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.