Q: I am throwing a surprise bridal shower for my future sister-in-law. Her wedding colors are brown, pink, and ivory and I would like to use that color scheme in both the food, decorations, and party favors.
Do you have any suggestions that will use those colors and feature in-season produce — especially for "cute" extras (like special drinks, ice cubes, cupcake decorations, etc.).
Sent by Nicole
Editor: Nicole, depending on the shade of pink you're looking for, these pale pink cupcakes, medium-pink strawberry cake, or hot pink raspberry cake could work.
Readers, what else would you recommend to Nicole? Any creative ideas in that color scheme?
Related: 17 Hot Pink Recipes from The Kitchn
(Image: Faith Durand)
Red-and-Pink-Stripe...

Raspberry brownies! The Hershey's Best Brownie recipe is a personal favorite-instead of nuts mix in chocolate chips and add some raspberry extract. Then top with fresh berries. Yum.
Neapolitan cake, of course!
Smitten Kitchen's Cherry Brown Butter Bars were more loved by my friends than any dessert I've ever made, but it's original version (from Bon Appetit) utilized raspberries instead of cherries. I think this would be perfect!
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/06/cherry-brown-butter-bars-new-video-project/
Well, the first thing that came to my mind was chocolate cake of some type decorated with pink and/or ivory colored frosting but maybe that seems obvious. How about root beer floats (brown and ivory) served in pink glasses with pink straws? Those colors definitely lend themselves to ice cream, so how about a sundae bar?
Search based on color, on this supplier site, and that should give you some ideas:
http://www.fancyflours.com/
Peppermint stick ice cream is lovely for pink, AT just posted a yogurt lassi which is ivory, and for brown, maybe a coffee drink?
Iced coffee. Make ice cubes with the coffee. Serve with milk/cream over the icecubes in a glass. Add Kahlua, Irish cream etc to make it alcoholic.
A pretty bowl with yogurt covered and chocolate covered raisins.
Pink and ivory cake pops in a low square vase with coffee beans as the rocks to hold them in place. Or coffee beans with a votive in the middle (it'll smell delicious)
http://indulgy.com/post/NCQ2P65lD1/coffee-bean-candle-display
Second the smitten kitchen brown butter bars, they are AMAZING!
I second the Neapolitan cake suggestion --
http://sweetapolita.com/2011/01/neapolitan-5-layer-birthday-cake-with-strawberry-frosting/
Check this out too:
http://www.studiodiy.com/2012/06/18/neapolitan-cake-tasting-party-supply-guide/
I just finished my sister's bridal shower this weekend and the colors were pink, lime green and navy, so I can at least share some pink ideas.
For the food table, we got a pink dollar store tablecloth and placed an ivory lacy tablecloth over it, so we got the color, but the lace dressed it up. Also, I saved wine bottles, cleaned them out and used them for beverages, including pink lemonade (which were in clear bottles)-- got this idea from the YoungHouseLove blog at their wedding.
I made two cakes, a chocolate with mocha filling and a white with strawberry filling (mixed whipped cream & spreadable strawberry fruit) and the frosting was pink- one was ruffled frosting and one was multi shades of swirls.
You could also make some kind of trifle with strawberries and mix the whipped cream with some juice to look pink. Jello in some kind of bridal shapes mold might be a good idea. And punch is always a big hit- get red/pink Hawiian punch, add lemon-lime drink & a lighter colored sherbert.
As for produce, try strawberries, rasberries, watermelon, etc, depending on the season.
You can also cut some twigs off a tree, paint them pink (cheap paint works) and make a centerpiece/decoration. And I got helium balloons in all the colors to decorate with.
http://elevatingbrilliance.blogspot.ca/2011/06/simply-sweet-neapolitan-inspired-bridal.html
http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/230986/striped-wedding-details/@center/285523/wedding-themes#/301756
http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/230986/striped-wedding-details/@center/285523/wedding-themes#/129186
Oh you can actually find the ruffle cake style at the same site mschatelaine posted.
I've been slightly obsessed with boston cream pies. You could easy put some red food coloring into the yellow cake and tada, brown, white and pink.
I saw a really cute milk and cookies party on pinterest where they had neopolitan milk - chocolate, strawberry and regular milk in glass drink dispensers. So cute, and milk pairs so well with a dessert table if you don't make it too sweet.
I might be repeating but it just dawned on me that you could do all 3 with meringue cookies. I know some people make a strawberry version.