Fletcher’s Baby Dedication

We dedicated our sweet Fletcher to the Lord on September 9, 2018. I’m fashionably late on posting these, but between the One Room Challenge, four (!!) trips out of town, two family Thanksgivings and two sick babies, I’m behind on just about everything!

Reflecting back on this special day seems appropriate as we head into the Christmas season. I’m reminded that God sent His only Son into this broken world as a perfectly innocent baby. Celebrating the birth of Jesus takes on a whole new meaning after having babies of your own.

Baby Dedication is a ceremony performed in the church to recognize that our children are a gift from God. With that gift comes the God-given responsibility and privilege to raise these sweet babies to know Jesus.

We took a pledge publicly promising to look to the Lord for the love, grace and wisdom required to provide a Christian home for our children; to raise our children in the church; to teach them in the Word of God; and to live our lives as an example of the life and love of Jesus Christ.

We obviously fail greatly every day. But it is our greatest hope that our children would one day grow up and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Nothing we could ever give our children in this world compares to the promise of eternal life in Jesus, and for this very reason Baby Dedication is a day to be celebrated.

We invited our family over to the house on Sunday afternoon to help celebrate this special day, and in true Casey fashion I just had to throw together a sweet little tablescape for our sweet baby boy.

This was put together in no time using just about everything I already had at home and a few paper products I picked up at the dollar store the week before. I’m a big believer in making things special and pretty (examples here, here, here) without spending much money (what can I say? I get it from my Mama!)

Most of the time I try to avoid the kitchen (I prefer crafting over cooking 🙂 ), so I went with my usual store-bought cupcakes and dressed them up a little bit. I made the simple design in Word and printed it onto white card stock. I punched each one out with my scallop circle lever punch, hot glued them onto white lollipop sticks and tied them up with a baby blue ribbon.

All in all these took me less than twenty minutes from start to finish! A little bit goes a long way, and the cupcakes look much more elegant with a custom topper and displayed in a pretty cupcake stand. You may remember I did the same thing for John Davis’s Peter Rabbit themed first birthday party.

The baby blue plates, cups and utensils all came from the Dollar Tree.

Mother made this beautiful blue burlap cross banner two years ago for John Davis‘s Baby Dedication. I didn’t have anywhere to hang it but I wanted to use it again. I simply strung it across the table and I love the way it looked!

Mother grabbed these blue cross napkins from our local Kroger for something like 25 cents on clearance after Easter a few years ago. They sat in our pantry and I was tempted to throw them away on more than one occasion, but I guess sometimes it pays to be a hoarder ; )

I displayed the baby blue utensils in one of our mason jars I keep stored in our kitchen cabinets. And surprise surprise, I tied it up with a ribbon. See a pattern here?

If you’ve been following along with me for any time now, you may notice that I use these white wood craft frames from Hobby Lobby on repeat at virtually every party and gathering I host (see here and here).

I’m simple and I stick with what I like! I swap out the ribbon depending on the occasion, and this time I filled them with one of Fletcher’s newborn photos and a sweet Baby Dedication prayer I found on Pinterest.

We went with a brunch theme so I displayed mini-muffins and cinnamon rolls on my white cake stand that I happened upon in HomeGoods one day.

I picked up ready-made chicken salad from Chicken Salad Chick and served it in our white pearl dinnerware we received from our wedding registry. I still love it just as much today as I did six and a half years ago!

Fun fact: Chicken Salad Chick was started in Auburn, Alabama (War Eagle!) and I loved to eat there in college. It is now a chain restaurant and we have one right down the road from our house. It is still one of my very favorite places to eat lunch. Check here to see if there is a location near you because their chicken salad is to die for!

I set everything on this beautiful Battenburg lace tablecloth that Mother picked up for a few dollars from an estate sale. She always finds the best deals!

This sweet tablescape came together easily and added that extra little touch to make Fletcher’s day special.

Of course Mother, Daddy and Brother came bearing gifts. They gave Fletcher the most beautiful baby blue Baby Dedication picture frame (from the cutest local shop) and a personalized baby blue Precious Moments bible.

The personalized Precious Moments Bible is so special to me. I have the exact same Bible, except in light pink, that my sweet Mamaw gave to me when I was dedicated as a baby. John Davis also has one of his own (in baby blue just like Fletcher’s) that Mamaw gave to him as well.

I squeezed Fletcher back into his Feltman Brothers Take Me Home Gown (that he wore home from the hospital and is now framed and hanging in the nursery). It was a tight squeeze considering he weighed 15 pounds by this point!!

It was a wonderful day with family and I feel overwhelmingly blessed that God has allowed me to be Mama to these two precious baby boys.

The picture on the left is from John Davis’s Baby Dedication in 2016, and the picture on the right is Fletcher’s Baby Dedication in September 2018.

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” 1 Samuel 1: 27-28