A few weeks ago, we celebrated the soon-to-be baby boy with our closest family and friends over a casual yet beautiful Thai style brunch affair at Kiin in Toronto. Kyle and I went the non-traditional route and decided to host our own baby shower. My sister insisted to host but we honestly didn’t want to trouble anyone on planning a celebration for us! Plus, family and friends have already been extremely generous with sending us baby gifts, we wanted to find a way to share our gratitude and thanks. I know this is unconventional, but hey, it’s modern times, right?!
Kiin is one of our FAVOURITE restaurants of all time in Toronto. It is led by the renowned Chef Nuit who is known to create the most inspiring, unique, yet traditional flavours of Thailand. Kyle and I have visited all of Chef Nuit’s restaurants and the first time we dined at Kiin, it stole our hearts. Naturally, when it came time to selecting our venue for the shower, this was the first place that came to mind.
The space is gorgeous, the food is incredible, the cocktails (and mocktails) are absolutely delicious and well, the staff, go above and beyond. Kiin had once served a brunch menu and though they no longer offer brunch, the team worked with us on customizing an amazing buffet style menu featuring some of their specialty dishes from their catering and regular menu. They even created a custom menu and surprised me by naming our specialty mocktail as My Little Secrets!
Among our favourite dishes are the Chor Laddas, jasmine rice flour dumplings hand crafted and filled with peanut, onion, pickled radish and coconut (pictured on the right below). If you’ve not yet tried one of these before, GO NOW!
We kept additional decor at a very minimum since the space itself is already perfect (why we also picked this spot, selfishly, the less work at the stage of my pregnancy, the better!). We brought in a flower arrangement c/o of Tonic Blooms and a few acrylic signage that I hand drawn after learning few basic calligraphy skills from Via Calligraphy!
I also debated quite some time about bringing in a cake. Originally, I was going to forego one but at the last minute, I ended up ordering a simple (incredibly yummy though!) Mango and Passionfruit Pastry Shop cake from Bobbette & Belle, one of the finest Pastry/Cake shops in my neighbourhood (shown below is a Large size which services 24-30). I ended up adding some extra sprinkles on top and a cake topper I found on Amazon!
Instead of incorporating classic baby shower games, we asked guests to suggest a name for Baby Higgy as we’re still undecided. Let’s just say with the NBA finals just ahead of our shower, we may have gotten a few suggestions for Kawhi and Lowry!
For our baby shower favours, we opted for confetti popcorn which my sister and I made together on a Sunday afternoon. She insisted to help and this was a fun afternoon activity we got to do together. It’s super easy to put together, all you need is plain popcorn, assorted sprinkles and some melted white chocolate. I’m planning to post a simple recipe and how to on this, so stay tuned for that!
And expecting mamas, there’s absolutely no shame in being a little ‘extra’ at your own baby shower! I requested for a custom floral crown and Tonic Blooms, as always, pulled through with this rose head piece to wear on this special day.
We are so grateful for all our family and friends that came to celebrate with us!
And my sister-in-law is also expecting! The cousins will only be a few months apart! How exciting is that?!
From the bottom of our hearts, we are so thankful for all the support and love while we are going through this journey. Our little man is already full of happiness with so many people waiting to meet him! We can not wait for him to make an appearance, eek, less than 8 more weeks to go!!
Thank you for stopping by!
Photo Credits: Laura Clarke Photography
Venue: Kiin
Flowers and Flower Crown: Tonic Blooms
Cake: Bobbette & Belle
Cake Topper: Amazon Canada
Favours: DIY (will post soon)
Signage: DIY
Natalie Wearing: Dress / Shoes / Under layer
Kyle Wearing: Linen Shirt c/o Joe Fresh
