GC Styles a Garden-Inspired Baby Shower
Baby showers, like weddings, offer endless opportunities for creativity. With the holiday season fast approaching, the GC Team had the opportunity to style a baby shower for a couple from Paris and Alaska, respectively– that we quickly realized could function as the ideal model for any get-together between family and friends. Baby showers are often associated with Pink and Blue– “but what about a Green Baby Shower?” we thought, “Something gender-neutral, healthy, beautiful, and bright?”
We decided to take a garden-focused approach to the party, and this is how we chose to style it: for real people– not a fake set in a studio– with beautiful food, beautiful decor, and beautiful company. GC aims to bring the garden into peoples’ lives, so now we’re bringing it into your kitchen and home. Next week as a November exclusive we’ll be rolling out signature recipes, resources, and design inspiration based on what we chose to do for our green GC Baby Shower. In the meantime, we’ve shared a few details from the party, which comes to life in the images below.
Food Inspiration
A floral cake is a beautiful way to add soft elegance to any gathering, so we chose a beautiful one from Madison Lee’s Cakes— an organic Manhattan-based cake maker known for her gorgeous, bespoke designs and notable emphasis on local ingredients.
Vegetables, of course, tend to take center stage at any GC gathering, and Shanti Shack‘s colorful roasted carrots and outrageously delicious beet hummus– equal parts local, fresh, and colorful– made a beautiful edition to the table. Procuring fresh, local ingredients (which can of course be sourced from your own garden and roasted) adds color and intrigue to any table. (Shanti Shack is a neighborhood staple in Williamsburg, and we love that we could incorporate food from small businesses who believe in the nourishing powers of “Farm-to-Dirt” as much as we do.)
We also included homemade vegan cheeses from Dr. Cow, whose delicious blends are made from organic, raw macadamia nuts and cashews and made right here in New York. This is not your grandmother’s vegan cheese: with more and more people turning away from dairy these days, the alternatives have gotten better and better– to such an extent that even the milk-drinkers among us were raving about the Aged Cashew and Hemp Seed blend.
We made home-made dipped apples and sandwich wraps with fresh greens, which we sheathed in pretty tissue paper cinched with twine to add a nice European flair. Where possible, we also included bees-wrap paper, which is an awesome way to wrap a sandwich without plastic (we spotlighted it as a favorite in our GC Back-to-School Essentials list).
Beverage Inspiration
Green Juice is having a renaissance at the moment, as it is both nourishing and easy to make. We thought it would but cute to incorporate “mini” green juices in two flavors– a robust green for the adults, and a sweeter “kale lemonade” from Summers Brooklyn, which is ideal for Lil’ Sprouts and picky eaters.
The parents-to-be at our baby shower were from Alaska and France, respectively, so we styled some alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to reflect that. Stay tuned for our custom recipes for “Alaskan Glacier”, “Little French Girl”, and “Penguins On An Iceberg”, coming soon. Where possible, it’s best to offer drinks in glass canisters (check out our forthcoming drink gallery) to avoid using more plastic.
We also added two garden-inspired drink themes that doubled as decor: a lovely blackberry and sage water (made by simply adding herbs and berries to a glass bottle of water) and a personalized GC Herb Wall, which consisted of fresh herbs hanging from a string that guests were invited to harvest for their drinks. (We’ll be posting a DIY on how to create the herb wall in the coming days).
All of our beverage containers were glass, and any paper goods (from cups and plates to napkins and straws) were made from compostable and/or recyclable materials so as to be green down to the last detail.
Gift Guide– For Mom, Baby, and Host
We’ve assembled an adorable gift guide for mom and baby alike, but we also took the time to curate a GC Baby Shower gift bag for guests of the party, which can be used as inspiration for party favors or host gifts. From rose sachets to beautiful chili infused olive-oil, there are many ways to incorporate garden elements into functional gifts– although we can’t blame you if you end up sticking to flowers.
For mom and baby, we’ve spotlighted some of our favorite companies: Oeuf, The Honest Company, Petit Bateau, flora and henri, Bonpoint, and many more adorable purveyors that we hope will be useful to anyone in search of elegant, original gifts for newborns.
Decor
In addition to flowers, we chose to work with beautiful, nature-sourced materials that we’ve compiled into one handy design guide. From wood cutting boards to pine cones and several artichokes and herbs in between, we feel that plants evoke a sense of well being and comfort when paired with beautiful food and rustic interior design elements. We used birch-patterned paper straws, burlap table runners, slate cheese boards, pomegranates and oranges that functioned as decor, and more.
Flowers
It goes without saying: flowers are must at any GC gathering. But a baby shower– especially a green one– is a great place to put the metaphors of the garden into practice. We are growing new life, and we want to nurture it, after all. The GC Team incorporated flowers from Rosehip, who we love for their organic feel. The bouquet was an evocative white color, which is a gender-neutral symbol of purity and love– a beautiful message for parents-to-be to send to their friends and family.
