The Elephant Baby Shower

While elephants are considered lucky and powerful in the Far East, most Westerners think of the plodding pachyderm as something cute enough to be used in a nursery. Many images portray the elephant as “sweet” from the classic “Dumbo,” “Fantasia,” and “Babar” to the more modern renditions seen all over television and in several department store chains as well.

This view of the elephant makes it a prime theme for a baby shower. In fact, the elephant baby shower theme is one of the sweetest that you can plan.

Everything starts, of course, with the invitations. These can definitely be store bought or ordered especially for the occasion, but handmade elephant baby shower invitations are a budget-friendly and cute choice. Elephants can be made out of origami papers and these are easily attached to plain or printed gift card. Or graphics of elephants can be easily transferred onto a collage made with a computer and printed out easily.

When elephants are the main theme, there can be many different settings where the elephants can be placed. A circus setting is one such choice, as is the jungle. Let's take the circus elephant to illustrate this particular baby shower.

Circuses are bright and none too subtle. Why not use the primary colors as your main theme for the circus elephants? A nice red, blue, and yellow is gender neutral and also a beautiful color scheme.

From the little flaglets that can be hung across the ceiling to the balloons and streamers in the room, the only colors of choice are red, blue, and yellow. Gray is the odd color out but it helps the elephant to stand out more. You could even simulate the inside of a circus tent with panels of primary colored crepe paper hanging down from the edge of the ceiling and caught near the floor. The ceiling can be tented as well with more crepe paper.

Set the tables in a riot of primary colors as well. The guests could sit at a table with an elephant gray under-cloth and a top cloth of yellow. The plates and utensils could be all in red and blue, which each place setting different from the one beside it. Fold the yellow napkins into an elephant shape as well.

As for the center of the table, a carnival kaleidoscope of lollipops ringed with cotton candy would be just perfect. If a little more sparkle is wanted, sequins in primary colors could be sprinkled all over the table.

The buffet table would be just as easy to engineer. Set an over-cloth of gray over a table draped in primary colored crepe paper. On this over-cloth, set serving plates in primary colors and have them sit within three rings fashioned on the table from a short wall of painted and gilded cardboard. Divide the three rings into the beverages, the main food, and the desserts.

Finally, center the scene on the baby shower favors. Have a pot full of elephant cookie lollipops elevated in the middle of the dessert ring. It's simple and beautiful.