Baby Shower Madness

In case you didn't know, 2012 is the year of the baby.

I know this to be true as not one, not two, but seven women I know are having babies this summer/fall.

Seven.

And those are just the ones I'm personally invested in.

Today began the first of several baby showers happening in my life this summer!  It was in honor of my cousin, who's expecting her first little one (a girl, who's name she refuses to divulge!) this July.  We had a small gathering of some friends and family at my grandma's house, and it turned out to be a really great day.  We had loads of food (including my grandma's famous potato salad - best thing everrrr), and these fantastic cookies I found on Pintrest:

{recipe here}

They're made with Lemon cake mix in this original recipe, but because my cousin's having a baby girl, we used strawberry.  Seriously, they're mad delicious, nice and soft, and soooo easy!

Of course, I also had to go super cutesy and get some of those fun paper straws in pastel colors!!

{buy here}

And I was in charge of games, so I did the traditional "don't say baby" game, you know the one...where you give everyone a clothespin and if someone says baby you get to steal their pins.  I got tiny clothespins from WalMart and glued pretty pastel buttons on the ends, just to cute them up a bit.  It ended up being harder than I thought - I gave up my pin in the first two minutes!  For the other game, I actually stole the idea from a bridal shower idea.  It was a cupcake decorating contest!  But with a twist - each lady had to hold a stuffed animal/baby doll like you'd hold a real baby and decorate the cupcake at the same time!  It was so much fun.

{inspiration}

And I went all out for the favors and the game prizes.  I ordered food from {tastefullysimple} and some shower gel and lotions from {avon}, and I got all of the favors from {bath&bodyworks}.  They had a special on their little antibacterial lotions so that if you bought five, they were only a dollar apiece!  So I bought a bunch of different "flavors", and tied a little thank you tag on with baker's twine.

I have a TON of awesome ideas going on for next week, my sister's shower...so be prepared for another lengthy post on that :)