Well by now most of you guys know baby Premo is a BOY! My brother-in-law LeBraun and sister-in-law Shalan planned the most incredible gender reveal party earlier last month. Everyone in attendance had an amazing time as you’ll see from the photos below captured by Jennifer Cody Photo.
They were the masterminds behind all of the decor, confetti cannons, etc. so I asked them to write a recap of the day and BTS of the planning process below. Shalan is super creative and I encourage all of you to take some time and check out her blog posts and custom illustrations.
Take it away, Shalan and LeBraun!
“WHAT A WEEKEND! I’ve never been in a place charged with so much emotional energy. All our friends and family who gathered to celebrate this new chapter in Cameron and Hunter’s relationship brought with them joy for the parents-to-be, hope for the future, excitement for the surprise, and of course unconditional love.
Yes we all wore a gender buttons and choose Team Girl or Team Boy, but nobody cared. All anyone was hoping for is a healthy, happy baby.
As most of y’all know LeBraun and I love traveling. We’ve been blessed to visit many wonderful places and love our nomadic lifestyle; however, living away from family can be hard. We still miss out on last minute get-togethers, birthdays, and holidays, despite trying our best to make as much as we can. So when Hunter and Cameron told us they were pregnant, it was Halloween and we were kicked back on our porch handing out candy to trick-or-treaters (hence why we’re dressed up in the video they posted) we knew we’d be missing several milestones and events over the next 9 months and beyond. Which is why without hesitation we jumped at the opportunity to be the “keepers of the gender” for their gender reveal party, and are so grateful that it worked out to host while we were already in town.
LeBraun: We LOVED being entrusted with the secret. Being the only couple who doesn’t live in Nashville, it 100% made us feel more involved. It’s weird because after finding out we somehow immediately felt closer to Baby Premo, like he was actually the one entrusting us with his secret. One day we’ll be able to tell him the story about how meaningful being the “keepers of the gender” was to his aunt and uncle.
Giddy with anticipation, we opened the envelope from the clinic Wednesday morning and became the only people who knew the gender, outside the doctor’s office. Of course we had to send a little teaser out for fun.
Immediately we started receiving bribes from family members anxious to know. I’m telling y’all we could have made out like bandits. Haha We sent a different teaser each day to heighten the excitement.
LeBraun: Trolling everyone was my favorite! It was amusing building the suspense and teasing the group. I think it made it more memorable because everyone REALLY wanted to know by the time Sunday rolled around. Plus we were seeing everyone everyday—a constant reminder that we knew this special secret. We also took a couple videos “behind the scenes” to share with Cam and Hunter later just for fun.
Once we knew the gender we got to find a bunch of fun things for the sweet little buddy. Y’all, there are so many cute clothes out there but we were really on the hunt for blue/boy specific items. We wanted to create a gender specific basket for Cameron and Hunter since most of the items they had acquired already were neutral. We shopped at Buy Buy Baby, Target, Carter’s/Osh Kosh, and Janie and Jack. During pregnancy we’ve always felt the majority of emphasis is put on the mom, but we wanted to make sure Cameron felt equally included (especially with baby being a boy!) so we found some items that we knew Cam would love, like a blue camouflage hoodie. And since it was a boy we obviously had to include some PEE PEE TEE PEES!
Let’s be honest we already know this boy is going to be spoiled with cute everything!
Then, I know to everyone’s relief, Sunday rolled around. A brunch reveal really was the perfect way to start a Sunday. Not to mention the weather could not have been more perfect—no wind, warm-ish with a bit of sun. Perfection! There were enough biscuits and gravy, hash brown casserole, and yogurt parfaits from Cracker Barrel to feed the entire neighborhood. We all gathered to share a meal and speculate before finding out the sex of Baby Premo. The room was buzzing with excitement.
While the majority of gender reveals are extremely pink and blue, we wanted something that was a bit lighter and more Hunter and Cameron’s style so we opted for white and gold focused decorations, accented with blue with pink. It was a bit more modern and clean, and perfect for brunch.
LeBraun: The only direction Cameron and Hunter really gave us was that they wanted to stand in front of everyone and do the actual reveal with confetti cannons so we wanted to create a brunch that was simple (a bit understated) and keep the focus on the actual reveal part of the reveal party. That’s what everyone was really there for after all.
We assembled a balloon installation across the front/under the overhang of the kitchen island, which was surprisingly very easy to put together. The pack we bought had all the supplies needed, but the key is to blow up balloons in a variety of sizes. Tri-colored gold tassels were strung across the room with white “oh boy” and “hey, girl” onesies (SO CUTE), while the table had bowls with Team Girl/Team Boy buttons and a “Wishes for Baby” book for guests to fill out.
We didn’t want to have a bunch of traditional games taking up time so we opted for a few do-it-yourself activities that guests could take part in during the reveal. The guess Baby Premo’s birthweight and birthdate for $1, winner takes the pot calendar was a huge hit, and we can’t wait to see who wins!
That being said we did have one group activity right before heading out for the reveal—a list of gender predicting Old Wives Tales so we could see what the universe was predicting. Sure enough the universe chose Team Boy!
Now the most important part of a gender reveal is the actual gender reveal. We did a TON of research on confetti cannons (once they decided they wanted to do it with confetti cannons). There are hundreds of sites selling them, but you have to read the reviews. There were so many that could have been disappointing, but we wanted Cameron and Hunter to have an EPIC picture and based on everything from gender-neutral casing, cost, cannon power, and amount of confetti packed in we ordered from Gender Reveal Surprise.
https://genderrevealsurprise.com/collections/confetti-cannons/products/copy-of-12-blue-gender-reveal-confetti-cannon
THEY. WERE. AMAZING! They shoot roughly 15 feet into the sky and then a beautiful mix of light and dark blue paper pieces rained down on us. The whole experience was magical!
LeBraun: These were A++ cannons. What really made the whole experience was the amount of confetti packed into each tube. Once they went off we were all laughing, crying and hugging in a huge two-tone blue cloud. It was awesome!
The morning of LeBraun and I were very excited but as the minutes till the reveal ticked closer, the anticipation from everyone grew so exponentially that we were bursting for everyone to know. Then seeing everyone’s reactions to the news was the best thing ever! We even may have shed a happy tear or five. 🙂 I’m not even sure how I reacted because I was so wrapped up in watching Cam and Hunter’s reaction.
LeBraun: I couldn’t wait for Cameron and Hunter to find out. They both strongly thought it was a girl meaning when the blue confetti rained over them it truly was a surprise. They weren’t like “Yay! We guessed right.” It was genuine shock and excitement which made their reactions even better.
We hope the day was everything that the parents-to-be were hoping for—an unforgettable moment in their relationship. The moment they found out their first child is going to be a boy!
At the end of the day we love our families, friends, and siblings. We are ecstatic for the parents-to-be and are delighted to be walking along side them through this new adventure. How many more months ‘till June?
Was it hard keeping a secret this big?
Easier than we were expecting. After keeping the pregnancy a secret for over a month, this one was much easier as we only had to keep it for 4 sleeps.
Did we want to tell people?
Of course! We wanted to shout it out especially when people who guess the opposite sex or show us something they had bought for the opportune gender. But it’s such an important moment that even sharing it once could compromise the secret staying a secret. We didn’t want the surprise ruined accidentally before the reveal.
Do we have great poker faces?
Apparently. I was worried my eyes would light up if someone guessed correctly, but we made it through without giving it away so maybe next time you see us it will be on the World Poker Tour.
Did we ever slip up accidentally?
I didn’t, but LeBraun was thiiiiiisssss close to saying something to his mom. Luckily he could add onto the sentence. It was something like “We bought a bunch of blue…and pink…things for the party.” Whew!
We spent Thursday night at Cameron and Hunter’s house so that was our biggest challenge—not revealing anything in front of them while we hung out for several hours.
Thoughts about the party and reveal?
LeBraun: NAILED IT! Sometimes you go to baby showers and everything feels like it’s about the mom since she is the one pregnant, but we really wanted this party to be focused on both parents and as soon as they walked in, the party felt like it was.
Being the tech family we are, we set up a couple additional camera angles which I highly recommend doing. The additional angles are priceless. Do it!
Are we excited to be an aunt and uncle?
YES! We always knew this day would one day come. Cameron has been apart of my life since 2000 and Hunter a few short years later so we’ve all talked about the future and all the fun having families together one day would be. Yes, we will smother the kid with kisses. Yes, we will make him eat vegetables. Yes, we will definitely be teaching him about Harry Potter. But more importantly we’ll be teaching him about how important siblings and family are, and how those are the people who will always be there for you. And of course we’ll probably be doing a bit of traveling with him too. 🙂 We’re definitely on a quest to be relatives our nephew actually wants to hang out with.
It’s a boy! What are you most excited about?
LeBraun: I grew up with only brothers so I know what it’s like being around boys. Since I found out the gender I have been reminiscing about my childhood, life growing up with my brothers, and what we did as kids. Now I’m excited to experience it from a different perspective as my nephew grows up. I can’t wait to see Baby Premo playing with my kids in the future and watching them create memories together like Cameron, Chandler, and I did.
Also I’m sure Cameron and Hunter already knew this but I will be imparting my love for technology and science onto the kid. We’ll definitely be doing some fun science experiments. My white lab coat is at the ready!
Lastly, a couple notes on the cannons:
They are powerful cannons so I’d recommend for adult use only, but use your discretion.
They offer several shipping options including overnight. We only found on the gender on Wednesday and the reveal was Sunday. We ordered them Wednesday mid-day and they arrived on Friday morning.
The outside packaging is neutral. It doesn’t have any indication of the color of the cannons inside. Note: The “shimmer” cannons are not gender neutral!
The cannons themselves are gender neutral as well. There is a small mark that is only noted on an insert to the recipient to check the proper cannon color was delivered in a number 1 or 2, not like a B or P or G. No one would notice unless you pointed it out.”
Party Supplies
We designed these file to match the party invite Cameron and Hunter sent out and had them printed a FedEx. (Note: Never pay full price at FedEx, they always have coupons!) Feel free to download and print!
Here For The Sex? Welcome Sign – DOWNLOAD
*Printed as a 16×20 mounted foam core poster
Old Wives Tales Gender Prediction Sign – DOWNLOAD
*Printed as a 16×20 mounted foam core poster
Guess the Birthdate/Weight Sign (Only works if you are due at the end of June/early July 2020 because of the calendar) – DOWNLOAD
*Printed as a 24×36 mounted foam core poster
Wishes for Baby (single) – DOWNLOAD
*Printed as 5×7 inserts
Wishes for Baby (4 per sheet) – DOWNLOAD
*Printed on 11×17 and cut to 5×7 inserts
Hey Girl Onesie // Etsy – SandZDesigns
Oh Boy Onesie // Etsy – SandZDesigns
Electric Balloon Pump // Party City
Caribbean Blue 12” Balloons 15ct // Party City
(the color shown online is more teal whereas once they’re blown up they are gender reveal light blue)
Pink 12-Inch Balloons 15ct // Party City
Oh Baby! Metallic Gold Plates // Party City
It’s A Boy Pennant Banner Cake Topper (used in gift basket)
Confetti Cannons // 12″ Blue Gender Reveal Confetti Cannons from Gender Reveal Surprise
Gold Letter Balloons 13” // Party City
White and Gold Balloon Arch Garland Kit
White and Gold Foil Dot Napkins
Pink and Blue Shimmer Backdrops
Gender Reveal Photo Booth Props
Photo Album for “Wishes for Baby”
Tri-Colored Gold Tissue Tassles
Gifts For The Grandparents
Grandpa’s Fishing Buddy Onesie
Similar This Boy Loves His Grandma Onesie
Can you tell me where you got your adorable dress from?!