Stache or Sash Bash: The Setup

Our “new baby” was coming and we knew that we wanted to find out his or her gender. I set to selecting a theme and it didn’t take me long! A few options on Pinterest really stood out and I finally settled on one I felt I could do on a budget and have fun with!
I found a creative way to reveal the news to all of us – yes this time around NO ONE but the ultrasound technician knew the exciting news. (Last time in our Waddle it Be? Gender reveal our two sisters knew the news ahead to prep the party and reveal balloons).
3 great grand parents
4 grand parents
2 great aunts
8 aunts and uncles
1 (and 3 more honorary) cousins!
2 special girlfriends too!
In our tiny little space…
Made for a fun time.
My first step in creating the party was to create our scratch tickets. I am no design guru so I had to get creative and was able to create some fun word art. I ended up creating the scratch tickets with an online word art maker and Microsoft Word. I have the .pdf and would be happy to send it to anyone interested. It was printed in color on card stock and then made into scratch cards. Tutorial coming in a few days!
Next I decided on party favors. I had a bag of baby food jars that I knew I wanted to use since I did a baby food jar favor at the last party. I found a few fun options, but settled on candles – another step by step coming on this later this week. They were “prayer candles” that the party guests were asked to take home and when they lit them they were asked to pray for our sweet “New Baby.”

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With this party I really wanted to treat my family to a party, and not enlist them to do anything. I asked a dear friend to take photos, so my photographer sister could have a break, and his wife to help me plan the party. Thanks to Dave and Heather for your huge help!
I designed my invitations on Shutterfly. I used a thank you card design and a coupon code so I only paid shipping! Hand delivered most too so saved on postage.

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Next I made felt yellow sashes and black staches that I glued to safety pins. These would be how people voted. I saw them on etsy, beyond my budget, so making them myself (on a football Sunday) was really fun and a money saver. The safety pins were given to me as was the felt. Each would have only cost a few dollars at the local craft store. And they were quite simple to make with hot glue.
Then I made several decor elements including some paper buntings that said “girl or boy?” and “welcome family.” These were just made with scrapbook paper, twine, and hot glue.

 

The next project was to make the burlap buntings. My friend Heather found brown burlap that already had mustaches on it and got some white bunting that we painted yellow sashes onto. Her mom Judy had the great idea to stamp yellow sashes onto it and hand carved the image onto a potato! Yes, a regular old potato. I hung each on rope/twine and they were a perfect touch to making the house feel festive.
I also made a few larger yellow, felt sashes and staches so that I could put them up with ultrasound pictures on display. Kind of a fun touch!
I had to pick dessert so again I searched online for ideas. I settled on a mustache chocolate cake and sash (bow) shaped yellow cookies. I followed this awesome tutorial, on the blog Love Stitched, to make the mustache cake. Stay tuned for my thoughts on what made it easier and what was tough! The cookies were made with my Aunt Toni’s recipe and I’ll share that too. Just a traditional sugar cookie dough that I cut out with a bow cookie cutter I found on Amazon. I frosted them yellow and used my top secret frosting tip  to make them look perfect – use clear sprinkles to mask your mistakes. 🙂
Dessert was awesome! And a nice way to celebrate on a Friday night.
I served coffee and milk with the dessert and thanks to my friend Tarah for lending me her fun glass jars to serve milk in. (The kind you get Starbucks Frapachinos in). I added a paper straw and they were so cute. I also served dessert and coffee using my fine china. I’m a big believer in using it whenever you can and luckily mine is dishwasher safe!
We cast our votes!
And of course Cashel did too!
At the party guests wrote in a book and on a piece of art for our “New Baby.” We did this for Cashel and it is a true treasure. The art is just brown paper in a simple frame and it goes in their bedrooms. And the books I chose for each of them. For New Baby I selected “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein.

 

 

 

They also got to share name ideas for both boy and girl!
Guests cast their votes by pinning on a sash or stache.
Once everyone was there we took a group shot casting our votes….
Then served up dessert….
And finally the reveal!
See more moment by moment details on Sash or Stache: The Reveal!
The wait was a bit torturous for some.
I love reveling in knowing the surprise awaits and enjoying family, so it was really fun evening for me. Having our loved ones in the room for such an exciting event – we are so blessed to have all our family so close and again I was reminded of that.
Here is my Dad scratching the winning ticket.
To read more about how it transpired read Sash or Stache: The Reveal.

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More details on the reveal are here….
                        
But the scratch tickets were a HIT and revealed that Cashel will be a big brother…..
to a boy! 2 brothers!!!
Boys abound!!
Here we are with the side of the family!

 

This party turned out exactly as I hoped.  It felt intimate, exciting, and joyous!  I live having people we love around us as we found out this super fun news and sharing in the surprise with all of them.
5 Party Tips…
1. Do as much ahead (way ahead) as you can.  That way you enjoy the details!
2. Set goals and think through what the point of your party is.  What do you want guests (and yourself) to feel? Make all your decisions based on these goals.
3. Don’t be afraid to set a budget and stay within it, simplify if needed.
4. Keep in mind that sometimes your invite lust will be shorter, and sometimes it will be longer. Use those goals you identified to help you create your invite list.
5. Choose your theme around what you HAVE ALREADY.Pin it

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5 Comments

  1. really confused. how did you make the scratch tickets if you didn't know what the gender was going to be? like, did you make the ultrasound technician do it for you?

    1. I will have a tutorial on how the scratch tickets were made coming this week. But in terms of how we didn't know the results… I made two scratch tickets that were "winners." One with three mustaches and one with three yellow sashes. I took both – in envelopes with removable labels – to the technician. She threw away the incorrect winning ticket and gave us back the correct (boy) winning ticket. She removed the label too and put back in the envelope. Then at the party we counted the guests so we would have the exact number of tickets ready and had a friend of mine (who helped plan the party) stuck the winner into the pile. That way we knew the winning ticket would get scratched, but we also wouldn't know who received it. AND it was surprise to all of us.

      Stay tuned for more details on the blog later this week for the tutorial!

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