PREGNANCY FILE: CIRCUS THEMED BABY SHOWER

When I first sat down to write this post, we hadn't had our baby girl yet! We are happy to announce that Harper O was born on July 15th. Before her birth, we had no idea what her gender would be.  We were actually able to keep the surprise until the day-of! 

When it came time to select a baby shower theme, there were a few gender-neutral ideas I tossed around: night/stars, animals/zoo/jungle, and circus.  I ended up going with the circus themed baby shower - so happy I did!  With the help of Pinterest and Google, and a lot of early mornings, I planned what ended up being a really perfect day.  My best friend pitched in and came through with the Nostalgia Popcorn Machine which was the ultimate finishing touch. This took a lot of work, and a lot of help from family and friends. We are so thankful to my Dad and our parents and loved ones.

Read below for circus themed baby shower inspo and a breakdown of how we made it all happen.

Circus Themed Baby Shower: Cake by Paola's Creations + Candy Station by Judy of D'vine Creations

I wore a dress by Black Halo for my baby shower

Setup:

We chose the Biltmore Hotel for our circus themed baby shower venue.  The Biltmore Hotel is a historic, classic hotel in Miami. While it's gorgeous, the ballroom spaces tend to be a bit muted in color (think lots of toned down beige and taupe shades).  To help the room pop, I selected gold chiavari chairs with red accent cushions and white table linens. The red cushions added to the circus fun.  For table numbers, we purchased gold glitter frames at Party City and I printed the table numbers out myself, in a fun font from Adobe Photoshop using glossy photo paper. We added brightly colored balloons I got on Amazon for the final pop of color.

Candy Station: 

I had done a candy station at a party in the past, but this one seemed so much more fun. The circus theme lent itself to lots of bright, primary colors so choosing the candy was easy - as long as it was colorful, it was a 'go!'  I also wanted to incorporate some old-school circus elements into this table so we chose traditional animal cracker boxes and cracker jack boxes to add to this specific setup. My favorite candy was the Whirly Pops. I kept them in their original display box for a more nostalgic feel. I purchased them from a website called Old Time Candy (warning: they were expensive).  For the candy station table, we just used white linens and added red and white table skirts and fun banners/flags from Amazon.  Candy station scoops were from Party City and the candy station bags were from Oriental Trading and Amazon. I used these red and white striped candy bags and these clear cellphone bags with yellow stars on them.

Cake:
We sampled many cakes but ultimately opted to go with a lesser known company I found on Instagram: Paola's Creations, based in Miami, FL.  I opted to go with her after seeing the pictures she posted of her cakes / cookies and found she was really detail oriented and her designs were always clean. She created a cake from an image I gave her, down to every last detail. The cake was a guava/ dulce de leche mix. It was awesome.

Circus Themed Baby Shower Cake (iPhone snap)

Cookies: 
I loved the cookies! For the circus themed cookies, we chose a circus tent, a popcorn bucket, a lion, an 'admit 1' ticket stub and our hashtag which was #babyTVG. Paola's Creations knocked it out of the park with these as well.

Florals: 
I wanted organic, greens and whites as my florals. I had chosen Dhalia's as my favorite flower for the arrangements and was disappointed they were not available for use.  I actually did not want too much pink in the arrangements and was surprised to see lots of pink the day of the shower! It did not matter - they were beautiful anyway and actually predictive of the baby's gender. Florals were by Judy from D'Vine Creations.  Judy also helped a great deal with the candy station set up and tray rentals.  Although she took creative liberty with florals I really recommend her. She took the time to jump on a call with me as we brainstormed together. Communication was really great with her as we e-mailed/texted frequently. I sent her these photos as the inspo photos I had found for the flowers.

Baby Shower Florals (iPhone snap).

Popcorn Hydrangea Florals: This idea, like most, originated from Pinterest. I loved how cute the white hydrangeas looked nestled in the red and white popcorn container 'vases.' I purchased the movie / circus themed popcorn containers from Amazon. For some of these arrangements, we placed a Whirly Pop in the center. Judy took care of these, as well.

Popcorn Station:

This was a really fun element to add and fit perfectly with the circus baby shower theme. The brand Nostalgia makes an old style popcorn maker. We used that, added some popcorn boxes, used some bags from the candy station and were set.

Gift Table: On a last minute Target run, I picked up a reasonably priced letter board and added our shower hashtag: #BabyTVG.

Photo Booth and Cotton Candy Station: this was probably the biggest hit from the shower. The Frank Booth Co provided a glittery and bright photo backdrop, and photo booth props. I also got my own props, from, you guessed it Amazon. Guests could text/email photos directly to themselves and I received all photos, printed, to add to a photo album.  Tropical Fluff, jointly owned by the photo booth co, provided a cotton candy station that was a hit with all attendees.  Opting for these two packages was admittedly, a pricey move, but added so much fun to the event and helped memorialize a great day.

I hope you enjoyed this rundown of my circus themed baby shower and that you found it helpful.

All photos by Zeinab Kristen of ZK Visuals unless specifically indicated. 

Credits//
Venue: The Biltmore Hotel
Photographer: Zeinab Kristen of ZK Visuals
Photo Booth: The Frank Booth Co
Cotton Candy Station: Tropical Fluff
Florals and Candy Station: D'Vine Creations
Cake (dulce de leche and guava) and cookies by Paola's Creations