complete with personalized tags

Last Sunday, we hosted a baby shower for our dear friends Megumi and John, who are expecting a baby girl around Christmas next month! It was my first time planning and preparing a shower, but it was a lot of fun to put together! (I did realize how much work goes into them, though, and awakened within me a deeper appreciation for all the effort friends have put into the brial shower and baby showers they threw for me in the past.) I’m glad that we had this opportunity to gather together as friends to celebrate this new life and welcome Megumi and John’s beautiful baby girl into our lives!

Setting up for the baby shower!
Setting up for the baby shower!

 

Megumi is a big fan of Studio Ghibli films, especially Totoro, so I created a Totoro-themed calendar for the guests to guess when the baby would arrive.

Guess when the baby will arrive!
Guess when the baby will arrive!

 

little umbrella favors
Little umbrella favors for the guests to take home.

 

baby shower favors
...complete with personalized tags.

 

And what is a shower without some delicious food? As baking is more of my forte than cooking, I made the desserts — cupcakes and sugar cookies!

chrysanthemum cupcakes
Chrysanthemum cupcakes. The cream cheese frosting was a little runny, so it looks a little like the mum petals are melting.

 

This was my first time making sugar cookies with royal icing, but they turned out decent, thanks to some awesome tips from my dear friend and sugar cookie guru, Miss Megumi Kaminaga (different Megumi from the one we hosted this shower for). Thank you Mamagumi, and hope I’ve made you proud!

sugar cookies with royal icing
My first time making sugar cookies with royal icing.

 

Totoro, onesie, and baby carriage cookies
Totoro, onesie, and baby carriage cookies

 

For the main course, we had a Korean platter, with bulgogi, japchae, and dumplings. Thank you for cooking everything, Kayo!

bulgogi

japchae

 

And a special thanks goes to Ann Helen for the delicious salad (not pictured) and the veggies, hummus, and  homemade guacamole!

colorful peppers

Mio with Mama
Mio took everything in as her Mama ran around preparing and setting up.

 

We also planned some fun games to play during the baby shower. The first was the Dirty Diaper game, in which we melted chocolates within these “diapers” and the guests had to guess what type of chocolate each diaper contained. (i.e. Butterfinger, Crunch, Mr. Goodbar, etc…)

Preparing the Dirty Diaper Game

John and Megumi examining the diapers
The guests of honor, John and Megumi

 

Ann Helen and Aika take their guesses
Ann Helen and Aika take their guesses

 

"What could it be...?"

Mio watches as everyone plays the game.
A curious Mio watched as everyone played the game.

 

Aika and Easton
Aika and her adorable 5-month old son, Easton.

 

He got all of them right!
John got all of them right and was the winner!

 

The next game was the baby food guessing game. I soaked the labels off of baby food jars and the guests had to pass them around and guess what type of food each jar contained, from smell and (if they were brave enough) taste.

Sisters Kaz and Kayo

Sharing a laugh.

Playing the baby food guessing game.

 

The last game we played was the classic “Guess the Mommy’s Belly Size” game, where we measured out tape to however length it was around Megumi’s baby bump.

Measuring out the tape.
John with the daunting task of taking the first guess.

 

She looks great!
Megumi still looks so petite for 8 months! She looks great!

 

Ann Helen takes her guess.

She's so small!
Kayo measuring out Megumi's belly to get the actual measurement.

 

Kaz was the winner!
A few people came pretty close, but Kaz was the winner!

 

After the games, we went onto an activity of decorating onesies for Megumi and John’s baby! I’d seen variations of this where people used fabric paint, but I thought it would be a lot less messy and perhaps look nicer if we cut out fabric and attached them to the onesies with iron-on adhesive and peel-n-stick adhesive. Even the guys got into it and created some great custom clothing for baby!

Even Dan made one!
Dan exercising his creativity.

 

Decorating onesies!
Daddy-to-be John worked on making one, too!

 

Everyone hard at work.
Everyone hard at work.

 

Ironing on the letters
Ironing on the letters.

 

The results were spectacular! Look at how cute everyone’s onesies turned out! I was so impressed! 😀

The onesies on display.

They turned out so cute!

Kaz's and my creation.

Loved them!

We had John and Megumi each pick their favorite designs out of all the great onesies everyone created. It was not an easy decision!

Having a hard time choosing...
Having a hard time choosing...

 

Kai and Koreana won John's choice!
John chose Kai and Koreana's collaborative onesie creation.

 

The winner: Ann Helen!
Megumi picked Ann Helen's lovely design!

 

Finally, it was time to open presents! There were such cute goodies for their baby girl…

Cute gifts for the baby

Adorable clothes for the baby girl!

An adorable polka dot sleeper.

They were so cute!!!
Aika crocheted this adorable hat and mitten set for the baby!

 

Special thanks go Kayo, who cooked for the shower and MC-ed the games! I couldn’t have done it all without all the help from her, Kaz, and Ann Helen.

I love this picture of them!

John and Megumi holding Mio
John and Megumi getting some practice entertaining a baby... and Mio just enjoying all the attention.

 

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to the baby shower — I think it was a great success! 🙂 Congratulations to Megumi and John — we can’t wait to meet your sweet baby girl!

Congratulations Megumi & John!