JOURNEY WITH US

Baby shower, september 2021

If you'd have told me this time last year that I'd 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 later and my outlook had completely changed, I was super excited at the thought of the idea and was even holding baby shower meetings with my Dubai bestie, making sure we had each little detail down to a T. It was honestly the most fun I have had in a while and was well-needed during the 8th month of my pregnancy.

Theme

I wanted to go with a colour theme that would be complimentary in the pictures (as it's a special event that I would be looking back on forever) and, as we're having a little boy, there was only one colour for me to wear, blue. So with that settled, I thought white would look like a cute contrast for the guests to wear and it came out really well and looked amazing in the pictures.

With that sorted, we decided to go with a blue/white/cream/neutral colour theme for the decorations and edibles.

VENUE

I set myself a budget of AED 3,500 (£700) for my baby shower and trying to find a venue with everything included (including alcohol) for under this price was difficult (as I still had to budget for a cake, decorations etc). However, we looked for brunch deals that were included on the Entertainer app* and managed to find the most perfect venue within the budget.

BiCe Restaurant 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, 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 I am actually already planning our next visit there as a family when the baby is born as it is suitable for all ages and 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.

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

edibles

I'd heard about this new cute little set-up in JLT called "Oh Sugar" 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

OUTFIT

Dress
SheIn - USD 28
https://bit.ly/38QgIfe

Nails
Willow Lane, JLT - AED 200

vlog

Check out the vlog of my Dubai Baby Shower here: