Yesterday afternoon I hosted an intimate "baby sprinkle" for my sister-in-law -- expecting baby no. 2 next month. My goal was to make a simple and lovely, country-side-esque afternoon for our 10 guests.

The guest of honor requested a tea-like light lunch but with ice-cold lemonade, instead of hot tea. Because she is expecting a boy, I wanted to make sure I didn't go too far down the frilly and girly high-tea route. Instead, I opted for my own clean white dishes, classic silverware, french linen napkins and touches of boyish anchors. My palette was navy, brown and white.

It was an interesting challenge with Jason out of town on tour - I had a 2-year-old helper who liked taking the straws out of the glasses - as you can see above. ;) But I'm really happy with the way it turned out. It was a nice mix of modern and classic. And I even did some crafting! Sis would be proud.

I gave myself a challenge: Don't rent anything. Because it was a small shower, I was able to use all of my own dishes, glassware, linens and silverware. As for the flower vessels -- I love the dark amber glass bottles my Kombucha comes in, so for several weeks leading up to the shower, I saved every bottle, took the labels off (had to scrub and soak and scrub again until all of the stickiness came off!). I purchased a few bunches of flowers and wild greens from Whole Foods. The bottles did double duty -- I also gave them away as favors at the end of the party. They make such a cool little vase for around the house. I'm a big fan.

For a special touch I made a few anchor decorations. These are little anchors I cut and stuck to wooden skewers, to create a more festive place setting.

I also made this anchor banner for the food table. Could be super cute on the nursery wall too!

I kept the drinks simple, with strawberry water and homemade organic lemonade.

We have been making most of our parties gluten-free lately. People normally can't even tell the difference and it suits the needs of the people who don't eat gluten. These scones from Buttercelli Bakeshop were out of control. The biggest hit of the day and gluten-free! I purchased organic apricot and strawberry jams and lemon curd. I made the Devonshire cream from this recipe I found on Joy of Baking.

You can never go wrong with a platter of organic berries. Never.

Butter lettuce salad with homemade candied walnuts, dried cranberries and goat cheese.

What do you do when you have a major cake-fail two hours before the party?! Get brownies, blondies and bars from the gluten-free bakeshop, cut them into square and forget you were up until 2AM baking!