Roberta’s Rustic Farmers Market Baby Shower

My sister is having a baby boy in August and we hosted her shower this past weekend — it turned out beautifully! The vintage farmers market-themed party was the perfect celebration for Roberta’s little sweet pea on the way.

Usually I have no trouble figuring out a theme for parties. But this time I struggled a bit. My sis is a librarian so a book theme seemed like the obvious choice, but we’d already used this theme for her wedding shower and gender reveal. We needed a fresh idea. My older sister and I put our heads together and inspiration struck…a farmers market theme!

Considering that Roberta used to hate all vegetables, this theme might seem a bit strange for her baby shower. But really it makes lots of sense. You see, our dad is a farmer and my sister’s father-in-law has a stand at the very popular local farmers market. So this theme actually has personal meaning! Sweet idea, right?

Since my dad is a farmer who never throws away anything (ANYTHING), it was also really easy to find vintage decorations. My eccentric father has an endless supply of baskets, bushels, cans and jars. He even had old plaid flannel shirts (a farmer’s wardrobe staple) that we ripped up to make into fabric strip garland. For once I was thankful to have a hoarder in the family.

My older sister and I pinned a bunch of ideas, rooted through my dad’s stash of junk, and somehow pulled together a pretty awesome shower with two babies and an obnoxious toddler wreaking havoc. (Thank goodness our mom is always there to help!)

Take a look at our adorable celebration for Roberta and Baby B:

I designed the invitation with hand-drawn colored pencil sketches of fruits and vegetables. Yes, it was time consuming. But I think the finished invitation was well worth the effort! The Jersey Fresh sticker on the cut-out peach tag was an ode to my future nephew’s New Jersey roots.

The decorations included:

• Lots of fresh produce in baskets and bushels
• Antique watering cans
• Wild flowers (Okay, so maybe they were actually weeds. But they still looked great!)
• Rustic terra cotta pots
• Flannel shirt fabric strip garland
• Vintage-style seed packet signs and banners
• Old tin cans
• Jars of canned veggies and fruit
• Baby boy overalls
• Chalkboard “Market is Open” sign
• “Baby Barber’s Market, Est. 2015” wood sign
• Potted flowers
• Little child-size wheel barrow to display the favors
• Wooden pig-shaped cutting boards
• Muffins served in egg cartons

Since this was a baby shower and not a garden party, we used a lot of phrases that referenced babies — for example, “A-maize-ing baby boy!” and “Something wonderful is hatching!” We also displayed baby items like pacifiers, diapers and baby food jars in the classic berry produce pint baskets. And we used some baby toys for decorations, including a stuffed horse, fuzzy chicks, and toy tractor.

The favors were bags of Goldfish crackers and Kix cereal, wrapped up to look like carrots and corn. I used the colored pencil artwork from the invitations for the favor tags, designed to look like vintage seed packets. It was the perfect take-home treat for the theme!

The menu included BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, pasta salad, bean salad, classic layered salad, corn muffins, fresh strawberries with ice cream, cracker toffee, and other nibbles. And of course we had veggies! Along with hummus and dip served in little terra cotta pots.

The best part about having a farmers market theme? You can eat the fresh produce decorations afterwards! I’m still snacking on the sugar snap peas.

How cute are my mom and sisters?? Love them!