modern mama (and papa) parties

i thoroughly enjoyed reading about a contemporary & unique baby shower, which surpassed all the norms, put on by the (ever innovative & imaginative) beauties over at Blueprint magazine. although the mothers-to-be were indeed having baby girls, the hostesses opted out of the girlish pink overload and settled with pretty pops of playful color for this party. i love the childlike yet sophisticated mobiles which hung above the tables. the Asian cuisine is also an unusual & refreshing choice. and what guest of honor wouldn't want to celebrate with the papa of her wee one?!

i love a boy/girl party. it adds a whole new dynamic which makes it all the more fun. plus, the boys always seem to appreciate the plethora of goodies and have no qualms about enjoying seconds. thus, taking care of the problem of way too many chocolate-dipped strawberry leftovers. women eat like birds, especially in public. and hostesses over-prepare, especially for parties. the co-ed party should become more popular. or perhaps just move the boys in afterwards for a clean-up / eat-up fiesta. they're not going to care if the sprigs of mint have wilted in the teacups or if the dollops of whipped cream have melted onto the doilies. they won't even care if you've already thrown your comfy pants on and adopted the high ponytail and are rinsing the china while blasting your ipod. they will most likely tell you that you look beautiful, even more beautiful than when you had your new jcrew outfit on. they always seem to like us looking disheveled, or in my eyes, disgusting. yet, it's adorable that they say the sweetest things in all the most random moments. i love them for that.

my favorite idea of all, for a special gift, is the personalized baby book. if only i had thought of it!! it's cute yet practical, personal and sentimental all at once. especially if the mama-to-be is a close friend or relative, it would be relatively simple to compile photos from your iphoto, flickr or other photo whereabouts and create a handmade book perfect for first impressions & introductions to the baby's new world. if peeling off photo corners just isn't your thing, the web has a wide selection of options, shutterfly & iphoto both offer lickity split versions of personal photo album books which turn out delightful & professional.

a must-see:
speaking of baby photos, these are some of the sweetest i've come across, with such a gorgeous blog (called big and little) to go along. i love hearing the words from this lovely mama. not to mention the bliss of viewing life from her lens. yet another reason i love la blogging. {pete, you're right. girls just love itty bitty baby faces. it's in our dna.} i don't even know this family, but just look at that face!