A Nuts or No Nuts Kind of Party
November 13, 2016
As you read my title, I’m sure you were thinking “Nuts or no
nuts. What kind of party is that?” And
no, I’m not talking about a party where you test your sanity. Although, some days I think I need to do that
before I lose my mind. I’m talking about
a Gender Reveal Party. Stop right there,
before you jump to conclusions. (That’s
how rumors spread.) The party was not
for me.
Back in September, my brother, Kelton, and my sister-in-law,
Karissa, revealed to us that they were expecting their first baby, which meant
I would become an aunt for the first time!
Their news was beyond exciting and even as I write this blog post I
can’t help but to think about how amazing they will be as parents and how I
can’t wait to meet my niece or nephew. (I’m not giving away the gender just yet!) You will have to read more to find out!
After they broke the news to us, I immediately volunteered
to host a gender reveal party and a baby shower. I had to jump at the opportunity, after all, I
love planning parties and creating things, and as a future aunt, I knew I would
need to start stepping up! Plus, I felt
like there was a lot of pressure off of me to have a baby now that they are
having one. Karissa’s sister, Courtney,
and my sister-in-law, Heidi, were quick to help volunteer as well. Heidi even volunteered to host the party at
her house. I couldn’t contain my
excitement and I knew we would make a great team!
L-R Courtney, Karissa, Heidi, and me. |
The following weekend, while watching the Kansas City
Chiefs’ game, I tossed around ideas for the party with Heidi and Karissa. We eventually narrowed down the themes to
Bohemian and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
I browsed the internet for ideas, especially Etsy and Pinterest, and created
a couple of idea boards.
Here’s what I came up with for inspiration for the Bohemian
theme.
This is what I came up with for the Twinkle, Twinkle Little
Star theme.
Eventually, Kelton and Karissa decided to go with the
Bohemian theme. I asked them what they
would like at the party and, of course, Kelton didn’t seem to have a
preference. Karissa only asked that we
have everyone vote or say what they thought the baby would be before the
reveal. She also showed me a lantern
idea where the couple revealed the gender by pulling on the lantern and
releasing confetti. Other than those
two ideas, the party plan was all up to us.
I started planning by making a list of trends commonly found
with a Bohemian theme and here is what I came up with:
Feathers
Bows
Arrows
Dream catchers
Tents
Aztec print
Turquoise/pink/gold
I also continued to browse Pinterest and Etsy for other
ideas. I didn’t find anything that I was
100% satisfied with and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. The one thing I was able to decide on was
narrowing down the Bohemian theme to a “Bows or Arrows” theme. So, I drew my own clipart to go with the
theme.
Then I made a to-do list:
Select date
Create guest list
Design invitations (with directions and a surprise card—more
on that later)
Make food/food list
Create games
Create/purchase décor
After Kelton and Karissa selected a date, I got busy
designing the invitations in PowerPoint for everyone to approve. I also found
an idea on Pinterest about having guests bring a book instead of a card for the
party. The post actually used the book
idea for a baby shower, but I wanted to surprise Kelton and Karissa with
something since they would be surprising us with the gender. Here is what they looked like on my computer
(minus the information that is blurred):
Everyone completely approved and loved them, so I finished
up the invitations and mailed them out to everyone on the guest list that they
forwarded to me.
I then made a list (I’m sorry. I really like making lists. I’m the type of person that does something
and if it isn’t on my list, I add it so I can mark it off.) of game ideas,
reveal ideas, décor, food, and paper products needed for the party.
But the planning didn’t stop there. I browsed the isles of Hobby Lobby and Michael’s
and the only thing I was set on were these napkins that I found at Hobby
Lobby.
I also knew I wanted to make the
banners, so I purchased some cardstock and some feathers.
DIY Feather Banner
Materials:
Wax paper
Gold paint
Cup
Feather
String or twine
Hot glue gun
Hot glue sticks
Step 1: Lay out a
piece of wax paper on a flat surface.
This is what you will use to lay the feathers on once you dip them in
gold paint.
Step 2: Squeeze some
gold paint into a cup. I used acrylic
paint. You could also use spray paint
which is pricier.
Step 3: Take a
feather, one at a time, and gently dip the tip of the feather into the gold
paint. As you lift the feather out of
the cup, try to scrape some of the extra paint off of the feather by using the
side of the cup.
Step 4: Lay the
dipped feathers on the wax paper and let dry.
Step 5: When the
feathers are dry, cut a piece of string or twine long enough to make a banner
the length that you wish. Hot glue plain
white feathers along the twine by using the stem of the feather. Then add the gold dipped feathers by evenly
gluing them along the string.
Step 6: Add a quote
or saying onto the feather banner, if desired.
I also used chalk markers to create a series of chalkboards
and chalk signs for the party. I love
chalk markers!
My two favorite things from the party were the confetti lantern
and the m&m’s idea. The m&m’s
idea consisted of taking peanut m&m’s and plain m&m’s, putting them in
separate containers, and labeling them as “nuts” and “no nuts”. Believe me, I made sure my brother and
sister-in-law approved of this before I did it, but if that doesn’t portray
sibling humor, then I don’t know what does.
Heidi, Courtney, and I also narrowed down our game list to
only three games. We decided on a voting
board, our version of Mad Libs, which was just a fill-in-the-blank paper, and
advice cards. I designed these in
PowerPoint as well.
Karissa had also been texting me stating that she was
wondering what we would be doing for the reveal portion. She stated the lantern she wanted was about
$100 on Etsy and she didn’t want us to spend that much money. I told her to send me a picture of it and not
to worry about it. So, I began making
the lantern as well. I also panicked
that the weather may be bad the day of the party (you never know what the
weather will be in Missouri), so I told her I would make a cake to go with the
lantern.
DIY Confetti Lantern
Materials
Paper lantern
Gold mylar fringe
Duct tape (white and gold)
Wire
Nut container (I started with an oat container, but it didn’t
seem durable enough)
Hot glue gun
Hot glue sticks
Head over to Funny
Beautiful for a great tutorial on how to make a gender reveal confetti
lantern! I made a few minor changes, including using a nut container and using duct tape to get the most out of the mylar fringe, as you will see in my pictures below.
In the meantime, they received the results from their
genetic test. Originally, the plan was
that they were not going to find out the gender and they would be surprised
with everyone, but they couldn’t wait.
They read the results of the genetic test and we couldn’t help but to
ask a million questions trying to figure out the gender of the baby. They wouldn’t cave and, honestly, I didn’t
want to know the gender yet anyway.
Since I was the one making the lantern and the cake, I was going to find
out before everyone anyway. I told them
I didn’t want to know the gender until the week before the party because I
wouldn’t be able to contain the information for long. So, the week before the party, my brother
called me to tell me the gender while my husband and I were playing golf. Honestly, I don’t think I will ever forget
that moment. There’s no greater feeling
than being able to talk to your brother about him becoming a father, especially
when you can vision the gender of the baby and what he will be doing with his
son or daughter. (Sorry. I’m not going to reveal the gender until the
end!)
After I found out the gender, I ordered tissue paper
confetti from Amazon. (Thank goodness
for Amazon as well.) I also made the
cake and froze it until I was ready to ice it the day before the party. Heidi, Courtney, and I then decided we would
have a bunch of snack-like, appetizer foods for the party. We divided and conquered the food list and we
were ready to party and reveal the gender!
Here are some pictures from the party.
0 comments