As first time parents to-be, I am sure Mike and I [but likely more I than Mike] will be eager to celebrate all our firsts, big or small, as we grow into our new family.  We’ve celebrated the gender reveal [which in theory sounded cheesy but in reality was quite anxiety ridden and thrilling] and as mentioned in my last post, we are throwing a baby shower – traditionally an event thrown by a loved one and attended by females.  However, as usual, Mike and I have strayed from the the traditional and have decided to host our own shower, but more so a celebration honouring Baby Boy K and our upcoming roles as parents inviting both the guys and gals in our lives.

With this bun cooking in the oven, I am trying to stay busy as I have cut back on my weekly workouts.  At the moment, I’ve forgone my cardio classes partially because I am trying to avoid using my puffer [for my sport’s induced asthma] and largely because walking up stairs or to the elevator is cardio enough.  So, in the meantime, I have been dreaming up more DIYs to incorporate into the baby shower.

I’m a little late to the washi tape game but since I was forced to purchase a set of 7 rolls for the 1 in the pack that I actually wanted, I decided that I may as well use the tape where I could.   Here’s a quick post and preview to a few fun and easy shower DIYs I’ve made up using my new collection of  washi tape.

E N V E L O P E S

As seen in my previous post, my original motivation for purchasing the washi tape was to add more colour and interest to my plain white shower invite envelopes.  This was my first dip into the washi pool.

C U T L E R Y  R O L L  U P S

Not knowing how to best put out cutlery for the event, I landed on the idea of rollups killing 2 birds [cutlery + napkins] with 1 neat bundle while taking me back to my days as a server.

In case you’ve never had the pleasure of being a server in a former life, here’s a tutorial…

[1] Lay out the cutlery stack diagonally on the napkin and fold up the bottom corner about 1″ along the cutlery stems.

[2] Fold the right side of the napkin over to the left side along the edge of the cutlery stack.

[3] Proceed to roll the cutlery stack along the left side of the remaining napkin triangle.

[4] Hold the roll together with a piece of washi tape.  If you are finding that the tape isn’t strong enough and the roll begins to open, before wrapping the tape end flat along the napkin roll, kiss together the 2 sticky sides [the starting end + the finishing end] of the tape.  Trim down 1 end ensuring that it is shorter or ensure that the longer end’s sticky side is exposed.  Then proceed to wrap the washi tape back on its course finishing the wrap.

**30 pack Varkul 3ply -13×13″ paper napkins from Ikea
**Silver plastic cutlery set from Costco

C H O P S T I C K S

Spoiler alert, there may be some Japanese on the menu and if turns out that there isn’t then I guess I will have a lot of cute disposable chopsticks to go through.  Because I can’t leave things as they are, I had to take these chopsticks out of their paper wrappers.  With wrapping paper scraps saved form the shower invitation envelope liners I created in previous DIY and some washi tape, I was able to tie these chopsticks into the colour theme transforming plain bamboo into something a little more cheerful.

D E S S E R T S

Though I’m not yet decided on which desserts on our dessert table will and will not be be sticked, I do know that now 2 will have to be.  To add a little extra extra to plain white dessert sticks, I simply wrapped the ends of each with washi tape; easy + simple+ fast!

I know, these ideas are not completely earth shattering.  However, I still wanted to share these little DIY nuggets as I now am a believer in a little washi goes a long way; or more accurately in my case,  7 rolls of washi helps 1 prego stay busy while avoiding cardio.  Stay tuned to see how it all comes together on baby shower day or if only to see which sweets get sticked!