Eleanor's Baptism Party--the deets

Following church on Sunday, we hosted a gathering for all of our family and friends.  I spent all day Saturday prepping for the party.  My dear friend Whitney came over to help craft all the decorations and that evening Alex's sisters helped me prepare the food.  On Sunday morning I woke early to finalize all preparations before church.

Alex headed out Saturday night on what we are referring to as a "Black Ops Mission" to gather pink cherry blossoms for the flower arrangements.  I have two very old, antique blue mason jars that we placed the blooms in, as well as other mason jars and vases throughout the house.

Whitney helped me craft the banners and wreath for the party.  The one above the table are paper doilies sewed onto yellow and gold ribbons.

We also used burlap, cut into pendants and hot-glued onto yarn for the table.

We repeated the burlap and doily theme throughout the party.

Whitney skillfully crafted this burlap wreath using antique doilies to accent.

While I worked on staining paper doilies with tea and stringing together Eleanor's banner.

The tea-staining was Alex's idea and turned out beautifully!

I used real and paper doilies on the table to show off the food as well as label all the different dishes.

Pretzel bites with Wasabi mustard.

Mock tofu salad in fillo shells.

PB&J "sushi" rolls

Spring rolls with Trader Joe's Spicy Peanut Viniagrette.

Fruit, yogurt and granola parfaits.

We had lots of other wonderful dishes that my friends and family contributed including veggie trays with vegan spinach dip, fruit salad and yogurt dip, pies and carrot cake, chips and Tzatziki sauce and more.  

For dessert I enlisted the help of Whitney once again.

Delicious white cupcakes with lemon frosting.

And these beautifully decorated sugar cookies:

The sugar cookies were placed on the "Blessings" table where guests were encouraged to leave a note or scripture verse on a tag for Eleanor.

The tags were then pinned on the "Blessings Board" decorated with burlap and doilies of course. 

My goal is to compile these tags into a memory book with the photos of this very special day.

Lastly, I put out a jar of Hershey's Kisses labeled "Kisses from Eleanor" to thank everyone for coming to the party and sharing in this special day!

The entire party was shabby and chic.  We lucked out with gorgeous weather: sixty degrees and sunny which allowed us to utilize the backyard and deck for seating.  It was such a blessing with over thirty guests in our quaint house.  We had the blinds open and the sun streaming in which added to the beauty of the party.  It was easy to feel the love and joy on such a wonderful day, surrounded by so many friends and family!