Fishing Baby Shower Party Food
Since we held the party in a restaurant (called Bluefin, ironically!) with not a lot of space, we had to keep the dessert table a little on the small side. Small also means you need to be more thoughtful about what goes into your set-up. So it made it a lot of fun for me making each and every item on the table something that melded perfectly with the fishing theme.
Swedish fish in a bowl? Yes! Turns out you can get Swedish Fish in bulk from Amazon (buy them here). The bottom was lined with blue glass cobochons for effects, and I dropped a pair of serving tongs in the top for guests to fish out their fishies.
Special-made (by me) chocolate covered pretzels were decorated with graham cracker goldfish and white sprinkles to look like bubbles. It was a pretty easy food craft to make, and once they were set, I just slipped them into a long, thin cellophane bag (buy them here) to keep them fresh for the party.
The big fishing lures I found at Hobby Lobby. They really looked great on the table!
My good friend Nikki from Tikkido.com hand painted these beautiful fish sugar cookies based on the art I made for the shower. I am so lucky she loves doing these things for me! Definitely pay her a visit to see what other fun stuff she has around her amazingly creative site.
Fancy fondant cakes are fantastic…but honestly, they are also very pricey. Those cake (and cookie) ladies certainly do earn every penny, but sometimes that is just not in the budget.
Which is when you use some creative cake toppings to get the look you are going for. Part of planning an event from a distance is dealing with a few miscalculations. My bakery usually makes their 9-inch cakes two layers tall, so I misjudged the height of my cake pieces for the single layer cake that arrived at the restaurant. No biggie–a few reeds and a darling little sign in the top of this grocery store cake still looked great! Next time, I will bring some heavier cutting hardware with me to styling event, though.
Of course, you cannot go fishing without a few worms. Gummy worms poked out of the top of these “minnow pails” I found at Hobby Lobby.
The hit of the sweet table were these salted caramel chocolate fish. I’m pretty terrible with all things melted and dipped, but I managed pretty well to make these with a fish mold (buy it here) that I found on Amazon. Be sure to use really good quality chocolate when you make them!
My friend Kim from For the Love Cake Co. was kind enough to make some pretty fun cake pops shaped like fishing bobbers for us. The guests really loved them; they were actually baked cake balls that had a cupcake consistency the whole way through instead of the dense frosting type you usually see. Made it hard to only eat one! Kim’s bakery is in Melbourne, Florida, and you can visit her Facebook page here.
And as an FYI–the fishing tackle box used to serve the cake pops was brand new and well washed out. Safety first!
How we handled the rest of the party–the really nice thing about having a restaurant baby shower? Someone else did the cooking. We ordered lots of appetizers, and provided soda/water/tea for our guests. Any who wanted to could buy their own cocktails and beer. In some ways, it was less work. In a lot of ways, much more control was given up than I was used to. Overall, our guests had a wonderful time and the mom and dad-to-be were thrilled with their party. Hoping that Auntie Paula can do this again soon. 🙂
If you loved the printables for this shower, contact me for customization!
~Don’t forget to pin this fishing baby shower for later!!~
Anna
Saturday 25th of May 2019
Would love to buy a sheet of the sign that says "worth the bait" .
Becky
Monday 14th of January 2019
Did I miss instructions on how to make the reed centerpieces? I am in pick up line at preschool so I may have overlooked it.
Paula
Friday 8th of October 2021
You know, those centepieces really are one of my favorite projects ever, but i went about it so willy nilly when i was making it i never bothered with a tutorial. I used a block of florist foam for the base, and cut a few different shades of green paper freehand for the leaves. I hot glued the bottom of each reed to a cut bamboo skewer. Beyond that it was just a lot of shaping of paper with my fingers until they all looked how I wanted!
Alexandria
Friday 8th of October 2021
@Becky, I was looking for it too!
Erin Roberts
Tuesday 9th of May 2017
This shower is perfection! Every detail is perfect and your watercolor art is beautiful! Great job! Erin https://theeverydayevents.blogspot.com/
Paula Biggs
Saturday 13th of May 2017
Thanks so much, Erin!
Lisa
Sunday 2nd of April 2017
I am in love with this shower. Not knowing what tables and space you'd have to work with would have STRESSED me out! Love the watercolors too.
Sandra Garth
Friday 31st of March 2017
It's not always about having lots of "stuff"; it's about working with what you have. Driving three hours to the venue, setting up in a small space and working on a budget? I would have been one nervous Nellie. This isn't a theme that's often used for a baby shower and you aced it! The framed printables really stand out as do the fishing props. Congrats on a successful event and I'm looking forward to this special baby's first birthday party!