Vintage Inspired Gender Reveal Party

Description

My dear friends, who have struggled with infertility, are expecting their 1st child in October (a boy named Keller), and are moving out of town before the baby is due. Since I couldn't throw them a shower I wanted to help celebrate this baby by throwing them a gender reveal party. After a yummy dinner the gender of the baby was revealed to the parents and guests by everyone biting into a cupcake that had either blue (boy) or yellow (girl) in the center.

By the way....they are having a BOY!

Design Inspiration

I decided to change it up from the typical blue and pink decor of a gender reveal and go with something a little more the mother-to-be's style. She and I both love the vintage styled things that also have a twist of modern to them. 

 

Burlap is kind of everywhere right now, and I'm eating it up. I also love how many different ways mason jars can be used. Since we live in the south I thought using mason jars would add a little southern charm to this shindig. I used mason jars to serve drinks in, as flower vases, and even candle votives.

Decorating Style

I settled on a vintage/rustic look for the party with aqua and yellow as the boy/girl colors. I love parties to have a fun and vibrant, but relaxed feel. 

Project Details

I used burlap, various vintage items I owned, along with aqua and yellow accents to help tie everything together. When I was brainstorming I kept thinking of how sweet white daisies would look with everything, and boy did they. I put some in mason jars wrapped in burlap and ribbon and added some to a white ceramic pitcher to keep that relaxed vibe going throughout the place.

 

To continue with the vintage feel I served sweet tea from a drink dispenser that looks like a giant mason jar (from Pottery Barn), and had small mason jars (from Kroger) with colorful baker's twine and paper straws (from Bake Me A Party on Etsy) for guests to drink from. The drink dispenser also sat on a vintage metal box I recently picked up at a garage sale.

I designed the invites myself. I wanted them to be fun, bright, and really reflect the theme of the party. For the food I served everything on either white or clear glass serving dishes to keep the table monochromatic. My friend, Megan, made the bow on the front door from burlap I already owned and left over ribbon that matched the party's color scheme.

 

 

Since I didn’t have enough corn holders to accommodate 12+ people I used kabob skewers I had left over from a meal I made at Christmas time. I ran out of time to clip the skewers to make them a tad shorter. We had hamburgers and hotdogs for the main course. Get it? Hamburgers. Hotdogs. Girl. Boy.

 

I used cardboard card stock I picked up at Michael’s on sale for the drink and food labels. I simply used stamps and black ink to write out the words. Since we were going vintage I wasn’t worried about perfection with the stamps. Praise the lord for vintage equaling non-perfection. I carried the vintage theme to the backyard by using an amazing vintage soda cooler that my MIL let me borrow for a photo shoot a few days before. We lined it with a garbage bag, added ice, and stored the booze in that bad boy.

 

I made that sweet little chalkboard from a decorative wood plaque I picked up at Michael’s around Christmas time, acrylic paint (I custom mixed) for the yellow, and some Gray Martha Stewart Chalkboard paint (from Michael's).

 

I picked up some small votive holders from the dollar section at Target, and lit up the mantle. I also made a dot garland from some craft paper to add a little color to my very monochromatic mantle. We asked each guest to show their vote on what the baby’s gender was by wearing either a yellow bow or a felt mustache pinned to their shirt. I made the mustaches from stiff black felt, and the bows from yellow ribbon (both from Michael's). I hot glued a safety pin to the back of each so the guests could wear them on their shirts.

Mason Jar Drink Dispenser ::  Pottery Barn

Paper Straws ::   Bake Me A Party

 

 

Favorite Items

My favorite part of the party was the sweet tea station. All of it. I wanted to leave it in my dining room forever, but my husband said no. Everything from the twine around the jars to the vintage metal case under the drink dispenser made me squeal like a little girl getting a pony.

Advice

You can typically find mason jars at your local grocery store during canning season (spring/summer) I think I got 12 jars for $10. Goodwill stores are a great way to find "old/vintage" items for cheap. I found one of my glass cake stands there for $3! Burlap is a girl's best friend. You can use it as a table runner, to make decorative bows (like the one on the front door), to spice up a plain old glass jar, and so much more.

 

If you want to see more of the party you can visit my blog and see the full post at 

www.jenerek.com