My mom always told me that one of the biggest positives to military life, are the friends that you make. See, my dad was also a military dentist. I know…a little weird.  My siblings like to joke that my mom cloned herself through me.

Well, we are only a couple of months in and I can tell you that mom was right (aren’t they always?)  We moved to Vegas and had instant friends. There are 4 of us dental resident wives.  And as you can see below, we are about to have a lot more babies on our hands.

Rachelle (on the right) already has a 1.5 year old and she’s due in a couple of weeks with twins!  Because she and her husband already have most of the things they needed for their new sons, she didn’t want a shower, but Val (the other prego) only had a pack and play when I met her.  So, of course, I told her she didn’t have an option…we were having a shower.

At first I thought I’d do a fall/football themed shower. Put out some fall decorations I already have add in some little boy football stuff…perfect. But then Val gave me a shock of a lifetime (ok, maybe I’m exaggerating…a little) she told me that she and her husband weren’t into football.  Being from the south, my mind was blown!  But I knew something she and her husband definitely were into….sailing.  They practically go every weekend out to Lake Mead.  So, sailing it was!  I decided to do a couples’ shower because Val is so laid back and I just like the casual feel that they bring.

Thankfully my mom (the shower queen) had thrown a nautical shower before and had a few things I could use.  My friend Ruth (who threw the shower with me) is from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, so pretty much everything she and her husband got for their wedding was nautical themed, perfect!

Here’s what the island looked like.

A hand-made lighthouse (Ruth’s) in between 2 nautical frames. I got the rope frames from Homegoods for $9 each then ordered prints off of Etsy for $10 which also matched the invitation I sent out (mom will be so proud!) I love when I can buy a decoration that also doubles as an extra gift! The little fish plates are from Macy’s and we used those to put different sauces on.

Invitation:

One of my favorite touches to the shower were these plastic food baskets from Target.  It just made me think of going to a divey seafood joint…which was the inspiration for the food and tables.

We served shrimp po-boys.  Seriously, these were restaurant quality.  Ruth and her husband know good seafood and this was it. Click here for recipe.

I was going to make homemade fries…and then I just realized that, that was a ridiculous thought. I love Alexia fries and that’s what we served with the po’boys,

For appetizers I did mini quiches (Val’s favorite food) click here for recipe.  I also did Paula Deen’s crabcakes…and wow did those turn out good! Click here for recipe.

For the tables, Ruth found this netting on Amazon. I thought it was so clever and really helped give it that casual feel I was going for.  We topped it with some shells and toy lobsters, both from the dollar store. Again, the light house was Ruth’s.

For the second table we also used the netting and some nautical candles that my mom sent.  Rachelle made cupcakes that doubled as a dessert and a table decoration. We topped them with nautical flags that Ruth also found on Amazon.

For the favor…it doesn’t get easier than this. We bought a bag of  gourmet mixed popcorn flavors and put them in little popcorn containers we found on Amazon that had anchors and sailboats on them. We wrapped them in Clear plastic wrap from Michaels and made labels that said “Ready to pop” with a little pregnant lady on them.  I saw the idea on Pinterest a while ago.

All in all I think the shower was a huge success and we can’t wait to meet baby boy Bryant!