A Southern Hostess: May 2013

I just realized I never posted about the Owl themed gender reveal party that I hosted for one of my close friends. It was nice to switch it up and plan a gender reveal party instead of doing the baby shower. I especially enjoyed being the lone person whoooo knew whether it was pink or blue (sorry I couldn't help myself with the rhyming and owl reference) ;)

The invites: I had some adorable green owl card stock stickers that I acquired awhile ago and since owls and green are both gender neutral I ran with the theme. I came up with the invite idea, we designed them in illustrator and instead of printing them on my home computer, I used a local print shop to print the invites in color and we (ahem, Charlie) cut them and put them together. I was thrilled with how they turned out!

The wreath with the front and back of the invite

Centerpiece: My amazingly talented friend Jennigray (the florist at RiverOaks) arranged the centerpiece and gave them to me as a "just because" gift a few days before the party so I scratched my previous centerpiece idea and used this beauty instead. It went perfectly with my table runner and theme. I also used the teal vases that I bought for another party with some pretty flowers I bought at WholeFoods to bring in some more boyish colors (since it was a gender reveal party and everything)!

Tablerunner: I bought a yard and a half of fabric at hobby lobby and folded over the cut seams and voila... a table runner!

Other Decor: Since the mama-to-be is a school teacher I decided it'd be fun to throw in some chalkboard decor so I bought some wood, a foam board and chalkboard paint and made some signs. I found some owl themed ribbon and some little wooden owls that I used on the foam board to make it look more like a frame.

Themed food: I kept the food pretty simple for this party since it was mid-afternoon and everyone had eaten lunch. I also made tags for the food out of the same paper I used for the invites. On the menu... cheese & crackers, Funfetti Dip, Brownie Truffles, a Fruit and yogurt tray, veggie platter, chicken salad, white on white cupcakes, and Pink and blue iced mini chocolate cupcakes.

The favors: I had the always fabulous Pink Magnolia make the owl cookies and had the attendees take the cookie in the color that they thought Jill and Casey were having.

The reveal: I wrapped a big box with balloons and we went outside to open it and do the big reveal. I decorated the box using more of the matching paper from the invites.