Amazon let me down! I ordered my party supplies and they arrived just as the party finished. I didn’t let that ruin the day. Oh no, I took to Pintrest and I got my sister to help me out with her Guide Leader experience.
I hadn’t wanted the party to be a big deal. Just a get together with my best friends and immediate family so I could share our good news altogether. Most importantly, I wanted the focus to be about Noah becoming a big brother.
Food
I had some amazing idea boards on Pinterest and had fallen in love with the idea of a Mad Hatters tea party theme. I ran out of time for that so had to come up with a new idea.
My table spread consisted of:
- Healthy snacks – fruit (nectarines, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries) and vegetables for dips and snack cucumbers
- Savoury snacks – cheese pizza, chicken nugget (with ketchup in egg cups) and crisps
- Sweet snacks – selection of cakes and biscuits
The juice jug was a titled jug. I used Mr Kipplings cakes as they are sealed (prevents kids poking them before they have committed to eating them).
The centre piece was a cake from Morrisons with a surprise center (multi coloured sweets) and I just added a ‘Girl or Boy?’ cake topper bought from Etsy.
By putting the healthy stuff at the front, the children were encouraged to eat the fruit and veg – it worked! They were the first be eaten.
Activities
We had a number of activities for the kids in celebration of a new baby. These were:
Little bean
You will need:
- egg carton
- soil
- runner bean seeds
My sister brought soil, beans and an egg carton. She cut the carton up to make little pots for each of them to grow their own (runner) bean. They put soil in their carton and planted their bean and watered it.
Baby face plates
You will need:
- paper plates
- a section of craft bits i..e pens, pencils, crayons, glue, fluffy balls, fuzzy bendy wires
My sister had brought a ‘one I made earlier’ plate for the children to see what they could achieve. They then each had a paper plate and used pens, glue and fluffy bits and paper to decorate their plate and make a baby face.
Volcano – gender reveal
You will need:
- a tray
- a small bottle (i.e. Robinsons fruit shoot)
- 1 cup bicarbonate of soda (baking soda in US)
- 200ml vinegar
- food colouring (pink/blue – depending on the gender)
- measuring jug
- measuring cups
The children really came to my rescue as they helped with an activity I had never done before.
- I added the secret ingredient before we started and secured the bottle (Robinson Fruit Shoot) to an old baking tray using masking tape.
- The children covered the bottle in play-doh to make a rainbow mountain volcano (and helped secure it further).
- We then used a 1/4 cup for measuring the bi-carbonate of soda to a measuring jug (this enabled them all to have a turn), then used the jug to pour this into the bottle. Using a measuring jug made it easier to get into the neck of the bottle.
- We then added vinegar, carefully and slowly to reveal blue or pink.
Cuddles
My little nephew was a star at the party as we were all in baby mode. Everyone wanted a cuddle with him and he was a really good sport about being passed around. The children listened carefully about supporting his head and were incredibly gentle with him.
I was really proud of all the kids. They really made this party awesome.
My room decorations and confetti cannon from Amazon did not arrive in time but I think the end result showed me that you don’t need those things to throw a good Gender Reveal party.
