I was very conscious that a number of our friends had a range of dietary requirements, with a vegetarian friend, a dairy and gluten intolerant friend, and Beth's sister getting married a few weeks after the baby shower, I wanted to create a balance of food that everyone could eat. Initially I wanted to have an afternoon tea but decided to simplify this, finding healthy and easy things to make and drafting in some of our friends to bring things to add to the spread.
We had a variety of yummy salads, including a chickpea and roasted pepper salad, a courgette, mint and lentil salad, tomato and mozzarella, as well as a bowl of mixed salad leaves. Alongside the salads we had a mushroom frittata and bread. For the puddings I decided to have a variety of options available, both healthy and a little indulgent. To help save some time I bought a variety of mini cupcakes and gluten free cake slices, I made rainbow fruit skewers and also assembled little pastry cups with lemon curd flavoured creme fraiche topped with summer berries. We also had a side board full of small bowls of chocolates, bon bons and jelly babies for extra sweet snacks.
The drinks for the afternoon included prosecco, baby-friendly 'Celebration Shloer', Fentimans Rose Lemonade, Belvoir elderflower and rose presse and Belvoir elderflower cordial. The rose lemonade was served in small milk bottles with pastel pink striped straws, to work as an additional glass and add to the party vibe.