Last weekend, I co-hosted a baby shower for a dear friend and I’m so excited to share the story book themed menu for the afternoon event. I was “inspired” after seeing another baby shower decorated in this theme. As part of this theme, we used actual books to decorate and at the end of the party, we packed them up in a bag and sent them home with the mom-to-be as the start of a book collection for the little one on their way.

The original food plan for the baby shower had been to get outside catering but a couple weeks before the event, I thought it would be fun to stretch myself creatively by putting together a storybook themed menu and doing some (but not all) of the cooking from scratch.

In the my post today, I am sharing my personal take. My storybook themed menu is designed for an afternoon baby shower at my home. Below you’ll see all the dishes included in the spread and my approach to them

Storybook Themed Menu for an Afternoon Baby Shower

The menu I’ll share today is entirely vegetarian (like me) but also contains selections for vegans, folks with gluten intolerance and common allergies. To make the selection extra friendly to the mother-to-be, I prioritized dessert options where I didn’t have to worry about eggs being cooked to a safe temperature and explored relatively lower sugar (but not no sugar) options.

Savory Dishes

“Green Eggs, No Ham”, Green Eggs and Ham

With the help of some friends, I made deviled eggs in honor of Dr. Seuss’s classic, Green Eggs and Ham. We added basil puree to the yolk mixture which gave it a green tinge (not very visible in the picture) but ultimately we ran out of time to add spinach or cilantro puree which would have given the eggs a brighter green color. Also, please excuse the piping, we were down to the wire.

Despite all this, the spirit of the book came through and as expected, they were a huge hit.

“Yellow Dot Cheese Crackers”, Press Here

Press Here by Herve Tullet is one of my family’s favorite books to read aloud together. Also important, it seemed easy to bake something that resembled yellow dots. As a baking a project a few days before the party, my toddler and I made the dough for The Splendid Table’s “Cheddar Cheese Coins” and I stuck it into the freezer. The night before, I popped one of the logs into the fridge to defrost and the morning of the party, I baked up half the recipe. They were very popular and now I have extra dough in the fridge for a future gathering.

“Caterpillar Veggie Wraps”, The Very Hungry Caterpillar

In honor of Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is another favorite book in our family, I made veggie wraps. I took spinach tortillas and filled them with hummus, shredded cabbage, shredded carrot, sliced bell peppers and a drizzle of zhoug for heat. They were fresh and crunchy (a nice contrast from richer dishes on the menu) and I ate the extras/end bits for lunch the following day. By prepping the vegetables in advance, they were also very fast to assemble the day-of.

An alternate wrap I considered was a tortilla pinwheel with a cream cheese and vegetable filling, similar to these Fiesta Pinwheels. Regardless of what types of wrap you pick, I would make thinner slices than I did for this party as they will be more befitting of tea time. Besides wraps, I also briefly considered caterpillar cake (ala Great British Bake Off) or a spread of all the foods that the very hungry caterpillar ate in the book. Candidly, the book could probably be the basis of a menu on its own.

Unfolded Tacos, How to Fold a Taco

If I am honest, I conceived the dish before I selected a book to go with it. I knew I wanted to make some kind of taco appetizer and decided on a mini-variant of a taco I regularly make at home. As the featured book, I decided on How to Fold a Taco by Naibe Reynoso because the story and illustrations are absolutely charming and adored that it was a bi-lingual book! I’ll have to check this out of the library for my little one.

In terms of constructing my unfolded tacos, I filled Tostitos Scoops (cup shaped tortilla chips) with Amy’s refried black beans, seasoned and roasted sweet potato cubes and then dollops of my homemade cilantro, tomatillo and avocado salsa.

“Popcorn Snow”, The Snowy Day

I really wanted to include The Snowy Day, written by Ezra Jack Keats, as part of the decor because it happens to be one of my son’s favorite books. He especially likes the scene where Peter smacks the snow covered tree with a stick and the snow plops onto his head. To commemorate this book, my friend made little bags of homemade popcorn which were perfect for snacking on during the games phase of the baby shower.

Other snow themed foods could be yogurt covered pretzels or snowflake cookies.

Sweet Dishes & Refreshments

“Blueberry Tart for Sal”, Blueberries for Sal

I don’t have strong memories of “Blueberries for Sal” by Robert McCloskey from my childhood but a month ago, I bought this book for my little one and we both fell in love with it. The duality of the story of the Sal and the little bear cub is very sweet.

This blueberry tart was one of my stretch desserts and I fully channeled Great British Bake Off while making the tart crust a couple nights before the party. I adapted an almond and white flour tart crust recipe I found in The Baking Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. The process of making the tart crust became slightly stressful as I did not fully process that her recipe was for a 9-inch tart pan whereas I was trying to fill a 10 inch tart pan. I mostly made it work and in any case, the crust was so thin, Mary Berry would have been proud.

I spread a layer of lightly sweetened, full-fat greek yogurt flavored with vanilla extract onto the tart crust before covering it with fresh blueberries. Custard and lemon curd were also considered filling options but between the high effort of making a homemade version and too much sugar in storebought versions, the Greek yogurt filling was a perfect option.

This tart, ended up being a hit, from both a visual and taste perspective. It is on my list to write up the recipe for this at some point because I honestly would make it again in a heartbeat.

In case tarts aren’t your thing, anything involving blueberries could also work. Blueberry cobbler, pie or even a bucket of fresh blueberries could be entirely on theme.

“Frances’ Bread and Jam”, Bread and Jam for Frances

Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban is a classic book about a sweet picky badger. I love all things afternoon tea so I decided to convert the central dish of the book into little tea sandwiches. They ended up being so popular and I saw many people (myself included) going back to the food spread to pilfer a tea sandwich.

While the flavors are simple and the method is easy, the devil is in the details. It’s important to use high quality butter and jam as their flavor will stand out. To make the sandwiches, I spread a generous layer of softened and whipped salted cultured butter (read: the fancy kind) onto slices of thinly sliced white bread. On one side, I spread a light layer of strawberry jam atop the buttered surface and then add the other piece of buttered bread. In true tea sandwich style, I cut the crusts off and then cut each sandwich into 4 squares. To prevent the bread from drying out, I kept the sandwiches covered until the party.

“Ginger Baby Mocktail”, Gingerbread Baby

My lovely friend made a divine gingery, minty, lemony mocktail which was definitely the showstopper of the drink world which paired nicely with Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. While I don’t have the exact recipe, a ginger mocktail is a fun refreshing choice that everyone, including the mom-of-honor can enjoy.

Storebought Items

“Maisy’s Lemonade”, Maisy Makes Lemonade

As a second drink, I bought some of the pretty bottles of Trader Joe’s lemonade to go with the popular Maisy Makes Lemonade by Lucy Cousins. Between the mocktail and cans of Spindrift, I’m not sure this was totally necessary but your mileage may vary. It could also be a good basis for a lemonade bar.

“Mouse’s Cookies”, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

My friend brought the most amazing cookies from a local bakery to honor “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” by Laura Numeroff, a book that we both loved as children and now, one that her toddler loves. All the cookies, especially the jam print ones were huge hits.

“Madeline’s Madeleines”, Madeline

I bought some storebought Madeleine’s to commemorate one of my favorite childhood books, Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans. Apparently, you can freeze madeleines so if I ever do this again, I’d try making them from scratch.

Other story book menu ideas that I didn’t get to making

Here are a couple other ideas that didn’t make the cut for this time but are worthy considerations if you choose to do a storybook theme.

• “Haupia Squares from the Coconut Tree”, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
• “Neela’s Tomato Chutney”, Tomatoes for Neela
• Cocktail sized “Meatballs” or “Neatballs”, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs