Safari themed baby shower

I have not done very much crafting lately because I did not have the energy for it and did not have any projects that I was very enthusiastic to start. After several weeks off, I had the itch to craft and I jumped at the opportunity to do the decorations for my sister-in-laws baby shower. They knew that they were having a boy and the nursery was decorated with a safari theme, so the theme for the shower was a no-brainer. I knew immediately that I wanted to make a baby shower wreath to welcome everyone upon their arrival. I purchased a wreath form and covered it in blue ballons, just like I did for my birthday ballon wreath. Once the wreath was completely covered, I wrapped it with a safari ribbon. I attached a letter "C" for the name they have chosen and placed a monkey cut out in the center. The best part about the wreath, is that they can hang it at their house to announce the arrival of their little bundle!

I also knew that I wanted to make a baby shower penant banner. I purchased a large book of animal print scrapbook papers at Michaels for 50% off, getting more than 100 sheets of paper for around $10, much cheaper than buying individual sheets of paper. I cut the penants out of coordinating colors and patterns, adding letters that I cut using my fiskars circle cutter and templates.
I happened to find a Noah's Ark die cut template pack at Dollar Store that included die cuts of a hippo, lion and giraffe. I used more of the scrapbook paper and cut out several of each animal to hang on the walls.



For the table centerpieces, I gathered all of the safari type stuffed animals in my house and paired them with safari printed bottles and children's dishes filled with M&M's. The bottles were little more than $1 apiece at WalMart. The bowls were $1 for 2 at WalMart and $1 apiece for a travel bowl with lid at Dollar Store. Again, these decorations served dual purpose, as I sent them home with the mother-to-be after the party.

Finally, I prepared a game where the guests had to match the animal with the average length of gestation and printed it in a paper with an animal print border. I found the paper at WalMart and believe that it was $3 for about 25 sheets. The game was pretty difficult, which worked well for my family because they like to cheat! Seriously, my aunts are always causing a ruckus at our family events like this because they get overly involved in the game and trying to win. Yes, we are that family! They actually egged my niece on to give Ashley a hug so that they could measure how far her arms went around to cut their string for the belly band game!
My sister in law got lots of wonderful gifts! My favorite was this handmade piggy bank that featured a dinosaur and baby's name painted on the side. It was so cute!

My proud brother showed up at the end to thank everyone and to help load up all of the goodies! I can't wait to meet their little guy!