Spork's a Star!

The next Lady Samurai who will be having a baby is Deb Warner (pictured below in the red patterned sun dress.) She is super sweet, funny and laid back and we enjoy cracking How I Met Your Mother jokes during our weekly lunch dates at the O Club so I volunteered to help host her baby shower on the 28th. We wanted to throw a very original and fun baby shower, and so we decided to throw a classy evening shower that felt more like a cocktail party than your typical shower. Deb and her husband Mark are waiting until the baby is born to find out if it's a boy or a girl, so we went with a nice, neutral theme with a moon and star motif. Our accent colors were blue and yellow - very appropriate for the newest member of the Samurai since those are our squadron colors. Deb and Mark also have a running joke about their baby being like a spork (hybrid between a spoon and fork) since it's a mix of the two of them - so my friend Beth brilliantly suggested we entitle the evening Spork's a Star! It works since his/her parents are both talented people with big personalities. We all know this kid's going places! B^)

Putting all of the elements together was so fun! Since it's finally starting to cool down a bit, we had it outside with lots of candles and white Christmas lights casting a glow on all of our blue and yellow decorations.

We had people cast their votes for what they think the baby will be with sporks! The picture frame in the background was painted by my friend Lisa. It's a picture of Deb and Mark's joyful reunion after the last deployment.

Usually at our squadron baby showers we present the guest of honor with a beautiful diaper cake - a decorative way to provide them with a necessary gift. However, none of us really knew how to make one, and Deb is a very no-fuss person. So instead of trying to make a big, frilly tiered thing, I jokingly made her a diaper sheet cake. She loved it!

The food that night was incredible. One of our resident chefs, Kate Vella, put together an impressive spread of summer veggies, fruit, and grilled gourmet pizzas. Mmmm!

Deb and Mark are also known for their deep love of sugar cereals, so as party favors Rachel put together assorted bags of cereal with a spork. So cute!

Normally my friend Sharon makes a stunning themed cake for events like this, but as she just had a baby a couple of days ago, I volunteered to make dessert. These cupcakes are not nearly as pretty as Sharon's pastry masterpieces, but they tasted good and the little star shaped sprinkles I found gave them all a personal touch!

It was kind of difficult finding gender neutral gifts for their baby, but leave it to the incredibly creative women in our squadron to find all kinds of wonderful goodies for this mother-to-be. Our friend Anna Kenkel always makes the funniest custom onesies. There was a lot of giggling going on out there last night... =^)

The best part of the night was when we played a special video of Deb's husband singing that he had secretly recorded for her. She had no idea that he had been working with us to put that together and was so touched she cried. A bunch of us did as well. We can't wait till they come home!!

We rounded out the night with a good game of spoons played with sporks instead. It's a card game where you pass cards around the circle and try to get two pairs. When you do, you grab a spoon (or in our case a spork) and the last person in the circle to grab for one of the remaining spoons is out. Again, lots of laughter all around. Afterward we made sure to take a picture of the losers over on our own separate blanket. I love these ladies, they are so funny!

Over all the night was a great success and Deb really appreciated all of the thought we put into every little tiny detail. =^) It was a magical night of twinkly lights and big dreams for the future. Looking forward to meeting their little rock star in October!