And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. -Luke 2:40
“Let’s have the baptism celebration at our new house!” Sounds fabulous, but in actuality, this may have been my worst nightmare. That’s the last brilliant idea my husband, Garin, decided to throw my way just a few months back.
We made the decision to move from our first home into our dream home back in August of last year. The process was so fast! We walked through the house, put an offer in 2 days later, got our current home on the market AND sold it in less than 24 hours. All while we were on vacation, mind you. Talk about idyllic! We were thrilled, and truly felt like this next step was meant for us. The next few weeks were nuts. I had a 2 month old at home, and I had never really moved from a house before, only apartments and dorms. It was SO much more than I had anticipated, all while trying to figure out this new mom thing and stopping to nurse every 2 hours-complete mayhem! Now, I look back and just laugh. “What I was thinking?” Nonetheless, we figured it out and closed on both homes September 30th.
I just remember surfing Pinterest the weeks leading up to the move. I had ALL these great ideas of how I would decorate, and what new things I would buy. Now, let’s backtrack and remember where this story began. Oh yea, my husband wanting to have Griffin’s baptism luncheon at our house. With 50+ people. 3 weeks after we moved in. All while he’s traveling for work………..let that settle in a bit. Exactly.
Needless to say, my ideas and decorating tactics had to be switched into overdrive, fast and furious style. THANK GOODNESS for my amazing family, who was here almost every day either watching Griffin so I could unpack, unpacking for me, hanging things on the wall or simply trying to keep me sane. I’m not sure how I would have done it without them. Being apart of a large family definitely has its perks! Everyday was like a marathon. I woke up early and worked until late. I like to think this was a big reason I was able to drop my dreaded/not talked about baby weight so fast. I’ll have to remember that for next time-ha!
Everyone kept telling me that it would all work out, and that people were going to understand that we had just moved in. But if you know me, you know that I don’t half ass ANYTHING. There was no way I was going to have people see my new house in shambles. I wanted to be proud of it! Do you blame me?? My religion and faith are extremely important to me. And a baptism is no little matter. I wanted it to be the best day for him, celebrating the acceptance into the church and being with the people we love. I was bound and determined it would be just that. And this is where I’ll share how we were able to host a beautiful day from our home, on a smaller budget AND timeframe.
I decided that cooking for that many people was out of the question. We called just about every restaurant and catering company in town to get pricing for a luncheon. Since it was end of October, I thought something like a soup and salad, or sandwich with a couple sides would be perfect. Geez louise, every place wanted like $12-$18 a person for a meal like that. Then one day after talking to Lauren about my predicament, she had remembered that one of her wedding showers was catered by TransVac. Yes, the transportation company. Well actually, this aspect of the business is the Voluntary Action Center. Who would have thought??? They were exactly what we were looking for. We served soup, a variety of sandwiches, a salad and fruit for $8 a person. It ended up being more than enough food, with plenty left over. They even provided all the dinnerware, including plates and napkins that were color coordinated to my theme; as well as all the serving ware and drinks! It was great! I would highly recommend them to anyone, and might just use them again sometime.
The dessert was probably the biggest expense. I LOVE sweets, so price just couldn’t be unjustified here. There’s this bakery in DeKalb called Sweet Dreams that we venture to often for celebrations and birthdays, including our own wedding cake. We’ve known the family for some time, and the cakes are to die for! We did a 2 tier cake featuring french vanilla and carrot cake-they were both a huge hit. And if the cake wasn’t enough, I ordered cute chocolate suckers from our local Confectionary to have at each of the place settings. They had a blue sugar cross in the center-they too were top-notch.
Last, but not least, the decorations. There’s really no way to theme a baptism, so I decided to make it very organic and neutral, going off the fall theme, since it was October. I went to Michael’s a month before when everything was 50% off and scored these beautiful white, gold and green pumpkins and gourds. I went to our local florist, Kar-Free Flowers in Sycamore, and ordered bunches of seeded eucalyptus to accompany the pumpkins down the center of the table. I found a pack of 20 glass tea lights at Hobby Lobby for $8 that I also arranged throughout. It turned out lovely, and truly set the scene.
The day turned out beautiful. The weather was surprisingly warm, and Griffin was so happy. I’m all about shopping local, so with the exception of some of the table decor, I was able to purchase everything around town…that is amazing! Being a small business owner myself, I now understand how important AND appreciated it is. We are blessed!
(Outfit details: Lauren’s dress from Rent the Runway-Tory Burch. Laura’s dress from Anthropologie.)