Tuesday, June 4, 2013

a case for co-ed

Two very good friends of Sean's and mine are expecting their first in a little over a month. They're having a boy, like we are, which means they will obviously be best friends. Parents get to plan those things right?... Well something we can and did plan this past weekend was a co-ed baby shower for them. I'm not quite sure what gave me the idea to make it co-ed, but you know what happens when you bring boys to a shower? It just turns into a party. Which...I'm all for actually.

Our apartment is teeny tiny, so Sean and I agreed that this would best be made a pool party. As a pregnant myself, I know I appreciate a good buoyancy sesh. We had good peeps, good food, and good drink, so the lack of shower games was not missed (by me, anyway, and definitely not by any men), and I'm hoping no one minded the very casual nature of it all.

I got carried away in decorating and theming, as I am wont to do





BUT I forgot to take a pic of the lemonade stand, which I'm super bummed about. I went a little Crazy Martha on it and it really made me step back and consider: am I this much of a Type A? In any case, I'm going to give you the homemade lemonade recipe because, first of all it was ridiculously easy, and second of all it was ridiculously delicious. But wait for it, I have a couple more pics.

All the babes were invited. Hey if the boys get to come, the babies get to come. It's only fair. Jordan had an absolute ball being surrounded by her second cousins (my cousin's kids, that is. He has a 2 1/2 year old and 1 year old twins! the crazy life.)


Mine's in the watermelon suit with the chlorine saturated diaper. And would you look at those tight curls on the twins on the left? You pull them out and they spring back and I squeal with delight. On repeat. These four girls. I can't get over how excited I am that they get to grow up together. Besties.

Jordan doesn't have much respect for other people's space. Bubble invader.
*mental note: BUY swim diapers. Poor girl must've been walking around with 7 extra pounds of literal water weight.

I think it was a success. Sean bbq'd but was still a part of the party since our balcony overlooks the pool. We had a cooler full of cold ones for the boys, sangria and wine for the non-pregs, a lemonade stand and Italian soda for the pregs and under-agers, and good talks and laughter all around. It honestly didn't feel so much shower-y as summer bbq-y, but I don't think anyone minded.

So now I'll impart this lemonade recipe that seemed to be a smash. At least, there wasn't any left. I made the simple syrup the morning of, because it needs time to cool in the fridge. This is a step that could easily be done the night before you're serving. Be forewarned....there's a lot of sugar. I bet you could sub out some for like agave or honey, but I wasn't going to mess with 1,336 five-star reviews on my maiden voyage of making it. 
  •  8 cups water
  • 1 3/4 cups white sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups lemon juice (I feel strongly about fresh squeezed. It realllllly kicks it up a notch. And maybe counterbalances the preposterous amount of sugar with all it's Vitamin A, B, C, E....W, X, Y what have you)

Just boil one cup of the water with the sugar to produce the simple syrup. Let it cool to room temp before putting it in the fridge to chill. When it's chilled, mix everything together. Seriously that easy. Serves 20.

I sliced up a few more lemons to float on top for aesthetics. Because I'm nuts. Then I set out a shallow dish of honey and another shallow dish of sugar so that people could do their own sugar rims. Then I put out Torani syrups in strawberry and raspberry flavors so that you could spike as you choose. Fresh strawberries and raspberries were out for garnish and why oh WHY didn't I take a picture of all this? 

***

The moral of this post is if you're looking for a more casual shower, or perhaps if the mom-to-be is not big on being the center of attention (which my friend is not), bring in the men. My brother was all semi-insulted that I was inviting him to a baby shower *gasp!* but he ended up staying latest. In fact don't even tell the guys it's a shower, because really it's just a party. A kick-back, one might say. With a pregnant lady or ladies.  Ain't no party like a pregnant tea party. (That's a Flight of the Conchords reference and if you got that then I love you, let's marry.)

4 comments:

  1. That´s my kind of baby shower!! I´m not that much into the only girls and a thousand games kind of shower.

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  2. I'm with you - I don't like going to baby showers so I think the men should have to go too. ;) Your party is just confirming that for me.

    The photos you did take of your decorations were so cute! But, hey, at least you got photos of Jordan's giant, expanded diaper. That counts for something! :)

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  3. Having given us a 'Jack & Jill' wedding shower my mother-in-law gave us a co-ed baby shower when we expecting our first ~ I loved hearing my uncle say "I've never been to a baby shower, what is the protocol?" I told him to eat while I opened presents, he had a blast!

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  4. you are quickly becoming queen of the baby showers. so cute. again!

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