Mermaid or Pirate Baby Shower

 I've been friends with Amber for well over a decade now.  She's expected baby #2 and this go 'round she decided to wait.  Since it's summer, her sister and I decided to throw her a shower that plays with the theme Mermaid or Pirate?  My pal Kelly made these adorable invites for me.

 Again, since it was a summer shower I was able to go crazy with desserts and I madea  collection of both mermaid and pirate themed desserts to serve.

 Last year I attended a shower and they had a poloroid camera where each guest had their picture taken, and then we made a scrapbook page with a message to mom and baby.  I knew Amber would love this (she's one of my last scrapbooking buddies).

 We each made a page and her sister said she would finish the album for Amber.  We had the guest decorate pages with either pirates or mermaids based on what they predict the baby will be.

 I made a bunch of banners I hung throughout my house as well.

 I also used beads someone gave me from mardi gras, shells, and coins to scatter around the house.

 We served all pirate and mermaid themed foods.  Canon Balls (meatballs), sumbarines (sub sandwiches), planks (crackers) and gold (cheese-served with little swords), crab legs (carrots), seaweed (spinach dip), seashells (pasta), and berried treasure (berries).

 We also served some blue punch in fish bowls.

 I made little mermaid straws.

 Amber's sister put together some adorable bubble bath.

 And bottled them in cute little bottles.

 All went so smoothly, but it helps when it's a sweet friend and easy going friends and family she's collected along the way.

Mermaid or Pirate Desserts

Last month I hosted a baby shower where the gender wasn't known yet.  With summer in full swing, we went with the fun theme of Mermaid or Pirate.  I've been posting about this for a few weeks, and next week I'll post the whole thing, but here were the dessert offerings.  Since it was summer, I had more time to bake....and I did.  

 First off, I made mermaid tail sugar cookies.  I bought the cookie cutter on Amazon, and I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe to put these together.  These can be done in advance, so that helped!

 Amber's husband loves cake balls, and even though he wasn't in attendance, I made these so we could ship some home.  I just dipped the cake balls in white chocolate and to make them look like pearls I served them in little seashell cups and then brushed on some of the Wilton's luster dust.

I posted about these cheater cupcakes last week.  Again, I bought cupcakes at the store and then used a kit from Wilton to dress up my cupcakes.  

 I definitely made too many desserts, but....too many and the word dessert are welcome words to string together any day in my book!

Easy Pirate Cupcakes

 I recently hosted a baby shower.  The theme was mermaid or pirate.  I wanted to do a mix of both themed desserts, so for the pirates-I saw a kit from Wilton with all the pieces you need.  I knew I would be busy right before the shower, so I decided to buy the cupcakes and then just slip them in the liner and add the decorations.

I picked the color closest to 'flesh', and man I'm glad I cheated.  1)  Sam's makes a fine cupcake 2)  This saved me a lot of time and dishes.  In my old age I'm learning that sometimes it's OK to cheat.  So this is my confession tip-buy the plain cupcake....then decorate them up the way you want.