Bring On the New: Baby Shower Jungle Style

My cousin is having her first baby next month, and of course I wanted to throw her a shower. I invited my aunt and my cousin's brother's girlfriend Dessa to help. Little did I know when I asked that Dessa happens to be a creativity diva. She was like, "What's the theme?" and I was like, "Theme? What's a theme? Don't we just put out food and bring gifts?" Oh, no no no. We need a theme. Since the invites had zebras on them, we decided to do a jungle theme. (I, being true to my cheap self, ordered these invitations from York Photo because they were on sale.)

We settled on a jungle theme. Check out the super sweet pics below:

See the savannah grass in the background? Dessa clipped some from a field near her house and mounted them in cardboard. Then she took gift bag filler and sprinkled it over the cardboard. Genius. And check out the hippo in the middle. Somehow I didn't get a close-up of it, but how adorable is that? A watermellon carved to look like a hippo with its mouth open. I never could have done it, but it sure is cute!

The elephant droppings were also all Dessa, as were the adorable and oh-so-appropriate zebra-striped chargers.

My aunt used pineapple sherbert ice cream, pineapple juice, and 7up for the punch at the "Watering Hole."

And the "Mud Pit" was my one contribution to the table. I borrowed this fondue pot from a friend at work (thanks Chelsea!), but I was a little nervous about making fondue since it was my first time. I found a simple recipe online (8 oz heavy whipping cream, 12 oz dark chocolate, whisk together on medium heat, transfer to fondue pot) and it worked like a charm. :)

Now THIS was my favorite part. We took long, skinny baguettes and made sandwiches out of them, and then we cut them and arranged them in the shape of a snake slithering over the table. Dessa used toothpicks and olives to make the eyes and cut a tomato to make the tongue. So cute!

She also drew this adorable elephant and an equally adorable lion, which I somehow did not get on camera.

And these were my two crafty endeavors for the shower. This diaper cake:

Which was actually harder than I figured it would be. I have made several, but they have all been for girls. I wasn't sure what to put on one for a boy! If you look closely, you'll see that there are a few "diapers" with patterns on them. They are actually burp rags that my mother enhanced by sewing on some jungle-y fabric. I decided that you can never have too much soap, lotion, and baby shampoo, so that's what I put in the diaper cake. The top is a bottle-brush.

And this...

Was my second attempt. I posted about making something similar for my niece last summer, and because the E was such a pain, I went to great lengths to find a different E. No bueno. I had to do the same E, and if you look closely, you'll notice the lines are not straight in some places. And if you were to flip it over, it is an absolute mess on the back. Oh well. I leave the real crafty work up to the pros, like Stacy over at Ziggy Tails, who made this for baby Eli: