Baby Chew's Gender Reveal Party

Right after I told C that we were expecting, C told me that he wanted to have a gender reveal party for little baby Chew. I was quite surprised because C would generally not ever want to have a party, but I guess little baby Chew is special ;) 

I was so happy seeing C excited and joyful over it. After all the tough times, it was so nice to see him ecstatically researching gender reveal ideas, and even decor ideas, where to have the party, and more. Of course we were going to pull all the stops to have this, and I thought it was also a wonderful time to share our blessing to our friends and family who have supported us through our journey thus far (especially as you may have read about our baby story). 

So, we found this cute venue called Nourish Cafe on thisopenspace (I use this website often to search for workshop locations), and we fell in love! They also did catering, which was a huge plus so we didn't have to bring in food elsewhere. After finding a date managing all the grandparents' travel plans (LOL), we settled on having it on March 4. Baby Chew was jumping and rolling around the entire time, as if it knew we were celebrating its life that day. 

And of course, since I just needed to have pretty stationery for our little one, I made a minimalist invitation with neutral colors - whites, pale grays and black, and paired it with clean marble patterns + vellum for texture. Had to add a little blind embossing love and letterpress to bring it all together. And of course, mailed to our lovely guests! 

For decor, it was quite simple as the venue itself already looked amazing. We had a collection of white, gray and marble balloons. Our dear friend Heather from Myrtle et Olive crafted these beautiful botanical rings that we hung behind the main dining area, and made small tabletop arrangements to bring the look together. 

For the stations, we had a little place card board with the guests' names, for them to vote whether or not they think Baby Chew is a boy or a girl. We also had an acrylic sign from Paper Birch Designs, where guests could write a few words of blessing for our little one. Then, we had a little Instax station for guests to print photos and write a little bit of advice for us! 

Right before our guests came, we had a mini session to take a few 'family' photos and I'm sure little baby C was posing for the camera at this point. Our lovely friend and photographer Nadia Hung took all of these photos for sure, and we will forever treasure these! 

As guests trickled in, Nourish Cafe started to serve their delicious food and drinks - I seriously cannot believe how delicious everything was! C wasn't able to taste most of them during the event, but he was able to once we got home, and he said it was so good. (Unfortunately, we've still been struggling with his recovery. But God is good and sustained him through the event!) He can only imagine how much better it was when it was fresh. From the appetizers to the 'main course', and desserts, everything was so yummy! I'm still dreaming of those vanilla cupcakes. 

For our gender reveal, we decided that everyone had to work for it, haha! The gender was written on a balloon inside a large box (oops, I bought an extra large one), and it was locked. In order to open it, you'd have to know the combination. So, we asked our guests to form 4 teams, and we were going to play Minute to Win it. Each winner of the Minute to Win it games would draw from a bag, and if it's a hint, then they'll receive one of the directions on the combination! C, Brooke and I had a fun time planning these games. 

We didn't get to play all of the games because Ed was able to figure out the combination after the 6th game, but it was still so much fun! We had people move cookies using their face, from their forehead to their mouth and the first person to finish eating it, won. James, Brooke's husband, was clearly an expert at it, as he finished in less than 5 seconds. Another game we had was to move the M&M's from one plate to the other using a straw. And another was to blow air into a balloon and use the balloon air to knock off cups from the table. Our friend Jesse blew it all in one go, when everyone else hadn't even finished blowing up their balloons! I was sad we didn't get to play the game I thought of - which was to finish popping a 12x12 sheet of bubble wrap, lol! 

So, since Ed figured out the combination, we opened up the box! For a while now, everyone knew that C was hoping for a boy, and my mom had been praying for a boy, too, so it was quite hilarious as we opened the box and the balloon came out, and my mom ecstatically grabbed the balloon and jumped with joy! 

So, it's going to be a boy! Both C and I knew beforehand because we had taken a DNA test around 9 weeks, and it was also confirmed during the ultrasound. But even before that, long before we were even pregnant, I had a dream that we would have a son. It was almost surreal when we found out. But of course it is our heart's desire that the child would love God with all of his heart, and of course be blessed with good health. We can only hope and pray! :) 

We were so blessed to have spent this precious time with our family and friends, and we're so excited that Baby Chew is going to be surrounded with amazing support around us. As I hit the big 3-0 today, I look back at all of the wonderful moments of redemption, just like this event was for us, and I'm so thankful to God for his amazing faithfulness, and his mercies are truly new every single morning. 

Love, 

K