MY DUBAI BABY SHOWER
Baby shower, september 2021
If you'd have told me this time last year that I would be planning my baby shower I would have told you "you were crazy". Not only was our little bundle of joy a complete surprise, but I really wasn't the baby shower ‘type’ at all.
A year on, and my outlook completely changed. I was super excited and even held baby shower meetings with my Dubai bestie to make sure we had thought of every little detail. It was so much fun and well-needed during the eighth month of pregnancy.
© Ben Lowes, Baby Shower Theme
Theme
I wanted a colour theme that would be aesthetically pleasing (as it's an event that I would want to revisit for years to come) and as we're having a little boy, there was only one colour for me to wear - blue. As a contrast, I asked guests to wear white and it looked fantastic in the pictures.
With this in mind, we went with a blue/white/cream/neutral colour theme for the decor and edibles.
© Ben Lowes, BiCe Restaurant, JBR
VENUE
For my baby shower budget, I set myself AED 3,500 (£700). This proved difficult when trying to find a venue with everything included (including alcohol). However, I managed to find a brunch deal on the Entertainer app* and managed to find the most perfect venue within the budget.
BiCe Restaurant (now permanently closed) was the most perfect venue with neutral and blue toned décor. They had amazing service, served tasty Italian food and were located poolside in the Hilton Hotel, JBR. It was honestly everything I was looking for and more, it was beautiful.
BiCe brunch starts at 12:30pm and finishes at 4pm (with last drinks orders at 3:30pm) however they allowed us to arrive an hour early (at 11:30am) to set up for the shower. We had 16 guests in total and, due to social distancing regulations (COVID), this meant we had to be split across two tables, which wasn't an issue at all as with the way the restaurant is set out, we pretty much had our own area to ourselves and the tables were very close to each other.
The drinks included in the Entertainer deal were 'house drinks' including house spirits, wine, beer and soft drinks and there was enough food to feed a football team, it was unlimited and endless. Dishes included:
Starters – smoked salmon, risotto balls, couscous salad
Second course – Pepperoni pizza, margarita pizza
Main course – truffle pasta, gnocchi, lamb chops, beef steaks
Dessert – selection of mini cakes & desserts to share
Each dish was fresh, served perfectly and was delightful to taste and what makes it even better is that, if you're still hungry, you can order more of your favourite dish as and when you wish.
The drinks were free-flowing and were topped up without us even having to ask.
Overall you could not fault anything about BiCe and it is suitable for all ages - every seat was full, making the atmosphere great, especially during COVID times!
The total cost for brunch for 16 people at BiCe with the house drinks brunch package (using the 2 for 1 Entertainer app) was AED 2,600 (£520).
*Entertainer App – The Entertainer App is a paid for app which provides 2 for 1 offers on restaurants, attractions, staycations, fitness & beauty venues throughout the UAE (and other countries). Click here to visit the Entertainer website.
© Ben Lowes,
decorations
Baby balloon boxes – Amazon – AED 69 (Prime)
https://amzn.to/3zVpioG
Festival Flower Headbands – SheIn – USD 3 per headband
https://bit.ly/3z3IvUd
Teddy Bear – Amazon – AED 108 (Prime)
https://amzn.to/2X1NUxO
Balloon Arch – Be My Balloon
Instagram: @bemyballoon
© Ben Lowes, cake by Oh Sugar, JLT
edibles
I'd heard about this new cute little set-up in JLT called "Oh Sugar" (now permanently closed) which was exactly what I was looking for.
Oh Sugar sell a selection of sweet treats as well as produce the most amazing cakes (and their café is beautifully set-up too).
I decided to order 20 cookies & a baby shower cake and each detail was chosen to my liking. The service was amazing from start to finish and I went through every detail on WhatsApp (sending messages, pictures etc of exactly what I was looking for to the baker) and no detail went un-noticed, I couldn't have asked for a better set-up.
Cookies (18 normal size, 2 big size) – AED 450
Cake – AED 1,000
© Ben Lowes, Cookies by Oh Sugar, JLT
© Ben Lowes, Nails by Willow Lane, JLT
vlog
Check out the vlog of my Dubai Baby Shower here: