The Baker Beat: Our Gender Reveal Party!

When Jason and I found out we were pregnant, we both knew we wanted to find out the sex of the baby before he/she was born. However, we thought it would be really fun to share the moment with our family. I had heard of people doing the colored cake reveal, but I wanted something that was a little more visible for everyone to see. I love balloons and thought they would be such a fun way to reveal our baby's sex.

Early Friday morning, we had our 20 week ultra sound. I was definitely nervous and praying for a healthy baby. The ultra sound went great - our tech was so nice and totally put me at ease. It was so fun to see our baby, as it had been two months since our last ultra sound. Our baby was not cooperating and being stubborn (of course) and was on its head the whole time. However, the baby was moving around like crazy and the ultra sound tech was not surprised that I had been feeling kicks for 3-4 weeks already. Our baby has super long arms (91st percentile...legs only in the 48th) and a 'big belly', already weighing in at 13 oz. She said our due date is closer to Sept. 23rd now, but they don't change due dates after the first trimester, so I'm still staying with the 28th. The doctor confirmed a 'perfect baby', which was all I wanted to hear. They then wrote the baby's sex on a card and put it in a sealed envelope, along with a picture of 'the parts.'

All day Friday I starred at the envelope with our baby's sex in it. It was torture to just have it sitting there. We had previous plans for Friday night, so we had to wait until Saturday night for our reveal party.

On Saturday morning, we brought a big cardboard box to the local party supply store and asked them if they could fill the box up with balloons. They looked at us like we were crazy. We then explained how we had this card in a sealed envelope with our baby's sex written on it. We wanted them to open it, fill the box with the appropriate colored balloon depending on the sex, and the tape up the box. They then looked at us like we were even crazier. One guy even said, "Are you serious?" But, they did agree to go along with our odd request!

Finally the time came for our family to arrive. It was our first time hosting a big event in our new house, so that made the whole night even more exciting. Here is a picture display of the evening:

The box of balloons

Pink Lemonade and Blue Punch

Cupcakes made by my sister, Mel.
(All pictures are also courtesy of Mel)

Here we are making our tally marks for boy or girl:

I wore pink for girl; Jason blue for boy.

From 8 weeks on, Jason had called a boy. I had no inclination until about 12 weeks, when I started thinking girl. I really thought we were having a girl. However, at 19.5 weeks, I had a doctor's appointment, after which I started thinking boy. Then, after our ultra sound at 20 weeks, I thought boy even more. I still wore pink since I had thought girl the longest.


Right before we opened the box! Final tally: Boy 7, Girl 8

We each cut our side of the tape, ripped off the center strip of tape together, and on the count of 3, we opened the box. This is what came flying out...


Love our reactions!

This is my mom's reaction...she has 3 daughters, 2 granddaughters, and is terrified that my sister (who is 6.5 weeks ahead of me and not finding out) and I are both going to have a boys.