So, as you probably saw on Instagram/Instastories a couple weeks ago, we did a gender reveal party.
Verdict: We are having a boy!!
I really wanted a gender reveal party, it was my idea, but I am not gonna lie.. I was really nervous. After some planning, I started to get a little uneasy and wanted to find out beforehand, then just surprise the family with what we are having in a fun way. But my sweet hubby loves surprises and stuff like this, so we stuck to the plan where we find out with everyone. To be honest, my biggest fear was what my reaction would be if it turned out to be different than I was expecting. And, considering both Paul and I felt deep in our bones baby Morrison was a girl… we were both shocked when three balloons and blue smoke came out of the box. You can see in chronological order my reaction in the photos below.. haha.
Shocked doesn’t mean ‘not excited’.
It just means different than expected. Have you ever been so sure about something, like you would bet all your marbles on it, and then it turned out to be wrong? That was me all in a matter of .02 seconds. It took me a few seconds to register that everything I had been thinking about and planning for the last three months was irrelevant. Even still, my immediate reaction was excitement in the midst of shock. Much of that was to do with Paul’s twirling dance moves the second he saw blue come out of the box. I will never forget that moment. It energized me, and it got me excited, too.
I literally can’t imagine the letters for GIRL coming out of that box now. I am so READY to be a boy mom. I am ready for a mini version of Paul, and I can’t wait to learn boy things, play soccer and football, camp outside, and play ninjas. I am so ready.
As for the party… our friends and family are AMAZING. We had close family, some friends, and church staff at the home to celebrate with us. I am so thankful for technology, too, because we had multiple people holding phones for our family members who couldn’t be there to be Facetimed in for the reveal, and it was so sweet for them to be part of the day EVEN while hundreds of miles away.
The Reveal
Details on food and decor:
Twinkle, Twinkle Cake- A Sweet Life
This beautiful cake, shown below, was sponsored by local baker, Leigh Gibson, and it was a HIT. I mean, we have all been to parties where the cake is hardly touched… that wasn’t the case at this one. Literally the whole cake was eaten except some of the top tier which was especially gluten free for me and my GF friends! IT WAS SO GOOD. The bottom part of the cake was her amazing French Meringue Buttercream, and word on the street is that it was AMAZING. (I wish I could have tasted it!)
Leigh was wonderful to work with, created such a stunning cake for us, and BONUS it wasn’t just pretty but it was TASTY.
If you have a party coming up, I cannot suggest her enough for your cake.
Other
Colored Popcorn for Popcorn Bar: Mom and Popcorn
Pink & Blue Macarons: Creme de la Cookie
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Banner: Here
Garland: Here
Smoke Bomb: Here
Letter Balloons: Party City
Moon Balloon Set: Here
People To Thank:
My mother-in-law, brother-in-law, future sister-in-law, and aunt & uncle-in-law… they seriously brought to life the party of my Pinterest dreams, and I couldn’t stop saying “thank you”. Jake and Faith put together the amazing gender reveal box and Paul’s uncle helped assemble the logistics of it opening and smoke setting off… it was literally perfect. They are the best, and I cannot believe how much they poured into the day to create such an amazing party for Paul and I. Every detail was so special, all the way down to customized M&M’s… like, they killed it, y’all.
The Johnson Family! Our sweet friends Kyle and Julie opened up their beautiful home for us to have the party at, and we are so so grateful. They are so hospitable, and I couldn’t think of a better host home for such a special day!
And, of course, all of our sweet friends and family who came out to celebrate with us! It was the perfect day.
xoxo- Han
My cute top is from Landry Kate, here. You can wear it as a tunic or a dress, but the small was too short for me to wear as a dress. Size up for dress.
Shoes:
All photos by Cottonwood Road Photography for The Cake by Hannah
The Cake
Table and Decor
Popcorn Bar
Friends and Family
Your mom looks so happy in the next to the last picture, Hannah. God bless you!
Did you guys notice there were only three unmarked pennants in the banner attached to the box?! As opposed to four pennants to spell out “girl”? Just curious if you happened to notice but it seems you were genuinely surprised! Congratulations!! So excited for you two! 🙂
Ha a few people have said that! It’s just an ellipses. Anytime you use a “…” to allude to something unknown, it’s 3 dots. 😉 We didn’t know at all what we were having, and very much thought we were having a girl!
Ohh I see it now! Haha sorry about that! I didn’t realize they were ellipses!
Lol! No biggie- my husband even said something about it 😉
This is adorable in every way! Did the family/friends that put together the box with the boy letters in it know the gender so they could put it together? Prob a stupid question, but I’d love to do something similar one day and was just curious how you went about having the box put together without y’all knowing. Every last detail is just the cutest. I’ve loved following along with your journey!
yes! only my brother in law and his fiancee knew the results, because we gave his name to our doctor to call with the results of our test! they are super creative and nailed the vision I had for the box!
Can you give me a little bit of insight on how they made the box please? LOVE this and would love to try to recreate!
Hey Lexi! I asked my sister in law, and she said they rigged the bomb, connecting it to a string, so that when the lid was opened it would go off. (They are genius haha) The box itself is just a big moving box with a true lid like a shoe box (not down the middle like most moving boxing)
Genius! I did notice that about the box and I tried to look a few places and couldn’t find any with that sort of lid, do you know where they got it? Thank you so much for taking the time to get back to me!
This is the one my MIL said they got! https://www.boxes4u.com/product-detail/0470
Thank you so so much!
Hello, can you tell me what kind of bomb was used & also where it was ordered/bought from? & also how was the bomb rigged to the box?
All of the products I used are linked in this post! My family rigged the box to pull the cap of the bomb off when we lifted the lid off!
As far as I know, the bomb was attached securely to the bottom of the box and then the cap connected to the lid with string.
This is super cute! can you please tell me where you got the smoke bomb from? the link listed above does not work. Thank you!
Hi! I was entirely hands-off in regards to the construction of the box. I was just given the link for what they used specifically. I do however know it was considered a smoke grenade! I hope that helps!
Hey! Where did you get your invitations? They are super cute!
They were actually an E-vite and then my hostess printed it off for a decoration on the table!
hi everything looked beautiful. How did you get the smoke to come out of the box.
If you read through all the comments I have given a lot of insight into how my in-laws made everything happen!
Where did you get the box from? we are having a reveal party next month and I’m going crazy seeing all this awesome ideas, but i have to say the way you guys did it is my favorite by far. Where can I purchase this?
Hey Karen! If you skim through the comments on this post I have links to everything! SO GLAD you love it!!!
Hey hannah! I was wondering where they got the smoke bombs from with strings? I have looked everywhere for them.
They rigged it with a string, but the smoke bombs we used at linked on my post!
I love the gender reveal box. We are doing something Similar. Do you know where they got the box? I cant seem to find a box that has a lid like that and I think its so much easier than the boxes with the 4 flaps. Would love to know. Thanks!!
So Fun!! It is linked in a comment in the thread to someone else who asked!
Hi hannah,
i noticed in the above comments that they rigged the bomb. do you have any info on how exactly they did that? we are having a gender reveal next month and wanted to do something similar!
Other than knowing they attached the bomb to the lid, I don’t know much!
I know you have received a ton of comments on the box rigging but do you know how they kept the latex balloons from popping when the smoke grenade ignited! We have the rigging for it worked out but in our test run the grenade popped the balloons when it lit.
Oh that’s weird! I don’t think that was ever even a thought or issue to be honest. That’s so odd that happened to you!