5 Ways to Work Wildflowers Into Your Summer Baby Shower
Palette
While common baby shower floral motifs tend towards all pinks and purples, and are often reserved for girl babies, the wildflower palette strikes out in all directions and lends itself well to gender-neutral celebrations. From invitations to table runners, consider unconventional and fun pops of orange, periwinkle and dark crimson with the pinks and purples to give your shower a festive summer wildflower motif.
Décor
It’s not really a party without flowers, right? Many florists will be happy to include wildflowers in their cultivated flower arrangements and if you’re being budget-wise in the shower planning, picking your own bouquets from local hills and roadsides is an especially great way to bring wildflowers into the mix yourself. Remember that wild flowers don’t often have the “vase life” of cultivated varieties, so picking and arranging the morning of the shower is best. If you have flowering hills nearby, you may even consider a nature walk and flower picking as part of your shower activities.
Edibles
Incorporating edible flowers into desserts and salads is a long-standing culinary trend in restaurants and catering. Whether using freshly picked flowers or enlisting the help of a talented cake decorator to include life-like sugarpaste wildflowers, your cakes, cupcakes and petits fours are a great place to include sweet and spicy florals. Add edible wildflowers to the salad dish. Float flowers in the punch. Add a wildflower infusion and wildflower ice cubes to sparkling drinks. How about wildflower honey or jam for your charcuterie boards? Sky’s the limit!
Here’s an article to help you understand the subtle taste differences among edible flowers and how to enjoy them safely. Also, a list of some of the most common floral edibles:
• Bachelor’s button
• Borage
• Carnations
• Orange blossoms
• Clover
• Fuscia
• Hibiscus
• Impatients
• Nasturtium
• Pansy
• Rose
• Violets
Favors
Just about anything you can think of as a shower favor can include the wildflower motif or the flowers themselves. Consider a set of handmade glycerin soaps with floating wildflowers, little jars of flower jam and violet honey, or lovely pressed flower magnets, candles or bookmarks. Include a packet of wildflower seeds for the guests to sow in honor of the arrival of the child. You could even make a wildflower bomb-making station as a shower activity.
Mother’s Blessing
Drawing from traditional ceremonies, many mothers-to-be are opting to bring spiritual elements into their showers. A Mother’s Blessing (also commonly know as a “Blessing Way”, the name used for the rite of passage ceremony for new mothers in some Native American traditions) includes such activities as making a birth bead necklace, washing and massaging the expectant mother’s feet with fragrant water and oils, and using a sharing circle to offer spoken aspirations for the birth. Using a footbath of cool water with uplifting essential oils such as bergamot, lavender and sage along with fresh wildflower petals is a great way to anoint and bless a new mother to be.
For more wildflower inspiration, check out this beautiful summer floral wedding theme.
This post is inspired by the Boba Wildflower Baby Wrap and Carrier.