Winter Themed Gender Neutral Baby Shower

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I may have mentioned several hundred times in the last few weeks that I’m going to be an aunt on my side of the family because my brother and sister-in-law are expecting their very first baby!  I’ve also probably mentioned that they live in Texas now, so we only get to see them once a year when they come home for Christmas… and it stinks.  :o(   

Anyway, we knew that we wanted to throw a baby shower for them while they were here for Christmas because it would be the last time that we would get to see them before the baby arrives in June.  Cheryl (my sis-in-law) was only about sixteen weeks pregnant when they were here, so the baby shower was a bit earlier in the pregnancy than most, and because it was so early, they didn’t know the gender at the time of the shower.   

So my mom and I set out to throw a gender neutral baby shower, which is something I’ve never done!  My mom started by picking the invitations, and then everything pretty much just fell into place after that.  

Before we get started on the decorations from our party, I thought I'd provide some shoppable links in case you want to throw your own!

Decoration Kit // Paper Plates // Napkins

Ribbon // Garland // Treat Boxes

Favor Boxes // Tablecloth // Paper Straws

 

The Invitations  

The invitations were just perfect for a little boy or a little girl – two cozy red coffee mugs with little white snowflakes on them!

The Decorations 

For decorations, we kept it pretty simple.  The shower was at my house, which was already completely decked out for Christmas, so there wasn’t a need (or room) for too many other decorations because we already had the perfect backdrop for a cozy evening.  We added a few snowflakes to the ficus tree in the dining room, and then incorporated the red mugs and white snowflakes from the invitations into the food table – plates, napkins, cups, gift wrap for the presents, and that gorgeous cake!

The Menu 

Chicken salad on croissants

Pimento cheese on croissants

Chicken nugget platter from Chick-Fil-A (who doesn’t love those?!)

Meatballs

Fruit platter with strawberries, grapes, and pineapple

Potato chips (regular and barbecue)

Cake!

The Cake 

The ladies at our local bakery used the invitation to bring my mom’s idea to life. They put Chyler on the left mug because that is the name that Zach and Cheryl chose for a little girl, and they put Tucker on the right mug because that is the name that they chose for a little boy.  The cake was perfect, and it tasted as good as it looks!

The Hot Chocolate Bar 

My mom came up with the idea to have a hot chocolate bar, which is perfect and cozy for winter.   

Never mind that it was almost eighty degrees that evening.  ;o)  

We bought a multipack of different hot chocolate flavors from Sam’s, and all of the flavors sound amazing!  I’m looking forward to trying them all now that it’s finally cold here. 

Pumpkin Spice

Chocolate Supreme

Arctic White

Raspberry

French Vanilla 
S'mores
Salted Caramel

We boiled some water and kept it in the crockpot on low all evening to keep it hot, and we provided marshmallows and peppermint sticks as stirrers.  I bought some plain Styrofoam cups and then I found the cutest red and white snowflake clips at Hobby Lobby to clip to the cups to keep with our theme.  The marshmallows and peppermint sticks were nestled in sweet little red bags complete with a white snowflake. 

The Party 

Everyone arrived at our house around 6:30 and everyone mingled and hugged and kissed the guests of honor since we hadn’t seen them since July.   

After the mingling and conversing, everyone loaded their plates with all of the delicious food, and then it was time for presents.

The Poll 

After all of the gifts had been opened, Cheryl wanted to take a poll on how many people thought it was a boy, and how many people thought it was a girl.  Everyone made their decisions and then we took group pictures.

 

The "It's a Girl" group

The "It's a Boy" group

The "Undecided" group

The Surprise! 

Cheryl and Zach had told us that they were not going to find out the gender until after the new year when they arrived back home in Texas.  However, once everyone had given their opinion on the gender, Cheryl announced that they had gifts for the grandparents.   

The grandparents opened their gifts to find 4D pictures of the baby!  Everyone was surprised because we had not been told that they had been to a 4D ultrasound.  

You can probably guess what happened next!   

Once the pictures were open, Cheryl informed us that when they had gone for their 4D ultrasound they had also found out the gender.  She then proceeded to open a large wrapped present, turn it around, and announce that the baby is a…  

BOY!!!! 

So the gender neutral baby shower turned into a surprise gender reveal party as well! 

Everyone started hugging and high-fiving, and a few teared up – even my Daddy – and I’m convinced that little Tucker is now going to be his favorite grandchild because he will carry on the family name.  Hehe. 

We spent the rest of the evening watching the 4D ultrasound and looking at all of the pictures of that sweet little life growing peacefully in Cheryl’s tummy. 

It was a perfect evening, and the perfect way to celebrate my new NEPHEW!!!!

*Linking up with Home of Malones for Thoughts for Thursday.