Gender Reveal Party!

We decided we wanted to throw a gender reveal party once we found out we were pregnant...since they're all the rage right now =) After telling them family mom said she and dad wanted to help...I think she was hoping I would tell her early what we were having! The hardest part was determining who we would invite..even just limiting to family could have potentially made for a huge party! All of Anthony's family lives here while all of my family either in North Carolina, Ohio, or California. We came to the conclusion to only have the grandparents-to-be and great grandparents-to-be come for the family and then we also invited a few close friends. I hated having to limit family, but there is just no cut-off point and we would have ended up having to book the fellowship hall at church!

The party was scheduled for Sunday the 16th at 2:30 in the afternoon. That gave Anthony and I 4 whole days to keep the secret between just the 2 of us =) it was nice, but hard at the same time!Everyone kept trying to get us to slip up and say "he" or "she" and it was actually much harder than I thought to keep from spilling the beans!! I kept saying "trust me,  it's just as hard to know and not say anything as it is for you not to know".

We originally wanted to have the party at our house, but once we started figuring up who all would there, we realized there was no way our little house would comfortably fit everyone. The party ended up being at my mom and dads and it worked out pretty well. Mom and dad rearranged some of the furniture so that everyone would have a place to sit, and I attempted to decorate a little. There was also WAY too much food..but that's alright we had leftovers for the next few days =) Rather then revealing with cake or cupcakes, we decided to reveal the gender with a box of balloons.

**A note to those of you who might plan on doing the balloon reveal or just need a large box: we asked a bunch of stores and dad ended up getting Academy Sports to save him 2 from one of their shipments. Anthony and I found out when we went to Party City to get balloons that they have a big cardboard dumpster that they throw tons of boxes (of all sizes) away in. The lady blowing up our balloons mentioned that the dollar store had a cardboard dumpster as well.**

Once everyone was finished eating and we fellowshiped for a bit, I shared the prayer quilt my Aunt Debbie had made for the baby and brought down during her and Uncle Mike's Labor Day weekend visit (I'll post a separate blog about that). Then of course mom shared a few things and made everyone cry, thanks mom! After that we all headed outside for the big reveal.

We gathered at the end of the driveway so mom and dad's big oak trees wouldn't get in the way and then proceeded to cut open the box....as soon as we opened it all of the BLUE balloons flew out and everyone cheered!! It was so fun to see everyone's reaction!! Pretty much everyone, minus a few friends and family, decided to head back home. The rest of us went back inside since it was hot and we shared the outfit we had bought to bring Baby B home in. We all just kind of hung out for a but and then decided it was time to clean up. I'm glad we ended up throwing the reveal party. I'm not sure I would do it with every child as it took some planning and getting ready for, but I'm glad we did it.

 

 

 

 

...Now, if we could just decide on a name!