Gender Reveal Party!

I apologize for this post being so late, considering our "gender reveal party" was held over a month ago, but spring break is my first chance to finally do the things I want to do! Thank goodness for this week and how it has allowed me to check a million things off my list, while also letting me take time for me (and baby!). 


So here is the story of how we told our families that Baby Woolwine is either a boy or a girl!
I had heard about these gender reveal parties through friends and Facebook about a  year ago and thought, "what a cute idea!". Fortunately, many of those who have thrown them in the past couple years have posted about it on their blogs and I was able to pick and choose from ideas already planted. Thank you to those of you who shared! I also had the help of my mom and mother-n-law to do most of the work, which I am so grateful for. I told them what I wanted and they made it happen - amazing! 


Here's how it played out:


Most of our immediate family lives in Roanoke (our original home) so we decided to have the party there. We knew we would find out Baby Woolwine's gender from the doctor on Thursday, February 23rd (I counted down to this date for many weeks!) and decided to have our family reveal on Saturday, February 25th. It was incredibly hard keeping it a secret for 2 days! My older sister tried to bully it out of me, but I stayed strong and made her wait too. She was not pleased. (love you Nat!). We had considered being in on the surprise ourselves, but decided that we wanted to share that moment together where just the two of us (and the ultrasound technician) knew what we were having. We saved the surprise at the party for everyone else. 


Here are some pictures of the decorations and work our mother's put in:

Our color theme for the party: pink and blue

Ultrasound picture garland

There are multiple ways to share the surprise, as I found through my research, but we decided to go with a cake. The inside of the cake would be colored either pink or blue, but would be hidden by lots of icing and decorations that were gender neutral. I decided to have the cake made by Debbie Lucci in Salem (her cakes are to die for!) and I am so glad I did! The cake was adorable and made my life so much easier on the day of the party. 

The Reveal Cake

We also had snacks and decided to go with the theme of foods I have been craving while pregnant. Naturally, I was happy with this! :)

A menu of the snacks served (lots of chocolate and cheese!)

Mom bringing out more pizza

We played a game where each guest received a card with "old wives tales" on how to predict the gender of the baby. Everyone placed their vote (which they also did through the color shirt they chose to wear) and I tallied it up on the board. The majority voted girl!

7 Boy, 11 Girl

Boy Votes

Girl Votes

Finally, when it was time to cut the cake, we decided to let the grandmother's have the honor. Their faces were priceless. 

And the news the cake revealed?

We're having a .... GIRL!

Being a 5th grade teacher, I also have a class of 20 students who had been more than excited to learn the gender of Baby Woolwine. Literally every day since the day I told them I was expecting, at least two different students would ask "Do you know what you're having yet?" (and it didn't matter how many times I told them I wouldn't know until Feb. 23rd :)

  I decided to share the news with them creatively as well and made cupcakes which contained a pink center. Upon biting into the cupcake, our baby girl's gender would be revealed. 

 I made vanilla cupcakes and then created the center by mixing strawberry jam with cream cheese and adding a few drops of pink food coloring to brighten the shade. Then I used a knife to cut a circle around the top (and only cutting down halfway, I didn't want the pink to seep through to the bottom) and pulling out that piece. I filled it with a spoonful of the jam mixture and then put the top back in place.

 Then I sealed each of the cupcakes with a thin layer of icing to secure the top...

 And finally decorated them with more icing, a few sprinkles, and little baby bottles.

When the students took a bite, this is what they saw! They were incredibly excited. They also wore the color shirt for their vote and I took pictures of those who voted for a boy, and those who voted for a girl, but unfortunately due to privacy cannot post their pictures here (but you can imagine their sweet faces!)

Today marks Week 27 of my pregnancy and the start of the third trimester. I can't believe how fast time is flying by...and how much our love for Victoria Anne (yes, that's her name!) grows each and every day. We are so thankful that she continues to grow bigger and healthier and are praying for her safe arrival in July! 

xo,