it’s been almost an entire week since our whirlwind gender reveal and we’re still reeling over the reality that we will be having a baby GIRL!!! read on for a recap of the event, some of my favorite vendors who made it happen, and my thoughts on the future as i work on “cooking” my sweet little lady.
i got her gender sealed in an envelope on august 24th. it was absolute torture waiting a whole entire month – but in the end, it was worth every minute! i left for italy the next day, and my father stayed there through september 9th… then he had a trip to south carolina scheduled for the following weekend, which ultimately wound up being cancelled due to the hurricane. basically, he’d be gone almost the entire month of september and we really wanted to make sure he was there for this big moment – so we did what we had to do and it gave me more time to plan this out so that it was super cute!
but first things first – GET RID OF THE ENVELOPE!!!! i knew i couldn’t have that thing anywhere near me, so i dropped it off with my neighbor kat, who helped me plan some of the logistics. thanks, kat!!! now i could plan without a shred of temptation.
i decided on a “what’s the scoop” ice cream social theme! i had adorable e-card invitations designed by jena richer, a graphic designer that was recommended to me by my ‘regular go-to’ gal, who happens to be swamped right now because she’s so awesome! i knew she wouldn’t steer me wrong, and jena absolutely nailed what i had been looking for:
with this as my starting point, i purchased ice cream themed garland, plates, candies and balloons from party city. i had an “old wives tale” chart custom made from this etsy shop which i framed and displayed at the party. i also put baby e.’s sonogram photo into a ‘sneak peek’ picture frame, purchased from this etsy shop! this was a great investment, because it’s currently on my dresser and eventually it’ll move to baby’s room so she can love on her first ever selfie! we hosted our event at brooklake country club, of which we’ve been members for nearly two decades. in fact, i had my sweet 16 birthday party there! talk about a full-circle moment! initially i wanted to have it in my parents’ new backyard (which faces the golf course)… but unfortunately, their condo is still under construction because those things always take longer than expected – so we called an audible and did a brunch theme on the patio at brooklake. it worked out perfectly. kat ordered our confetti cannons from poof! there it is reveals, and then i (somehow) transported the envelope in secrecy over to splurge bakery in millburn, nj. i had been eyeing this bakery forever and i’m TOTALLY going to use them for my baby shower because i told them what i wanted in a cake and they CRUSHED IT. down to the handwriting. i was so impressed by the design (and the flavor!) that i would recommend hiring them for literally any occasion. check out the gorgeous cake they made for us:
we utilized the cake as a second reveal, just to “make sure” it matched up with our confetti. now it’s time for me to toot my own horn… i got super crafty in michael’s and created a “what’s the scoop” voting station! (see picture below) guests put a signed cutout ice cream scoop on top of their chosen cone (team boy or team girl!). i’m not going to lie… this was tedious, but the way it looked on the easel was freakin’ adorable and i was so happy i did it! the entire setup was so sweet. we had candy, display frames, the cake, the easel, and my mom’s incredible “ice cream cone” cupcakes which fit perfectly with our theme. on the corner of the patio ‘lived’ a big ice cream cart, which housed ice cream sandwiches, cones & pops! needless to say, we had enough sweets to go around (and then some).
gina ribando of @infulldetail was there – both as a friend and as our photographer! she took gorgeous photos of our event, the rest of which i’m dropping at the bottom of this entry because there were SO MANY good ones that it became too hard to narrow!!! many thanks to gina for her stellar work at capturing the awe on our faces when the confetti popped.
i’ll be honest with you… we were convinced it was a boy, and i think we had gotten so convinced of it that we actually wanted one! we were in total shock and it definitely took a few minutes to process but now that the dust (or… confetti) has settled, i am in tears almost DAILY (thanks, hormones!) thinking about my little girl. what will she look like? what kind of personality will she have? will she be a blogger in training?!
in all seriousness… raising a woman is a whole different challenge. i want her to be strong. i want her to be opinionated. i want her to be treated right, and when she’s not i want her to stand up for herself. i want for her to be an equal. i want her to be silly and sassy and carefree for as long as possible. i want her to love herself… inside and out, with no reservation. i want her to have goals and dreams and to crush them because she’s fearless. i want her to be open-minded and empathetic – to love others as much as she loves herself. and that being said… i want to have the patience and understanding to bear with her as she navigates all of the above, however she chooses to do so.
and sure – i could say these same things if baby were a boy… but in this day and age especially, being a woman (and raising a woman) is an important job. a job that i’m now realizing i am privileged and humbled to have been selected for.
major THANK YOU’s to our little crew that showed up to cheer us on for the big reveal – having your faces there meant so much, and made our gender reveal that much more fun! scroll down for the event photo album, and follow along on instagram for more major life (and blog!) updates, coming soon! baby girl… we can’t wait to meet you!
