pretty much any moment, and I volunteered to put together a baby shower for her so we could get together with all of our family here in Utah.  Somehow I had completely forgotten the fact that she and Dallas moved to Texas several months ago... oops.  So we had to get creative, and we ended up having our baby shower via Facebook and Skype!  Here's the virtual invitation I created to go with the Facebook event invites:

Digi-kit: "Silly Boy -- Cuddlebug" by www.shabbyprincess.com
It actually worked out really well -- much better than I anticipated, in fact!  We all either had our presents shipped directly from her registry (or wherever) to her apartment and then she opened them while we watched, or brought presents to the party and opened them and showed them to her.  We just chatted away via Skype as though we were all in the same room and had a grand old time.

In preparing for the party, I wanted to make sure Lynda still felt properly baby-showered, so I thought we needed some decorations!  But because I'm not a fan of spending a lot of time on "disposable" decorations, I wanted to make sure they'd be able to use them after the shower to decorate the nursery, so I checked out her crib bedding for a theme and colors.  First I made this banner with the baby's name:


Cricut cartridges used:  Celebration (pennants), Zooballoo (animals and vines), Lyrical Letters (font), and George (circles)
... and added some fun lengths of circle streamers.  They are SO easy to make and look so darn cute.  Just punch (or cut with your Cricut or whatever) a bazillion of whatever shape you want to use, then run them through your sewing machine one after another.  I think these are going to be a staple of party decor for me in the future!

I also used my leftover tree bases from this project to create a cute centerpiece. 


Because these decorations were take-apart-able and foldable, I was able to fit them all into a priority mail box with our baby presents and get them to the new mommy-and-daddy-to-be in time for the party!

So don't let distance keep you from celebrating the people you love and their big events!  With today's technology, we're never too far apart!

5 comments:

Ramona said...

I just love your cute decorations and I also love that you had a great time-even with many miles apart! What a fun idea!

Tonya said...

Cool idea! That was sweet of you, Tomi Ann! And I love that banner! Just too cute!

Tammy said...

Absolutely Adorable projects. You've given me some great ideas!

Unknown said...

OMG, what a fabulous idea. Such cute decoration. I really like how you made this party so up close and personal even thought you were miles apart. Thanks for sharing such a special event.

Hugs,
Stephanie

Unknown said...

A great time was had by all, and the flower pots are the crowning touch for a shelf they made to hang over the changing table. Everything is so perfectly coordinated with the other nursery stuff, you would have thought Tomi had been there to see the set up. The last time I was there a few weeks later, the baby banner was still hanging up decorating the living room. Too cute to sequester in the nursery! Tomi is thoughtfulness itself.