Dual Gender Shower

Description

I am an event planner and my cousin, the guest of honor, is the principle designer for Three, an invitation/paper product company she owns with her sister and mom. The invitation for the shower was designed by her sister.

My cousin and her husband decided to keep the gender of their baby a surprise but this is their first baby and they had zero baby supplies. As a result, we decided to plan a dual gender shower for both a boy and a girl as opposed to a gender neutral shower. The parents had already picked out the name Layla for a girl and Drake for a boy, so we split the room in two and decorated one table with all things boy and the other all things girl! We tried to split up the foods into "boy" foods and "girl" foods but when my husband saw the veggies on the boy table he promptly informed us that vegetables are NOT boy food. They matched the boy table better so we left them. What does he know anyway?

We did a fondue bar on both tables with veggies, chips and dirt cups on the boy table and fruit, cake balls and tea sandwiches on the girl table.

Since the guest of honor didn't know what she was having, some guests opted to bring money or gift cards instead of gifts. We were prepared with a money "tree" (bird cage) at the sign in table where guests could hang their cards or money.

 Guests were also encouraged to decorate neutral onesies for the baby-to-be. We printed out pictures to help guests with ideas and provided scraps of fabric, an iron and ironing board and a iron-on adhesive for guests to use to decorate.

Design Inspiration

We were inspired by this poem:

What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That's what little boys are made of !"
What are little girls made of?
"Sugar and spice and all things nice
That's what little girls are made of!"

Decorating Style

We went with a rustic style for the boy table and vintage/shabby chic for the girl table.

Project Details

Upon arrival guests were encouraged to choose either a Drake or Layla pin to determine which they thought the baby would be. We made snails for Drake's pin and flowers for Layla's. We used my Silhouette to cut out the leaves for the pins and everything else was assembled by hand.

We also made mustaches and lips to put on straws using the Silhouette machine.

Favorite Items

The DIY pins we made to vote for either "Layla" or "Drake" are my favorite decor from the party. Guests even took their pins home and wore them to the hospital on the day the baby was born! These pins could also work for a gender reveal party.

Advice

We decorated this party on a budget. Most of the decor items you see were a compilation of items from around our houses. I walked through three different hostesses' houses looking specifically for decor that would fall into the "rustic" design category and decor that would fall into the "shabby chic" category. In the end we had more than enough to execute our desired concept.