celebrating life: a happy hour baby sprinkle shower

With my first pregnancy, my baby shower was cancelled since my twins arrived earlier than expected. Obviously, I was emotional and a complete mess for reasons far greater than just missing out on a baby shower. But months later after things calmed down, I remember feeling this void, this almost indescribable emptiness. I wasn’t looking for a pity party, but I cried to some of my closest friends that I felt ripped off in my journey and the shower was apart of that. Much effort had gone into planning it. So many friends + family had to cancel their flights + hotels, I felt awful about it even so long after the fact. I hated that I didn’t get in so many ways that same right of passage into motherhood that almost every other mommy I knew did.  It was never about the gifts or anything like that, it was more of what the shower symbolized…to finally celebrate becoming a mom. Something I desired so badly and that my husband and I worked so hard to achieve.

sp_maternity

And that void, whether understandable to anyone else, truly bothered me. So with this pregnancy, when my sisters in law first planted the idea of another shower, I wanted to of course shout out an ear shattering yes but an even louder voice inside of my head was profoundly screaming no.  I was paralyzed for awhile with the idea and didn’t want to think about it really. My fears lied in the what if’s and the chance of having to cancel yet another celebration.

Needless to say, I got over those fears with some soul searching and time…appreciating the very real fact that every part of life is to be celebrated, including this new, beautiful one growing inside of me. Accepting, by allowing myself and this baby a celebration, that I wasn’t jinxing anything. With my husband’s support, I let the planning commence for my shower…actually, sprinkle since it was for my second pregnancy and on a much smaller scale. (small shower = sprinkle)

Each pregnancy…each journey that a woman takes no matter how many times…each and every life should be joyfully celebrated.  It makes me smile how so many second, third time mommas I know are up for a celebration including mid morning brunches, afternoon sparties or in my case an early evening of mock/cocktails before life gets really busy again.

Here’s a peek into my happy hour sprinkle, hosted my two gorgeous sisters in law.

sisters

Theme: You are My Sunshine Tip: Try to pick a theme which means something special to you. This song is still one of Jai’s favorites and reminds all of us of our final moments with his twin brother, Kush.

Venue: Held at a cute bakery called Queen’s Bakery Cafe in Costa Mesa, CA. This bakery specializes in amazing sweets, pastries, cakes, cupcakes, salads and sandwiches in an eclectic, contemporary setting. Tip: Hosting a sprinkle at a coffee/tea house, bakery or restaurant rather than someone’s home can make it a lot easier to plan since most of the work is already done for you. Since we couldn’t get the typical Sunday morning/early afternoon time, we opted for a Saturday early evening celebration which led us to the idea of a happy hour shower. Be flexible when party planning, you never know what creative ideas you’ll think of.

venue

Decor: The bakery was already decorated so stylishly with pops of fuchsia, bright yellow, grey and a light blue mixed against black and white.  All that was added was an easy to make yellow “sunshine” banner hung over the main table and an assortment of fresh flowers (think peonies, Gerber daisies, sunflowers) in yellow and white, again playing into the sunshine theme. At each place setting, there was a simple favor of sour lemon drops in a glass jar neatly tied with a ribbon as well as a card of wishes to fill out for baby.

decor

Champagne Cocktail Bar: This was probably my favorite part (even though my beverage was sans bubbly), tying into the happy hour theme. So simple to do and a an easy way to get everyone to mingle. To make your own DIY champagne bar perfect for any party, all you need are some champagne glasses + champagne/sparkling water + variety of fruit juices + fresh fruits for garnish. Tip: Print and frame recipes for fun drinks – both champagne cocktails and mocktails (non-alcoholic) for guests to try out. I personally enjoyed a mix of pomegranate juice + san pellegrino sparkling water + fresh raspberries.  There was also iced mint tea and strawberry infused lemonade to use as mixers and enjoy as well.

champsetup

champagne_bar

Food: There was a delicious assortment of items that were tapas style…from bruschetta, hummus with veggies, mushroom filled crescents to caprese and eggplant finger sandwiches. Plus a selection of salads. Dessert was a hit with a trio of mini tiramisu, tart lemon cupcakes (chocolate lover but this was my favorite) and creamy chocolate mousse tarts.

food

food2

Games: We played only two games, but it was perfect. One was the standard guess momma’s belly width game. My fellow pregnant friend won with a slight  advantage…she measured her belly and it was almost the same as mine! For the other game, the girls divided into teams of four and were given several rolls of toilet tissue. The idea was to design and wrap a diaper made out of the toilet tissue on one of the lucky girls on the team. The team who won cleverly incorporated the sunshine theme and so naturally I had to pick them!

And here are a few of my favorites pictures.  Tip: Hire or designate a few people to take pictures.  I chose to hire Southern California-based photographer Tracy Van Dam so that everyone could enjoy themselves without worrying about capturing everything. Tracy also did a maternity/family shoot with us before the sprinkle, something else I wanted to do this time since it didn’t happen the last. Thank you Tracy, you are amazing.

guests

And of course I can’t go without a few shots with my beautiful Chai Mommas Reena and Neesha (we missed you, Puja!).

chai_mommas

 

 

4 Comments

  • Meetal Desai

    Shraddha-

    Not sure why but I teared up reading this- I am still amazed by you and your journey. So happy you got the shower you deserved and cheers to both of us having second babies after a long road!

    Meetal

  • Susan

    Shraddha,

    I used to sing “You Are My Sunshine” to my boys when they were young. That was long ago since they are now 26 and 30. It still brings back lots of memories when I hear the words. God bless you and your family! I’m thrilled you finally got your shower. Miss you.

    Susan

  • Anamika

    Beautiful pictures …i wish we could have this in India as well.

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