We threw a very low key, adults only shower for our dear friends having their first child. Because the party was in the evening at our apartment, I didn't get the best photos during the event so I saved some of the decor to shoot in the light of day. The mom to be is from North Dakota so I went for a bison on the prairie theme. I made this simple garland by cutting out a bison shape on my Silhouette Cameo (see below for the template) and wrapping little bundles of dried grasses (see below for details) along the twine. I used copper tape to hold the bundles in place.
The dried grasses are from Afloral.com and I ordered rye, bunny tail, foxtail millet, and bell cup stems. The good part about using all the dried grasses is I could make the arrangements ahead of time without worrying they would wilt; the flip side is it was pretty messy - oats all over the place. But overall it was easy to put together some plains-inspired florals in simple white vases I already had.
For additional decor items I could scatter around the room I ordered these wooden animals from Happy Bungalow. They're hand made, cute, and all natural so safe for little Ivy to play with eventually. The animals are all natives of the parents' home states: North Dakota and Oregon.
I had to order at least two of each of the dried grasses so I had plenty. I made these simple little wreaths using the inside of a few embroidery hoops. I just cut about three to four inches off the tip of the grasses and hot glued them to the outside of the hoops. I'm tempted to make some of these with the other dried flowers I've hoarded.
The food was super simple - we just ordered a bunch of empanadas with guacamole and plantain chips. Empanada Mama is a great option for catering in NYC. To label all the flavors, I cut out a bison-shaped card and wrote with a white gel pen. See below for bison templates.
For dessert I made a bison shaped brownie. I baked a double batch of brownies in 12" square pans and cut them into a bison shape (you can use the same template provided for the piñata, see below). Then I covered it with store bought chocolate icing. I used a piping bag to create the textured part of the bison fur.
One idea I used for my wedding and many events since is an instant photo guest book. I illustrated a few pages in a blank album and we provided the Fujifilm Instax Mini, washi tape, stickers, and pens.
Unfortunately I didn't get to take a great picture of the bison piñata I made before it was destroyed, so you have to take my word for it that it looked pretty cute standing on the table. I made it by cutting the same simple bison shape out of a spare cardboard box twice (see template). I used a thinner cardboard to make strips, about four inches wide, glued around the edges of the bison shapes to make it an enclosed box, leaving a little section open until we filled it. Then I cut strips of fringe out of brown tissue paper and glued them to the front of the bison to make the fuzzy half. I also glued fringe on a skinny piece of cardboard to make a tail. We filled the piñata with little baby necessities like pacifiers and socks. The parents had fun smashing it with a wooden dowel.
This bison shower was super fun to put together. Here are the templates I used to make some of the projects: