DIY Floral/Spring/Easter Baptism

My friend Karen requested my help in planning her daughter’s baptism because she wanted to add personal touches but thought she was "non-creative" with no knowledge of how to become a “crafty party planning mom."  A month and a half later, after many trips to Michael’s, Target and the Dollar store, late nights rolling streamers and acquiring glue gun burns, and fighting the urge to give in and just spend the money buying real flowers, she proved herself wrong. And I’m glad! 

After emailing back and forth many times (the possibilities are always endless!) Karen decided to go with a floral/spring/Easter theme. Her crafting time was quickly ticking away but with the hours of help from Dad, friends, and family, they made a bazillion flowers and got the crepe paper wreath and topiaries (tutorial from the House of Smiths and inspired by the Sweet Survival) done exactly the morning of the baptism. Dad also deserves recognition for getting involved (giving up weekends, even until 3am!) and adding personal touches like little Reese’s candies in the buckets for his baby girl Reese J

Karen successfully dolled up a plain old park district recreation room to look bright and springy. I thought the kids loved the centerpieces (or “sabotaged” them as she said lol) and some guests will be reusing them for Easter décor.  Yippee for dual purpose and not going to waste! The pretty little celebrant even (accidentally) matched the décor.

Decorating Details

DIY Crepe Paper Flower Topiary Centerpieces (~$10/each)

–    Easter pails as the base ($2/each from Target)

–    Floral blocks for support ($0.50/each from Dollar Store)

–    A dowel spray painted in white ($1/each from Michael’s)

–    Styrofoam ball ($5/each from Michael's)

–    Crepe paper (aka streamers) for the flowers ($20 for 4 rolls) 

–    Shredded paper and candies as the filler ($3 for 3 bags at the Dollar Store or make your own for free)

–    Yellow ribbon for more color ($5 for 2 rolls at Michael’s)

Gift Box: Empty diaper box wrapped in wrapping paper.

Giveaways: Cookies by Danielle Shannon displayed in baskets filled with Easter grass ($2 for 3 bags from Michael’s) 

Lessons Learned (as told by a new crafty party planning momma)

–  Craft ahead of time and after baby is asleep.   

–  Shop around and think "outside the box."

–  Visit the venue beforehand. 

–  Don't be afraid to ask for help. At the start of this "project", I wanted to do everything on my own.  I wanted to OWN this and not have anyone help me.  But in the middle of it all, life events got in the way and I had to focus solely on my family which put me VERY behind on my project.  Despite the hiccups along the way, I packed the streamers, glue gun, glue sticks, and scissors in my bag and worked away even though I couldn't be at home.  My niece and cousin even helped and after a few hours we had over 100 flowers. J  Also, Dad was a BIG contributor to the flower making.  There were some sloppy ones made but I came to the conclusion that "I should be thankful that he's even helping."  The night before Reese's baptism, we stayed up until 3am finishing what became OUR project instead of MINE. ♥

–  Don’t use a glue gun with shorts on. haha

This whole process was very stressful having to juggle baby, work, my family, my dad being at the hospital, cooking, cleaning, laundry, yada yada but in the end, I'm happy with how everything turned out considering we had 100 guests.  This was my first attempt at party planning and after all the stress, lack of sleep, multiple glue gun burns and help from family setting up....in the end, EVERY thing was worth it. Of course, I wish I did more decorating and I even saw some spots that could've had potential.  But....there will always be her 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th birthdays and Cotillion to plan..haha! 

It turned out wonderful Karen! Don't you worry, you have plenty of pretty parties ahead of you to plan.  I love helping people with their creative sides (and then I get to use mine too hehe), encouraging them along the way and seeing how it all turns out. The process may be super tiring, but in the end when it’s all beautifully said and done, it’s worth it! Let me help you plan a party (or do it for you), you’ll love the outcome, I swear!