March 4, 2015

Walker’s Baptism and Dedication

By Sweet Georgia Sweet

Walker’s Baptism and Dedication. Bethany from Sweet Georgia Sweet is one of the kindest, most sweet, and loving people I have ever “met”, plus, she is crazy talented! And, while we have never officially met in person, I can tell you I am thankful to call her a friend! Her little family has recently grown to include an adorable little brother for Walker, and I may have cried some when I found out about little Oliver. Walker’s baptism and dedication was an adorable party fit for any age or celebration!

From Bethany:

My husband and I adopted our son, Walker, when he was 5, so we were a little bit behind on some of the normal “baby” religious traditions and celebrations. However, it was important to us to have a “baby” dedication celebration for him.

I knew that I wanted to use a navy & aqua color scheme, and I let Walker’s favorite animal be the jumping point for the elephant theme. He was a very active part of the party planning & prepping, & he had a blast!

DESSERTS & DRINKS We served Walker’s favorite vanilla cake, cookies, chocolate-covered Oreos, push-up pops, & white chocolate dipped marshmallows. To balance out all the sugar, we also served pretzels & popcorn. Nicole of Crumbles by Nicole made the cookies to match our invitation perfectly; she even perfectly matched the font on the invitation! Maria of Love & Sugar Kisses also matched the invitation and made the preppiest, little fondant-covered Oreos with elephants, stripes, & Walker’s monogram.

My sister & I made the push-up pops using simple, no hassle ingredients. We put our favorite store bought sugar cookie dough into mini muffin pans, & baked until done. Once cooled, we layered the cookies with piped, store bought vanilla icing. The kids & adults alike loved them!

For drinks, we kept it simple by serving milk and water. We used milk bottles which I tied with navy blue & white twine. We also had aqua blue Mason glass jars, which I wrapped in navy and white striped and polka dot ribbon.

INVITATION I wanted to create the feel of love and family, and since I was unable to find an invitation for an older child’s “baby” dedication, I ended up creating the invitation myself. I used a mixture of stripes and polka dots in the navy blue and aqua color scheme, and being the Southern belle that I am, I simply had to include his monogram. However, the focal point of the invitation was a sweet, little elephant family graphic; Mommy, Daddy, & Baby – all holding each other’s tails & walking together. It was precious. It was us!

DECOR I decided to go with lots of bold, navy and white stripes, and sprinkle in a few polka dots here and there. Jaclyn of Peckled created the most beautiful paper pinwheels which I used to pop against the ribbon garland on the dessert table. I created a set of topiaries & ribbon garland to match the preppy, party vibe. I also designed a new kind of hand-tied garland which I used on the dessert table’s backdrop. The backdrop also featured a custom name banner made with love and glitter by The Purple Pug.

For the drink station, we used monogrammed medallions designed by Kristin of Stampin’ Fanatic; she was even able to match the font from the monogram on the invitation. The drink station also featured a custom, hand-glittered elephant family banner from The Purple Pug. I also chose to use an inexpensive thick, white frame to display the party invitation; making it a party of the party decor really helped bring it all together.

Inspired by our glittery banners from The Purple Pug, Walker & I also decided to add just a touch more glitter to the party. Using Modge Podge & glitter, we glittered the tips of the wooden party forks & a large “W” which we used at the drink station.

We also wanted to tie in a little bit of something meaningful into the decor, so we borrowed an antique blue Mason jar from my mother-in-law to display fresh hydrangeas.

When everything was all decorated for the party, I brought Walker into the room to have a look. He covered his mouth with both little hands and just stood there looking all around before exclaiming, “Mommy, it’s beautiful. I love it!”