Peddle to the Metal: {Homemade} Summer Baptism Celebration

I'm finally getting around to finalizing my post from Baby Boy's June Baptism festivities. We hosted the luncheon reception at our home and somehow managed to have it on a day with high heat and humidity, even though it was low eighties for the week leading up to it... oh well, what are you gonna do. It was an extra special day spent with loving family and friends, and we have to again thank you all for celebrating in our family's blessed day!

I tried very hard to channel my inner crafter (trust me, hidden far far away) and try to pull together so many great ideas I've found on pinterest. What a great site to make you feel like absolutely any craft or project is do-able, however there wasn't enough for me to craft all of the things I wanted.

I wanted to make sure to have special touches throughout the party so it felt like a special day and not just another backyard party we usually have. I rented table linens for tables indoors and out, and also had a handful of tents to cover the dinner tables outside.

The dessert table... my favorite part! There were amazing desserts (most homemade by myself and our wonderful family) and decor to set the theme. A rundown of the desserts...

Fondant Cake with Buttercream Frosting from Classic Cake
Chocolate covered pretzels rods using Merckens Super White Chocolate with Wilton's Blue Sprinkles (my new favorite treat to make!)
Red Velvet Cake Balls dipped in Merckens White Chocolate/blue colored (I have some trial and error to work through dipping these)
Super soft and delicious chocolate chip cookies
Cross shaped butter cookies with icing on top
Mini-cheesecakes variety platter - cinnamon, pineapple and strawberry!
Cheesecake stuffed strawberries

The Delicious Dessert Table

Fondant Cake with Buttercream Frosting from Classic Cake

Red Velvet Cakeballs with Merkin's Super White Chocolate Coating

This dessert 2-tier stand is actually part of an Easter decoration I have and was once lime green and has coordinating plates... but I needed it to be white, not green, for this party so I spray painted it using Krylon white satin spray paint to make it work for the day. Those plates are my daily dishware that happened to fit perfectly!

Unfortunately dark because of the bright window... but my homemade "desserts" dot garland banner

Although the picture is dark, the window decor was a two part process. The vertically hanging garland is Martha Stewart White Glitter Garland that I purchased from my local craft store and then cut into sections to accommodate the wide window.

The "desserts" banner was a homemade creation - here's a photo of the banner from after the party so you can see its actual color scheme. I attached it to fishing wire for a clean look and spaced each circle about 1.5" from the next.

The drink table turned into two drink tables due to excessive quantity of beverages - adult and child friendly of course! I always have homemade unsweetened iced tea on hand, spring water, and a light fan favorite summer sangria. I'm not a big fan of lots of water bottles, it seems like so many are wasted because we put them down and forget whose is where, so I opted for buying a 2.5 gallon jug of spring water and put in my drink dispenser. Now, onto the good stuff, I've made this White Lemon-Strawberry Sangria (a pinterest find!) a few times and I think it gets better each time. The directions say to let the rum & wine soaked fruit sit for a few hours, but I try to let it sit overnight for maximum infusion... and quite honestly I add an extra half to full cup of rum!

Drink Table

The banner I made turned out well I thought but I should have assembled it prior to the party starting because I could have edited the crosses so they actually looked like crosses and not random x's. Lesson learned. The banner was assembled using 1/8" white sheer ribbon tied in a knot to connect the letters together. Once we disassembled the party decor, I couldn't part with the name part of the banner so I hung it on the baby's bedroom door... corny but I like it.

Banner Turned Hallway Decor

Yet another pinterest find was the ribbon wrapped foam wreath door decor just to add a small touch. I used the tutorial found here and although I didn't find it as easy to do as the creator, I was very happy with the final result! Her tutorial didn't include how to make the pinwheel using paper but once I googled it I found a quick and easy tutorial.

Door Wreath

The food turned out delicious and thankfully was enough for everyone! Some of my favorites were of course in the appetizer selection!

Caprese Salad Skewers, pictured below, pinterest find - quick & easy!
Spinach-Phyllo roll ups
Strawberry-Spinach Salad

Nom Nom Nom

I used left over blue & white polka dotted scrap paper and decorative labels to make these food tents. Although I was picked on for labeling my food, I'm quite happy with the result. I, for one, like to know what I'm about to consume especially when it isn't so obvious as in the caprese salad skewers. Not to mention, it's my party and I'll label if I want to!

The gift/favor table was an unintended surprise. I spent a few nights making the chocolate crosses and then wrapping them for use as our favors so I wanted to make sure that our guests received one on their way out. In order for me to remember, I placed them in a footed bowl (wrapped with 1.5" blue and white polka dotted ribbon) on our entry way table, along with a framed invitation for the days' celebration, so as I walked people out I would actually remember to give them one. This then by chance also turned into the location for people to leave their generous and thoughtful gifts for the Little Man himself.