As a person who has never really had an over the top party I wanted my baby shower to be the exception to the rule!  Was I totally shocked when I found out I was pregnant?  Who isn’t??  I mean finding out that you are responsible for another human being is such an overwhelming feeling.  But that fear transformed into an incredible desire for me to educate myself on everything mom related.  And the process of learning about babies, childbirth, and everything you need to take care of them is not an easy one.  Every mom wants to have the safest stroller, the strongest crib, BPA free toys… the list goes on.  That said, registering and finding what products would be best for me was made a great deal easier by the INCREDIBLE people at Buy Buy Baby.  They literally gave me a personal shopper who walked me through the store and explained the difference between every stroller, every high chair and let me know each and every product I would need to make sure I was prepared for my baby!

I digress– the process of registering of course made me realize that I needed to have a baby shower.  But I didn’t want to have the traditional VFW hall, baked ziti heated with a steno can shower… I wanted to have a celebration!  I wanted to have a fun interactive party where guests had cool things to do, interactive stations, games… I wanted it to be gorgeous and elegant but not pretentious!  I wanted fabulous food and delicious desserts without the white gloves.

With this extremely abstract idea in mind I had my assistant/ marketing director Melissa go on the hunt for an event planner that fit the bill.  Well the puzzle piece fit perfectly with Kim Myl from Lulu’s inspirations.  After our first meeting I knew that this would be the baby shower of my dreams!

Kim made this process the polar opposite of what event planning has been for me in the past.  She made it so much fun!  Every day we brainstormed fun, fantastic ways to bring this shower to life… and she embraced all my insane ideas!  I say “Kim I want a laundry line hung across the party with all baby clothes!” and she makes it work!

Becoming a mom is very scary… and the process of making sure you are totally prepared is of course cushioned by the traditional baby shower.  As a person who likes to redefine traditions and customs, I really feel that Kim let me be the co-pilot in navigating what would be the most wonderful magical party I have ever had!  I am very thankful to her for being present during this time in my life and making this process so creative, fun, and fabulous!

Okay so let me tell you about this shower!  We basically wanted to have a whimsical, fun, elegant, dramatic space for guests to just relax and enjoy.  Every time I see a gorgeous party I feel like the guests are in metaphorical wool turtle necks!  Its like they cant relax and have fun or even touch anything!  I wanted to have just as much visual drama as all the gorgeous events you see in magazines without the nose in the air attitude.

Again, I digress.  We had the party in the event space of the building Danny and I live in.  I knew that my friends and family were super excited for Baby McKayla, so I wanted to just be able to put all the gifts in the elevator and not the back of a U-Haul.  The space wasnt easy to work with.  Although it has a gorgeous backdrop of the hudson river and the Manhattan sky line the furniture and decor isnt the easiest to work with.  It has a bar and kitchen which was great for what we needed but the huge pool table and bold patterns in the furniture didn’t help us.  Kim just decided to embrace it and make it work!

We had three gorgeous tables from Valley Tent Rentals with dramatic black linens.  Against the black was a gorgeous black and white damask runner highlighted with an incredible use of mirrors, candles, and rose petals by Karma Flowers.  It truly warmed up the space and created a very loungey NY feel.

One of the biggest hurdles we had was the fact that the room was open to the entrance of my building and I really wanted to create a divided space… with the use of white pipe and drape and gorgeous pink uplighting, Vincent Paul Music and Entertainment created a complete room rather than just an open space.  It also created a super dramatic entrance for guests!  The concierge told me that people were stopping outside asking how we divided the room like that!  You can see the pipe and drape behind me in this picture.

The food was beyond incredible!  I feel like everything was re-invented.  A twist on traditional foods.  The salad was like a sculpture.  I didn’t even know services like this existed by Elegant Affairs basically came in with a chef, a captain, a bartender, and two waiters.  Even though it was a buffet it was the most assisted buffet I have ever seen with tastiest food I have ever had!  The appetizers were in oversized Martini centerpieces … we had grilled pita bread with mediterranean hummus, Crudite Vegtables with Spinach Aioli.  The lunch was Turkey on Mini Croissonts, Parmesan crusted chicken stacks with burrata cheese, garden salad bouquets… the list just goes on and on!  It was incredible! 

And of course what is an incredible mean without an incredible dessert to follow!  One of the biggest hits was  the ice cold shots of pink milk with a donut on the top!  We had gorgeous Alice and Wonderland cupcakes from A Cake Dream that really added the level of whimsy we were looking for.  Cake pops from I Love Cake Pops gave guests a fun treat to go home with!  They were a fabulous pink with chocolate inside!  Mini Buns from Juns Buns in tons of flavors gave guest yet another incredible option for dessert.

One of my favorite parts of the party was the Candy Bar by RSVP to me!  This was such a hit with all my family members who have just as much as a sweet tooth as I do.  An incredible interactive way for guests to have fun and embrace their inner child!  I loved the oversized vintage candy jars with customized labels and fun black damask bags for guests to fill that said “Alexa’s Baby Shower!”

As if all this wasn’t enough– there were super fun customized games for guests!  Scratch offs and crossword puzzles from Inklings Paperie pulled out a competitive edge for my friends and family to win all the fun prizes we had!  Inklings also created custom “Its a girl” tags for our baby pink OPI nail polish favors.  

This was by far the most wonderful amazing party I have ever attended and to be the host of it really makes me proud.  I am very grateful to Kim for making the very first celebration of my daughter coming into this world beyond beautiful.  To me it redefined the word “celebration”– it allowed me to understand just how loved McKayla Olivia Ziegler is.

Thank you to all the incredible vendors that made this party a success!

Planner – Lulu’s Event Design www.lulusinspirations.com

Caterers – Elegant Affairs http://www.elegantaffairscaterers.com

Florist – Karma Flowers http://karmaflowers.com

Stationary and Candy Buffet – RSVP to me http://www.rsvp-to-me.com

Cake Pops – I Love Cake Pops http://www.ilovecakepopsnj.com/

Cupcakes – A Cake Dream http://www.acakedream.com/

Mini Buns – Just Buns http://www.justbunsbakery.com/

Draping and Uplighting – Vincent Paul Music & Entertainment http://www.vincentpaulmusic.com/

Tables and Linens – Valley Tent Rentals http://www.valleytent.com/

Scratch Offs – Inklings Paperie http://www.inklingspaperie.com/

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