A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower

Jan 6

Jan 6 A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower

My nearest and dearest friends in Chicago hosted a “Bun in the Oven” Baby Shower for us at Bettie’s Chicago, a new retro diner-themed event space featuring weekly baking classes, date night events, and private parties. It is owned by my friend Kristin Hoffman, better known as Baker Bettie. I had the honor of watching the new space take shape, listen as Kristin made every little decision about the decor, and I was thrilled that my shower was the first event in her new space. The shower was co-hosted by my friends Krista, Kristin, Gina, and Julie.

And Eric and I didn’t make the planning easy for them. We wanted a non-baby shower shower - none of the “typical” games like guessing the candy bar smeared into the diaper (and listen, if you played this game at your shower and you enjoyed it - that’s okay! It just isn’t for us.) I wanted our baby shower to resemble more of a cocktail party (with non-alcoholic options, obviously.) That is exactly what we ended up with - a sort of mid-century cocktail party meets bakery. Two of my favorite things: drinks and baked goods.

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower | The bar at Bettie’s Chicago

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower | Cheers from the bar at Bettie’s Chicago

The Space - Bettie’s Chicago

Bettie’s Chicago, a retro diner-themed event space featuring weekly baking classes, date night events, and private parties, opened at the end of the summer in 2022. In fact, construction had just wrapped up a few days before our party. Kristin sent me pictures and let me stop by multiple times to see the progress but a few days before the shower she said she wasn’t going to let me see anymore. She wanted me to see the completed space for the first time at the shower, and what a surprise it was. I am still in awe of how well it came together. I knew it would be lovely, but I had no idea how great it would be.

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower | Bettie’s Chicago

The Food

All of the food was prepared by the Bettie’s Chicago team. The menu included:

cheese and charcuterie spread
sourdough focaccia with goat cheese marinara dip
mini chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream
fruit tarts with a shortbread crust and vanilla bean pastry cream

Plus, all shower attendees helped make Cinnamon sweet buns and Lemon sweet buns (more on that under activities.)

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower | The food prepared by Baker Bettie at Bettie’s Chicago

The Activities: Who Smiles Like Miles?

A few weeks before the shower, one of the hosts emailed us saying:

On behalf of your baby shower planning committee, I'm writing to ask a favor from you both.

I am looking for 3 pictures of each of you (6 total), just of your faces from the neck up, preferably against a plain background. Selfies are fine. From each of you, I need:

1 happy face
1 sad face
1 silly face

These are the three photos I submitted. Eric also submitted three photos and, just for fun, we submitted three photos for Huxley (our dog) too. We didn’t want him to feel left out! We had no idea what they would be used for, but we were promised they wouldn’t be embarrassing. Ha!

So you can imagine our surprise when we walked into the shower and saw these. I don’t know what I expected, but I guarantee you it wasn’t this.

The instructions to guests were: Mix and match family facial features from mom, dad, and grandparents. Create your prediction of what Miles Oliver will look like: A Steffes? A Hasty? Or Both? Display your portrait for us all to admire (or laugh at.) Ashley and Eric will pick their favorite face, and the winner gets a prize!

Our reaction to seeing the photo compilations, when we first arrived:

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower | Our reaction to seeing the Who Smiles Like Miles activity

The Activities: Guess the Birth of Miles Oliver Hasty

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower | Guessing the birth date

Guests were asked to put their name on the date when they thought our son would be born. One guess per day. Miles picks the winner! When he arrives, the person who predicted his birthday correctly gets a prize. I’m so eager to find out who will win (and what they win!)

The Activities: Late Night Diapers

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower | Late night diapers

Late night changes must be done. Let’s make them extra fun! Guests were asked to write a message (or joke) on a diaper or two and give Ashley and Eric a smile from you. A few of our favorites included:

I don’t remember him eating THAT!
Where’s Grandpa when I need him?! (written by my dad)
Thank you for making me, mom and dad!
Whoa!
Changing diapers is more fun in NYC (from my friend Julie who was moving to NYC the next day)
Better or worse than dog poop?
Thing about the tax credit.

The Activities: Guest Book

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower | The guest book

Guests were asked to add a note to Miles’ baby book! The instructions read: Feel free to write a note (or notes) to Miles, Ashley, Eric, or all three of them to remind them how much they are loved! When you finish writing, place it in an envelope.

The Activities: A Baking Demonstration

It wouldn’t be a “Bun in the Oven” Baby Shower without making some sweet buns and putting them in the oven for a sweet treat to take home!

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower | Baker Bettie giving a baking demonstration at Bettie’s Chicago

And of course, gifts:

If you know Eric, you know that he does NOT like to be the center of attention. So the part he was least looking forward to was opening gifts, when all eyes would be on us and the party would, essentially, come to a stand-still. But our shower hosts thought of everything. To reduce the amount of time we were sitting there opening gifts, they coordinated one large gift from most of the shower attendees. We were thrilled to see just two gifts to be opened and the stroller we’d registered for.

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower | Opening Gifts

At Home with the Hastys - A "Bun in the Oven" Baby Shower | Opening Gifts - the stuffed dog that was with me since day one in the hospital.

More from the At Home with the Hastys Series…

For the entire At Home with the Hastys series, click here.

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