Theme Idea 1: Playing Footsie, Tootsie! A Pedicure Shower
Pretty feet are always in fashion, and having a pedicure or manicure is a luxury for everyone, especially the mom-in-waiting. You can hold this shower at a local salon or spa, or you can create your own sanctuary and have it in your home. If you choose this option, make accommodations for someone to assist the mom-to-be, whose growing tummy may prevent her from reaching her rejuvenated feet.
Whether you stage this shower in a spa or salon or opt to have it in your home, the goal is the same — a little pampering, a little chatting, a lot of celebrating, and, with any luck, no chipping!
Menu Ideas and Options
To keep everyone out of the kitchen and into the nail polish, etc., set up a salad bar. A dazzling array of fresh vegetables, fruits, and fixings allows everyone to create their own perfect dish.
Girlfriends Menu
- Totally Tasty Salad Bar
- Fresh Bread Sticks, Popovers, or Rolls
- Texas Sheet Cake
- Strawberry Lemonade, Coffee, and Tea
Divide the salad bar ingredients up among the co-hostesses with instructions to have them washed, sliced, and ready to go. Create an interesting tablescape by displaying platters and bowls at alternating heights.
When assembling trays, think of the foods and colors as paint on a canvas and arrange in an artful and eye-pleasing profusion of reds (peppers, tomatoes, beets), yellows (squash, yellow peppers), greens (broccoli, lettuces, spinach, green beans, cucumber, scallions), black (olives and beans), and white (onions, cauliflower, jicama, mushrooms), or place on a lazy Susan for easy access to all. Serve with hot bread or rolls from the bakery or grocery store.
Keep the dessert simple and sweet by serving a sheet cake; it is easy to cut and serve and can be decorated with the art from the shower invitation. Bring a finished invitation to the bakery or give the bakery a computer disk with a digital image that can be printed in food coloring on specialized “icing” paper and laid directly on a frosted cake.
Fact
A standard sheet cake, available at nearly every bakery, measures 18" x 24" and serves up to 70 people. The half sheet cake measures approximately 11" x 17" and serves about 35 people. A quarter sheet cake is generally about 9" x 12" and can serve approximately 15 to 18 guests.
Color Palette and Decor
Nail-polish colors — hot pink, hot orange, and cocktail waitress red set the palette for this shower theme. Whether you are staging this in your home or at a salon, make your party pop with a profusion of girl-centric colors and patterns.
This party’s decorating pop comes from flower pots planted at each “pedi” station and filled with all the “bloomin’” products you’ll need for fancy feet. Using a large terracotta pot, au naturel or painted in your theme color, sprout a pair of flip-flop “leaves” and a paper magnolia with a baby button face. Also “potted” are Tootsie Roll Pops, cotton balls, polish remover, nail files, toe-separators, foot lotion, even a ladybug nail decal or two.
Essential
You can make your own paper flowers in two shakes. Use several sheets of colored tissue paper, folded into accordion pleats and tied with florist wire or pipe cleaners. See here for complete directions or search online for paper-flower variations.
Arrange a pot on colorful folded terry towels at each foot station. Have a bowl of roasted thyme almonds or peanut butter–filled pretzels paired with flavored water at each pedicure station for snacking.
Add pink polka-dotted lunch plates with reverse polka-dotted dessert plates and napkins or choose one of the dozens of bright patterned or floral designs now available. Add dotted confetti scattered around the food table. Don’t forget to bring your iPod or boom box for plenty of toe-tapping tunes to keep the party hopping.
The Perfect Baby Shower Game or Activity
It will take between 30 minutes and one hour to complete each pedicure. If you are at a salon, the standard pedicure takes an hour and will consist of soaking the feet in a tub of warm water, softening skin and cuticles with special oils, nail shaping and trimming, scrubbing the feet with salts and salves, tissue massage, and, finally, painting the little piggies the current fashion-forward color.
The at-home version of this pedicure party may require a modification of a full salon foot treatment due, in part, to setup and cleanup requirements between procedures. For this reason, a mini pedicure is recommended for partying at home.
Alert
If outdoor pedi stations tickle your fancy, make sure to have SPF 30 sunscreen on hand. Red toenails are divine, but red noses are a definite no-no! Apply sunscreen to legs when you massage in lotion and don’t forget faces, arms, and back of the neck.
To set up mini pedi-station flower pots you will need:
- Nail polish
- Nail polish remover
- Top coat polish
- Soothing or exfoliating foot lotion
- Foot buffer
- Toe separators
- Nail file
- Cotton balls
- Moist towelettes
- Tootsie Roll Pops
- Optional: Nail decals, sun oil, and “grass” tissue paper clusters or green shred (like the stuff in Easter baskets).
To arrange the mini pedi stations in your home or backyard, simply line up chairs in two rows facing each other. Allow about 24 inches between each chair. Lay a folded terry towel on the floor in front of each chair and plant a pedi pot in the middle of the towel. Your own salon is ready to pedi.
As your nails dry, swap baby stories, slip into flip flops, and “ooooh” and “aaaah” over baby gifts.
Remember to use caution when including beauty services at your next party. Keep food, beverages, and beauty products separate.
Name that Nail Polish Color, Baby!
A great game for this shower is Name that Nail Polish. For this you will need:
- 10 bottles of nail polish, lined up on a tray and numbered 1 through 10
- Paper and pen for each guest
- A timer or wristwatch
What color of polish looks best on each skin tone?
Light-toned skin can wear beiges, light pinks, and peaches. Choose colors in the light to medium range. Darker-toned skin looks best with deeper toned polish like reds, rusts, and berry colors, even black. French manicures look good on every skin tone.
Ask each guest to come up with new names for the colors using the word baby or a baby reference (e.g., Shake, Rattle, and Red) in the name. Set a timer for two minutes for each color. Have guests share their name and vote on the one that best describes the color and also includes a baby reference. The guest with the greatest number of creative names wins. Winner takes all the polish home.
Gifts That Work with This Theme
Baby Manicure Set. Tender, tiny nails require special clippers, scissors, and emery boards to trim and smooth the occasional hangnail.
Mani/Pedi for Mom. In the long weeks after baby arrives, Mommy could use some extra pampering and away time. Throw in babysitting for the perfect package.
Sock Puppets. Designed for baby to wear on the feet, these socks have little characters on them that will entertain the toe-sucking set for at least five precious minutes.
Favors
For the at-home version of this shower, the pedi pot is the favor, since each contains a pair of flip-flops. You can embellish a pair for each guest or order them personalized with the party theme or guest name.
If you have planned a salon shower, one favor that is sure to please every guest is a take-home manicure set. One that is particularly pleasing is the Pink Polka Dot set that comes in its own purse-shaped carrying case. This chic favor will fit into most handbags and get lots of use!
