Welcoming a baby with Cake and other great ideas!

Now that I have some time to spend on the blog (its been 2 months I have been more or less MIA!), I don’t know what to write. More than not knowing what to write, I really do not know where to start.

So much has happened in the last two months- festivals, family reunions, marriages, reunion with friends, lots of catching up and the latest- a baby girl!

On 21st November, 2011, at 1336hrs Lahina Chauhan entered this world making me a very very happy aunt!

Yesterday, after 5 days in the hospital, we got her home. My brother, my mom and I stayed up till late decorating her room and baking a cake for her and my sister-in-laws’ welcome.

So today, since I am so clueless about what to write, I thought I’ll share the different DIY decorations we did for welcoming the baby home.

Before I do that and since Thanksgiving was a few days back, I want to share a few things I am thankful for. I am thankful to all the bloggers who helped me keep this blog going in the last two months.

Thank you so much Ameena, Sawsan, Jane and Leigh for taking out time from your busy schedule and sharing such wonderful recipes on my blog. I am really looking forward to trying out each one of them once I get back home.

I also want to thank everyone who has been leaving such lovely comments on my blog posts. Since the last two months have been busy, I have been quite “e-antisocial” and not been able to thank you for stopping by my blog and appreciating it. So, if you are reading this I want to thank you for showing an interest in what I write and the recipes I share!

I also am very very thankful to google, Foodgawker and Pinterest for giving me such great ideas. Had it not been for Pinterest, the Welcome Home decorations would not have been the same!

I found these DIY paper roses there. (Won’t these be just perfect for Valentine’s Day!)

We also made streamers from colored A4 sheets (you could use chart paper too). These are so simple to make, and a great way to brighten up any occasion! We made some paper drops that too make great decorations for a baby shower/welcome!

Another brilliant idea is paper pom poms. These pom poms not only look beautiful but seemed pretty easy to make. They would have been easier if I had tissue paper on  hand. But my parents didn’t have any tissue paper, nor did I find any luck in the 4-5 stationery shops I checked. I decided to use the colored A4 sheets my brother and I had bought for the streamers and drops. Since the A4 sheets are thicker than tissue paper, it was a little tough to fan out but I managed.

To make a name banner for the baby, I got inspired by this pin.

I used the coloured A4 sheets for the base and for the letters of her name, using different colours of paper for each. I pasted some cute little stickers my brother bought at the stationery shop on each alphabet card. Then, sew the cards together to make a banner (I stapled the ends a bit to restrict the movement of the alphabet cards).

And then, of course, there was some food to welcome the baby and her mother!

I made a baby carriage from watermelon- inspired from here.

And then, there was the cake!

I had other plans for the icing of the cake, but since I got only five minutes to do the icing, I just dusted some grated dark chocolate, leaving a pram design to be shown (it wasn’t perfect but the new mommy loved it, nonetheless)!

I have made this cake before and you can find the recipe for it here. The last time I made it was for my first year anniversary and my brother and sister-in-law fell in love with it. So on their request I made it again and within a day the whole cake got gobbled up by the five of us!

And there you have it- a Pinterest inspired Baby welcome!