Theo’s baby blessing – celebrating a very special boy

We just celebrated Theo’s baby blessing. To say that this milestone has me feeling a bit overwhelmed would be an understatement.

Theo’s first 4 months has flown by so quickly; it almost feels like a blur. You guys weren’t kidding around when you said it goes by fast!  Even though I constantly remind myself to be present and soak up every nap on my chest, every delicious smile and giggle, and that sweet newborn baby smell, it still doesn’t feel like I stared at his sweet baby face long enough while I held him in my arms.

In all fairness to the chaos of becoming a new sleep-deprived mom while planning our little muffin’s first big celebration, these moments have been a little hard to savor lately. But the bonus was a succesful baby blessing, and I couldn’t have been happier with it.

DIY INVITATIONS AND GOODIE BAGS

Early on I decided to do everything myself. (That was before I had any idea how long it would take 🙂 ).

First I made the invitations with a little inspiration from Pinterest. The toughest part about the invitations was figuring out the font size and image size so it matched the card. It might sound simple, but trust me – it wasn’t.

I eventually outsourced the job to Thomas so I was left with the fun part: cutting and pasting.

I bought the baby blue carton and cut it in 10×10 cm. Then I cut out the images, a white paper-background and banners in four different paper designs. Cutting and pasting it all together took a tad longer than I first anticipated (as in several days), but I finally got the task done.

Invitations: check!

Most of our friends already have kids so we ended up being 12 children at his party, including Theo. So I got this idea to make little goodie bags for them.

I knew there would be 8 babies and some older kids so I put different things in the bags. Raisins, soap bubbles and a snack for the little ones, and make up, fidget spinner & drawing books for the older ones.

FERRERO ROCHER PLACE CARDS

Instead of traditional place cards I used Ferrero Rocher for a personal touch, because who doesn’t love Ferrero Rocher?

Each of the place cards were written with the same font as on the invitations and the thank-you cookies. I glued the paper together, put a toothpick in the middle and attached it to the chocolate. What’s great about making name cards with the chocolate is they play double duty as a party favor, too.

THANK-YOU COOKIES

Just a few days before Theo’s baby blessing I got the idea to make thank-you cookies.

I bought the cellophane paper in a chocolate store and the manila tags in Flying Tiger. I found the sugar cookie recipe online and decorated the cookies with royal icing and an edible marker.

I first intended to write a generic note along with it, like: “thanks for coming”. But I ended up writing a personal thank-you note to everyone from Theo. I thanked his grandma for all the kisses she gives him, and thanked Thomas’ friend for always being there for Theo.

This was definitely my favorite DIY from Theo’s baby blessing.

TABLE DECORATIONS

For Theo’s big day, the tables were set with white tablecloths and scattered with blue-shaded confetti. I decorated the walls with pennants in baby blue from Flying Tiger and added a few blue balloons.

I wanted to incorporate some beautiful flower napkins into the arrangements and they could not have turned out more beautifully! It took me a whole day to make all 42, but they were worth it.

Check out the tutorial so you can see how easy it is to make your own. You don’t need 3-layer napkins, by the way. I did these with double-layers in 40×40 cm.

I added candles and flowers on the tables, too. And for flowers I picked a white and green cabbage flower and eucalyptus branches. I was a little reluctant at first, but they turned out to be a stunning decoration.

THEO’S BABY BLESSING CEREMONY

We wanted to welcome our first-born baby into the world in a special way. But a traditional church baptism didn’t feel right for me. I’ve been brought up in an Evangelical free church that practices adult baptism, and I believe that being a Christian should be a personal choice.

Today, I don’t have ties to a church, but I still felt the need for a ritual and for Theo to be blessed.

Simon, my parent’s minister, was so kind to come to Theo’s party and do the blessing. He started the ceremony by explaining what a baby blessing is and why we had chosen this instead of a baby baptism.

He talked about Theo. How he was a wish child and his difficult journey coming into this world. He highlighted his characteristics, how Theo always is so curious, so happy and balanced.

Simon then asked us to stand up. I was holding Theo and handed him over to the minister.

Then he asked my two brothers to pray for Theo. They each placed a hand on him and said a prayer for our little son. I was very touched, and in that moment so thankful for all the love my baby has in his life.

After the blessing, the minister gave Theo to Thomas. This served as a symbol that I (the mother) brought him into this world, and Thomas (his father) shared the responsibility to take good care of Theo and help raise him as a Christian.

WELCOME DRINK AND BUFFET

After a beautiful ceremony, we were ready to eat. We had already served welcome drinks; Asti and elderflower for the kids and pregnant.

Because the ceremony was held the same place as the party, everyone was ready to eat immediately after so I needed the food to be something yummy and easy…already made and ready to go.

We decided on a catering buffet with three types of meat (pochetta, tenderloin and veal fillet) with red wine sauce, a pasta salad and coleslaw, and scalloped potatoes and bacon-wrapped potatoes with butter & cheese.

The food was delish! Theo went to sleep just before we had dinner so I even had time for seconds!

Mhhhm.

THE CANDY BAR

My pride of the day (besides my beautiful son, of course 🙂 ) was the candy bar. I’ve been preparing for a whole month, figuring out which cakes to bake.

I wanted to keep it in two colors: blue and white, and to be minimalistic and stylish. Everything, besides the blessing cake, was a mini version, from the mini muffins with blue vanilla butter creme, to the merengue, mini knoppers and snack cups.

My best friend Pernille, who is also Theo’s godmother, baked the most beautiful cake with three types of mousse: blackberry, raspberry & strawberry and white chocolate. The cake was covered in white and blue fondant with the cutest baby elephant on the top.

I am so impressed of her baking skills!

My toughest little project was the mini chocolate muffins with butter and cream cheese frosting. I wish I could say that it all went smoothly, but this mommy was about to burst into tears when the butter creme EXPLODED in my head (literally!) when I decorated the muffins, just 10 minutes before the guests arrived. I had it in my hair, on my clothes, the walls and my hands – anywhere but on the cakes!

I was ready to toss them out the window. But Thomas calmed me down and I got them done just in time. Let’s just say that this is the last time I’m ever dealing with butter creme just before a party!

I bought some muffin cups in two nuances from Søstrene Grene and filled them with popcorn and chips. They were originally intended for the kids, but most of our friend and family took a cup, too 🙂

PRESENTS EN MASSE

Theo got so many present for his baby blessing. I’m in awe!

He got clothes, toys, a Brio Toddler Wobbler and lots of other beautiful gifts. We wished for gifts of money to buy Theo a Nomi highchair and a Lille Per bed (also known as the Juno bed). I normally would never ask for money gifts, but the things we wished for were very expensive.

The little Juno children’s bed is a vintage piece, designed in the beginning of the 1940s by the Danish designer Viggo Einfeldt. It featured in a national family movie called Far til Fire or in English Father of Four and it’s part of our Danish collective memory.

I can’t wait to get Theo his new bed. You can see a photo of it here.

FAMILY PHOTOS

At the end of Theo’s baby blessing we asked our guests to join us outside for photos. We took pictures of everyone and of our families with little Theo.

It was such a beautiful and memorable day for all of us, and I couldn’t have been more happy.

Thanks so much for following me & baby Theo’s journey. Until next time x