Barb's Bridal Shower

In case you didn't notice I'm finally back posting the rest of the Christmas trip and January-April. What can I say? There's a bunch there now and I'll be adding more when I finally get projects done and get the pictures taken.

So for now, I'll try to update more consistently but who am I kidding. I'm due in 4 weeks so in 3 more months I'll probably be back posting again all of May-July :) Sorry.

So Taylor comes from a family of 3 boys and a girl. His 2nd brother got married 2 years ago which was it's own drama with lots of international travel adventures. Then last summer both his 3rd brother and his only sister got engages. His brother will be married this October back in Maryland (yeah for the excuse to visit DC!) and his sister is getting married here in Salt Lake in May.

She attended college in West Virginia and has been gone the last 5 years so she doesn't have that many close friends here. So I offered to help her mom throw a bridal shower for the neighborhood, her friends, and all the extended Woodbury family (which is a lot). If you know his sister you will understand our theme.

Barbara is about the least girly-girl you could meet. Seriously she is more of a boy than her brothers are. She played rugby in college and then afterwards in a semi-pro league making it to the National Championship. She was a river raft guide for 2 summers on a pretty intense stretch of river in Pennsylvania. And while she was a guide, she lived in a tent all summer down by the river. She hates dresses and LOVES fishing, hiking, playing sports, and generally anything adventurous.

So when I was searching pinterest I had to skip all the cute, flowery, ribbony parties. It took a while but then I stumbled upon the idea to use boardgames as a theme. And Barbara loves games so it was right up her alley. We had everyone write on Jenga blocks advice for how to keep your marriage fun. And for favors Taylor's mom got little keychain games.

We used a checkerboard tablecloth and added little checkers pieces for decorations.
We used scrabble pieces to spell out the different kinds of food choices.
And Taylor's mom even found playing card toothpicks for the fruits.
We used connect 4 and boggle to label the drink choices. Of course all the food choices were the kinds of food Barbara likes- nothing cutesy or deserty- just sub sandwiches, fruits, vegis, banana bread and brownie bites. Super Easy!

And here's cute Barb and her fiance Clint.
My favorite was using scrabble letters to make a banner.
Love my die-cut machine!
For invitations we created a "Barb and Clint" game of life complete with details and events from their lives. It turned out super cute although it took forever to do! All in all a cute party and I think Taylor's mom said it correctly when she said we'd thrown a completely "appropriate Barbara party".