We hosted our gender reveal party at our house this past Sunday. Our families traveled from all over the state and from two other states to be there to celebrate with us. It was great having both sides of our families together– something that hasn’t happened since our wedding nearly 3 years ago.
I’ll warn you: this post is photo heavy. So get your scrolling finger ready. But don’t scroll too fast– take it all in.
I started prepping for the gender reveal party about a month in advance– starting with the invitations. I found this invitation on Etsy and used it as my inspiration for the paper products for the party. My friend, Erin, tweaked the design to make it look how I wanted it to and also helped make other paper products (signs and food label tents) for the party based off of the invitation. I had the invitations printed onto card stock (2 invites per page). I cut them out and mailed them in 5×7 envelopes I bought at JoAnn Fabric.
The buffet was the focal point of the gender reveal party. I wanted there to be a pink side and blue side so I made the fabric backdrop to hang behind the buffet. I also made blue and pink tissue paper poms, onesie cut out cookies, and chocolate cake pops. And the gender reveal cake went in the middle.
The cake was decorated to match the paper products. Which worked out perfectly with my inspiration cake from Christina’s gender reveal.
I decorated the dining room table with tissue paper poms. I also made some circle paper garland and hung it in our pass through that goes to the kitchen.
Our entryway table is where I set up the welcome station. I used Ikea frames to display the Old Wives’ Tale print, “Blue or pink, what do you think?” print, sonogram photos of the nugget, and blue bow tie and pink bow pins. My friend, Jacque, helped me with the paper cut outs for the pins (tutorial coming soon). My best friend, Natalie, showed up the evening before the gender reveal party with a bouquet of tulips and a bouquet of baby’s breath. I think the baby’s breath looked great on the entryway table– it was also fitting.
Guests were instructed to wear their guesses.
Before our guests left, I put extra onesie cut-out cookies out on the entryway table for them to take home as favors. The cellophane bags the cookies were packaged in were the same bags I used to package the cookie favors from our wedding. It pays to hoard.
Since the gender reveal party was at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, we offered light refreshments. One of our friends is the COO of a local catering company, Black Plate Catering, so I asked if he could provide some of the food (I paid him, obviously). If you live in the Indy area check them out– the food is amazing. He prepared some of the my favorites: dilled chicken salad, sun-dried tomato dip, creamy basil dip, feta ranch dip, and an awesome cheese and fruit tray. My aunt made meatballs and spinach dip and Brad’s aunt prepared a veggie tray.
For drinks, we had pink lemonade, blue punch, water, and wine (not pictured). I also put out pink and blue paper straws and Sharpies (so people could write their names on their cups).
In case you’re wondering where everything came from, here’s the source list.
cake: Confectioneiress Cupcakes & Sweets
cake stand: Macy’s (wedding gift)
fabric backdrop: made by me (tutorial found here)
tissue paper poms: made by me (tutorial found here)
cake pops: made by me (tutorial found here)
onesie cut out cookies: made by me
onesie cookie cutter: Dash and Dollop
paper bow ties and bows: made by me with help from Jacque
white picture frames: Ikea
food: Black Plate Catering, my aunt, Brad’s aunt
white serve ware: Bed Bath and Beyond (wedding gifts)
paper plates, napkins, and cups: Walmart
pink paper straws: HomeGoods
blue paper straws: Amazon.com
drink dispensers: Kirkland’s
I think everyone had a good time at the gender reveal party. They seemed happy when they left. Brad and I had a fun time catching up with family members and celebrating our nugget boy.
I will say, this preggo was beat once the last person walked out the door.
Valerie says
April 2, 2014 at 8:23 AMLooks great! Congratulations!! Any tips for making those poms! Yours came out great! I’m trying to make some for a wedding shower but am feeling intimidated.
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
April 2, 2014 at 9:42 AMThanks! I’m most likely going to do a tutorial on how I made mine. Hopefully I get it posted before your wedding shower. My biggest tip for first-timers is to find a YouTube video on how to make them so you can see it in action.
Lauren says
April 2, 2014 at 8:35 AMCongratulations! Your party looks amazing!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
April 2, 2014 at 9:43 AMThanks so much!
Lisa says
April 2, 2014 at 8:40 AMEverything looks lovely, but I can’t help but wonder why you didn’t order the invitations directly from the Etsy seller instead? It seems wrong to copy the design like that.
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
April 2, 2014 at 9:04 AMThanks! I didn’t order them from the seller because they weren’t exactly what I wanted (different wording and fonts) and I wanted to do more paper products using the invitation as the basis. I link to the seller in the post so others can order from the seller if they’d like to do so, so it’s not like I’m trying to be sneaky about it. If I was trying to be sneaky I wouldn’t have linked to her at all. It’s kind of the same idea as why didn’t I order my cake from the baker who made my inspiration cake.
Carolina Charm says
April 2, 2014 at 9:05 AMChelsea! This is seriously the most amazing gender reveal party I have EVER seen!!! Bravo, friend! And a HUGE congrats on a bouncing baby BOY!!!! So excited for y’all! xo
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
April 2, 2014 at 9:45 AMThank you! Can’t wait to see pics of your little girl!
Shantel Hickle says
April 2, 2014 at 9:18 AMEverything looks amazing! You did a great job with all the details!!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
April 2, 2014 at 9:45 AMThanks so much, Shantel!
Rachel says
April 2, 2014 at 9:28 AMWhat an incredible party! I’m kind of tired just thinking about all the work you put into it . . . but you did a beautiful job. So excited for you and Brad and your little boy!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
April 2, 2014 at 9:47 AMHah! I was kind of tired just thinking about all the work I did. I kept saying to Brad, “Well, at least I won’t have to do this again for another year for the first birthday party.” I don’t know how party planners do it.
mary says
April 2, 2014 at 9:31 AMjust wondering.. I thought I read you wanted to be surprised at the party also, so did you somehow tell the baker what color to make the inside of the cake without yourself knowing what color it should be?
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
April 2, 2014 at 9:37 AMMy doctor’s office gave us a sealed envelope with the nugget’s sex written inside. We gave the envelope to the baker who colored the icing to match the sex. So we didn’t know the sex until we cut into the cake.
Paulina Dragoeva says
April 2, 2014 at 9:44 AMIt looks amazing! Great job and congratulations for the baby boy! I wish you all the best! 🙂
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
April 2, 2014 at 9:47 AMThanks, Paulina!
Cranberry Morning says
April 2, 2014 at 10:34 AMIt’s a BOY!!! Congratulations. And what an amazing party. Looks absolutely lovely. And boy did you keep us in suspense all the way through this post! 🙂
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
April 2, 2014 at 11:14 AMI posted on Monday that it’s a boy. 🙂 https://www.twotwentyone.net/2014/03/its-a/
Jess @ Little House. Big Heart. says
April 2, 2014 at 10:48 AMCongrats on a baby boy! The party looks like it was so much fun! And I love that you found out at the same time as your family… That’s how I want to find out as well (although, if Kevin gets his way we won’t find out at all).
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
April 2, 2014 at 11:15 AMBoooo, Kevin.
Trina @ Let's Just Build a House says
April 2, 2014 at 11:56 AMit’s beautiful! I love the poms and the backdrop the best. you did good lady!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
April 2, 2014 at 1:48 PMThanks so much!
Lori says
April 2, 2014 at 4:01 PMEverything looked very nice! I still chuckle to myself at how different things are nowadays compared to when we were having babies! Our gender reveal was a doctor in the delivery room yelling “It’s a >>>” and then dad running out of the room to tell the family, and they ran to find a pay phone and 10 cents to make a call to grandma, who then called Aunt Mabel, who called Cousin Ted….well you get the idea! LOLOL!!
[email protected] says
April 2, 2014 at 4:08 PMThis is seriously so adorable! I love gender reveal parties! So fun!
Danielle says
April 2, 2014 at 5:27 PMYou totally knocked this party out of the park! Again, congrats on the little boy!
[email protected] says
April 2, 2014 at 8:18 PMThis turned out so awesome. I love that you really used the pink and blue EVERYWHERE. The drink station is awesome but that food backdrop is my total favorite. The fabric strips are genius and I love the variety of parents. I may have to try something similar for Henry’s birthday party backdrop. Feeling inspired.
Charmane says
April 2, 2014 at 9:39 PMCongrats! The party was beautiful and boys are so much fun!
Robin Anders says
April 3, 2014 at 1:23 AMSo cute! One of the best reveal decor I have seen. You worked hard and it payed off, I am sure your guest had a great time. Congrats on you son!
Kate says
April 3, 2014 at 10:31 AMSeriously, this is perfection. I absolutely love everything. My gender reveal is May 4th and while I live in Florida, I would be interested to know more about purchasing the pom poms and fabric banner. 🙂
Congratulations on your baby boy! He’s going to be so well loved!
Desiree says
April 3, 2014 at 4:22 PMThis is amazing!! you are so talented. I pinned almost every picture for future reference! =]
Katie says
April 3, 2014 at 6:19 PMLooks like you guys had a fun party and yay for boys!!!
jackie says
April 6, 2014 at 7:48 AMSo cute! Looked amazing,Congratulations!
Andrea Worley says
April 7, 2014 at 12:37 AMAdorable party! And… congrats on the baby boy!
Ester says
April 9, 2014 at 9:23 PMWOW! I gotta say I recently ran into your bridal blog (Our wedding is 4/26/14 eek!) and I have loved going through your posts as a stress reliever. Congratulations on your little bundle of joy. God bless! -EM
Brittaney @ Hudson's House says
April 9, 2014 at 10:13 PMI love this so much. I bet you guys had so much fun. Did you know the gender before you cut the cake? If not, did you guys video the moment? I am dying to see!!! Everything is adorable, I’m so excited for you guys!
Jen says
August 3, 2014 at 2:31 PMDid you sell your gender reveal items yet?
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
August 3, 2014 at 6:07 PMYes. Sorry about that– I’ll update it in the post.
Carissa says
February 16, 2015 at 9:39 AMI used your tutorials for the tissue paper poms and for the fabric backdrop to make them for our gender reveal party this weekend! Thanks for the helpful directions and ideas – your party looks beautiful!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
February 16, 2015 at 8:40 PMAwesome! So glad you found the tutorials to be helpful! Congrats!
Gillian adie says
May 17, 2015 at 3:58 AMFabulous. We don’t have these parties in UK but wish we did. Everything was just perfect you are so talented.
Celia says
August 7, 2015 at 5:51 AMHi, Was your cake covered in fondant, or just buttercream?
Thanks
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
August 7, 2015 at 9:33 AMButtercream. While it’s pretty, I’m not a fan of fondant. 🙂
Erin @ Stay At Home Yogi says
January 25, 2016 at 8:05 AMThat fruit and cheese platter looked AMAZING. If I had been anywhere near one of those when I was pregnant it would have been history! lol
Congrats on your baby boy 😉
Elaine says
February 16, 2016 at 11:22 PMChelsea, did you use your own icing for the onesie cookies, or store bought?
Katie says
May 4, 2016 at 7:55 AMSilly question- but how did you make the paper garland, just thread through with string?
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
May 5, 2016 at 4:02 PMI used my sewing machine to sew through each circle and create the garland.
Dayanny says
October 11, 2016 at 4:04 PMPerfeito! amei todas as ideias!!!! lindo!
theresa says
January 21, 2017 at 7:54 PMThe picture frames with the adorable prints in them…… did you make them??? Could you send them to me??
Tiana says
March 13, 2018 at 10:37 AMI was wondering if you could let us know what icing recipe you used for the cookies it looked really nice!