The rest of the deets

So here it is. Only almost two months later. It's sans "damn pic", but I hope it's interesting enough!

These little projects took up a pretty good amount of time, but I love stuff like this. It sounds crazy, but I love pulling off things that make me surprise myself.
For favors, I wanted something simple, not baptism themed, not cheesy. My mind immediately went to food. And then I immediately remembered something I saw over on Pinterest:



via intimateweddings.com



  I thought they were adorable and would be a big hit. And it turns out, they were on both fronts. Although it comes with a printable template, I ended up making my own in Powerpoint so they fit the occasion:

The big task at hand here was the fact that I've never made anything from scratch before in my life, no joke. I decided to make a batch a week or so before as practice (and to nom), and also to see how they would hold up two days after they were baked with hopes I could bake these two nights before the actual party. The first batch was delicious, but I definitely decided to change a few things for the big day. So on the Thurs before the baptism I made all 100+ cookies and they held up perfectly, tucked away in our kitchen. The night before the party I packaged them and put the stickers on. I was pretty damn proud of my masterpiece(s). And at the party, I got so many comments. I swear that everyone referred to them as "the best cookies in the world". As I mentioned, I made well over 100 of them, and we only ended up having about 80 people. A handful of people left before they were even put out (they didn't make it out until caketime, I wish I would have remembered to ask the staff to put them out earlier). There were NONE left over, and many people asked if I had a hidden stash somewhere. The manager of the restaurant even asked if he could steal one because he overheard everyone talking about them.
I also made a cake (not from scratch - my girl Betty C did the work), but decorated it myself, along with some cupcakes. They were a hit too. Turns out a lot of people are like myself and enjoy nothing more than a box-mix cake anyway.

{Insert "damn pic" here. Imagine a baby blue sheet cake with white cross and lettering. Also imagine chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, bookended by the adorable cookie presentation in baskets. End of imagining}

Then, I whipped up some flower centerpieces. And by whipped, I mean literally an hour before the actual baptism ceremony. But the major plus was that the flowers were 100% FREE! I'm seriously lucky in that my aunt heads up the photo studio for her family's flower company, and they magically were doing a photoshoot at a home in my town only the day before, so my aunt generously offered me the leftovers after they were done. I bought some small green buckets at Target for a buck each. Voila, centerpieces!

Here are the very few pics that were taken, b/c I gave the camera to my father in law, and not only did he not know how to use it, but he somehow managed to let the full battery go dead in under 3 hours - don't even know if that's possible (it's all good, the Goose returned the favor. The ol'e throw-up-in-Poppy's-mouth trick). Oh yeah, and my parents are pretty much nowhere to be found...

Here you go...

Poppy and Aunt Jaimie, Goose's Godmother

Apparently, the Goose loves church (and looking like a pilgrim)

yes, that is me, sticking my tongue out at church. That's also Uncle Pete holding him,  Goose's Godfather. Oh and my mom is in the green, and my father's blurry face is sitting next to her.

he actually did very well. Later, he tried to jump in that tub....

Meema and Poppy.

Oh, you thought I was done with all the details? Yeah, not so much. But it's the last one. The thank you cards. I whipped them up very quick, I wanted something very simple. I used my usual 4-to-a-sheet format (same as used for the invites), except that two of the layout were the back of the card. Not fancy, but I thought pretty cute.



under that bar code says "LOVE BY MAK"


And that my friends, is the finale. It was a great day, and we're so blessed to have such caring and generous family and friends. Thanks for helping to welcome Goose into the Catholic Church!

PS, my favorite card message from the day:
"Dear Goose, Congrats on your new friendship with JC"

Awe.some