We decided to have it the party on the Saturday after our ultrasound. I considered moving the ultrasound back in the week so we wouldn't have to keep the gender a secret for five days but decided against it when my mom managed to fly in for the ultrasound. I didn't really want to wait to find out, either. We worried that Elle might spill the beans, but in typical two-year-old form, she kept everyone on their toes, anyway. She told one of the party attendees that she was having a baby sister ... named Wesley. I assured Tim that even if Elle *did* tell everyone that it was a boy, the word of a toddler could not be trusted.
I wanted our parents and siblings (in Ohio and Colorado) to know the news before we went social media public, so we called them all on Friday night. Elle got confused as she told my brother the news - I was coaching her, and she was hyper, so her delivery went a little something like this: "Is it a boy? (whispers) It's a boy? (louder) No, it's a girl! A girl!" It was an amusing evening, and I'm glad we told everyone the news prior to the party without too much time for anyone to accidentally spill the beans.
For the party, we reserved a pavilion at a local park - it's right next to a playground, so we knew the kids in attendance would be entertained. I did a Facebook invite just to keep everything simple, and I just asked that everyone bring a dish to share. We provided sandwiches, drinks and cupcakes. I requested that people dress in blue or pink to cast their votes, and although not everyone "voted," most showed up in some form of blue attire. After about 45 minutes of socializing and eating, Tim, Elle and I lifted up the lid on my "storage container of mystery" and revealed BLUE balloons! We were able to share the news with about two dozen of our Florida friends. When we had cleaned everything up and I got home (right after the rain started and right before someone's nap time), I posted the news on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram.
The weather was extremely windy and chilly for Florida, and if I had known exactly how windy it was going to be I would have skipped the tablecloths and probably most of the balloons, too. I kept the decorations pretty minimal, anyway, and had a few special Pinterest touches, but other than that, everything was very low-maintenance. Elle and many other of the little people loved the balloons, so apparently food+playground+helium=home run for them.
Some of my favorite photos/scene-setters are below:
