Penny's Passion: Thinking Out Loud Thursday

Happy Thursday! So glad you stopped by our Thinking Out Loud link up today. I know many of you are thinking about Cinco de Mayo today, but my mind is still on an adorable gender reveal party I threw on Monday night for a few friends.

From the minute Lauren announced she was expecting, my hope was she would let me throw a little gender reveal party for our friends. I was giddy with excitement when she said yes! So, the planning was on. She and her husband, Justin, had their own party for family so this one was just for our little group of ladies. This group typically gets together on Monday nights to watch The Bachelor/Bachelorette, so I thought a Monday night would be appropriate for our party. But I also knew that I would be coming home straight from work and wouldn't have a ton of time to get things together. For those of you who are worried about putting a party together, there are tons of things you can do for a quick and simple party set up. Don't let the thought of not having enough time deter you from having parties!!

I popped this little sign in my wreath on the front door to welcome the guests. Love to set the tone right when people get to the house. Oh - and I'm in love with the font used on this sign. It's call Bromello and it's free over HERE.

I knew I wanted the reveal to be something everyone could participate in so the popper idea won out. These little babies were honestly quite easy to put together. I ordered the cake poppers from HERE, After some test runs, I decided the best way to hide what was inside was by spray painting the inside of the lids white and wrapping the tube in wrapping paper. The filling was layered with a small piece of white tissue paper (so no peeking at the bottom would reveal the color inside), colored shredded crinkle paper, and confetti. Pack it all in there tight and pop on the lid. They turned out pretty adorable, if I must say so myself.

Pink and blue food was next on my planning list. Cupcakes were easy to order and so were the macaroons. I dipped Oreos (the Birthday Cake flavored ones are my new fave) in pink and blue candy melts. Big hit! With the addition of a couple savory snacks the food was complete.

The table was covered with a white tablecloth and lace overlay. Add in pink and blue tulle bows and some baby's breath and viola! DONE. Seriously, laying the table out took less than 30 minutes.

Over the weekend I had whipped up a pink and blue banner to go across the mantle and added a cute little baby shoe I picked up at the Vintage Market on Saturday.

After filling our plates from the snack table, each guest was given pink and blue paint chips I had picked up at Home Depot and were asked to write down baby names Lauren and Justin should consider. It was fun hearing everyone's suggestions and laughing at what certain names made us think of. You know, like the name of your first boyfriend or the kid that was a bully on the playground. It's amazing how your past experiences influence what you name your child!

We went through a list of old wives' tales to see what they predicted the gender to be. Girl won out over Boy 9 to 2.

Lauren played along while we swung a string with her wedding ring attached over her belly. Old Wives' tale says if the string swings in a circle, it's a boy and if it goes side to side, it's a girl. It didn't take but a second before the string was going side to side!