A Coconut Party and a Virtual Baby Shower!!

You guys, I woke up to the best surprise EVER yesterday. A large group of blogging friends threw a surprise virtual baby shower for me and Mr J. I just couldn’t believe it. I still can’t to be honest.

Ever since I started blogging 2+ some years ago, I’ve always been lucky to realize that the best part of this journey is the people you meet. The relationships you form, the friendships you make and people you just plain love. After all, we all have a passion for good food and sharing food with others. But never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be this accepted and loved in a community. It’s beyond amazing and just makes you happy to know you have a family of good people out there. And it’s gone well beyond the virtual space we all share. These are real life friends; friends you can text, email or call whenever you need a shoulder to lean on. Friends that can give you advice when you need it and friends that you can just plain laugh with.

These were the people who got together yesterday to celebrate the arrival of our little one with a virtual baby shower and I am beyond grateful for each and every one of them.

In case you were confused, the way these virtual showers work is that everyone brings a recipe to the party and showers the guest of honor with love and well wishes, just like in real life except it’s online. I love these showers because they are truly amazing as we form such wonderful friendships with each other everyday over the interwebs that celebrating one another is just a natural next step.

For this party, the wonderful hosts (and my dearest boos) Allie, Alice and Jocelyn, decided on a coconut themed party because they know I am coco-crazy and cannot stop myself with all the coconut recipes around here. So needless to say, it was just perfect!! I was drooling at 8AM as I went through all the posts.

Blackberry Coconut Cupcakes, by Baking a Moment
Blueberry Coconut Meusli Bars, by The Spiffy Cookie
Blueberry-Ginger Coconut Cheesecake Popsicles, by Floating Kitchen
Caramel Coconut Cluster Bars, by Eats Well with Others
Chocolate Coconut Cake, by Brunch with Joy
Coconut Breakfast Pudding with Sauteed Nectarines, by Cooking and Beer
Coconut Cake, by I am Baker
Coconut Cream Pie Ice Cream, by The Recipe Rebel
Coconut Energy Bites, by The Kitchenarium
Coconut Key Lime Angel Food Cake Roll, by Flavor the Moments
Coconut Key Lime Pie Cookie Bars, by Two in the Kitchen
Coconut Key Lime Macarons, by Life Made Sweeter
Coconut, Lime, and White Chocolate Milkshake, by A Clean Bake
Coconut Pineapple Banana Smoothie, by The Bitter Side of Sweet

It went beyond just coconut in it’s finest glory but it was a tropical party!! There was key lime, mango, pineapple, blackberries, more key lime and more mango! Seriously, when you think of a tropical galore, this party had it all. Sweets (lots and lots of sweets), savory and even drinks made an appearance. I had to share the recipes with you because I know you will LOVE them as much as I did. Think ice cream, cupcakes, muffins, popsicles, fried rice, cake (and more cake), cookie bars, cookies, macarons, donuts, scones, pies (and more pies!), smoothies, sangria and more. All your summer entertaining is covered 🙂

Please take the time to check out ALL the delicious recipes below. You will love them all so pin and save for later.

Coconut Pineapple Fried Rice with Shrimp, by Healthy Nibbles and Bits
Coconut Sweet Potato Muffins, by Luci’s Morsels
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Coconut, by The Cooking Actress
Key Lime Coconut Button Sandwich Cookies, by Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
Key Lime Coconut Pound Cake, by Grandbaby Cakes
Lavender Coconut Macarons, by Broma Bakery
Macaroon Tarts with Ginger Coconut Whipped Cream and Pineapple, by A Cookie Named Desire
Mango Coconut Donuts, by Chez Catey Lou
Mango Coconut Smoothie, by Jessica in the Kitchen
Mango Summer Cake, by Keep it Sweet Desserts
Mini Coconut Cream Pies, by Hip Foodie Mom
Pina Colada Pie, by Life, Love, and Sugar
Skinny Blueberry Lime Scones, by Club Narwhal
Spiced Lentils with Toasted Coconut, by This Gal Cooks
Toasted Coconut Banana Meringue Pie, by The Sweet {Tooth} Life
Triple Coconut Rum Layer Cake, by bethcakes
Tropical Pineapple Coconut Sangria, by Shared Appetite
White Chocolate Coconut Key Lime Cookies, by Culinary Couture

Ladies (and Gent!), THANK YOU very much for the amazing baby shower. I wish we could all have partied together in person. That’s the only way this would have been better. I feel so loved and special and little Blahnik Baby was excited all day long feeling the love. I can’t wait for all of you to meet him soon.

To my boos, Allie, Alice and Jocelyn, thank you chicas for organizing and throwing this wonderful party in my honor. Love you ladies more than you can imagine.