Gender Reveal Party: He or She?

"I'm so glad you're having another baby - you throw such fun parties!" I won't disclose which family member said this (with a wink and a smile of course), but truth be told - I share the same sentiment. I love themed parties and the creativity that goes into planning them (Pinterest only makes my "love" borderline obsessive... fortunately, I have strict and realistic budgets to stick to when party planning).

We had a great time three years ago with the gender reveal party for our twins, and baby number three wasn't about to miss out on an equally fun party for his-or-her gender reveal! (Plus, I desperately needed a creative outlet after the stress of our move, so I had another good excuse beyond "fair" parenting - which I'm not necessarily a proponent of all the time. Sorry kids. You'll might have fun parties, but otherwise: learn early that life isn't fair.)

Okay, so. The party. YAY! I designed invites, banners, signage, photo props and all kinds of adorable stuff that I could go on and on about, but instead, I'll just show you the final results.

First Off: Games and Activities. Guests dressed in pink or blue to make their predictions on the gender. We also had a tally board for guests to place their votes. As you can see below, the votes were pretty lopsided. When you already have two boys, people tend to assume that surely your body will magically produce a female child in order to maintain a balanced world populous.

We also had fill-in-the-blank notecards that allowed guests to write some "Wishes for Baby." Some of the answers were really amusing. Example: My ten-year-old sister, Julia, completed the forth question thus: "I hope you aren't afraid of: me."  

For a party game, we played a rather competitive round of "Sugar Baby Jeopardy". The answer to every question was the name of a candy and the top teams got to compete in a Final Jeopardy round to determine who would have the honor of revealing the baby's gender. It was intense. We have some serious game-players in our family, let me tell you. The questions were hilarious (I wish I could take credit for writing them).  Such treasures as, "Q: The Conception. A: What is a 'Skor' bar?" And, "Q: Difficulty lactating. A: What are 'Milk Duds?'"

In addition to wearing our "team" colors, I made pink and blue photo props for team pictures. Mustaches, lips, bows, and bow ties - I don't care if it is a trend, I love the photo prop movement!

Next Up: The Food (possibly my favorite part of any party... we'll just blame it on the pregnancy. Yeah, that's it.)

My inspiration for the party food was that old poem about What Little Boys/Girls are made of. Never mind that it's slightly sexist, if not misandristic, it made for a really cute food spread. The themed food was perfectly complimented by all the awesome trays and serving items that I borrowed from my mother-in-law. My favorite piece was a vintage toy truck that held mini dirt cup shooters - perfect for the boy food.

And Finally: The Big Reveal. We wanted this reveal to be just as fun and playful as when we announced the twin's gender (by popping balloons filled with colored confetti.) Our solution: SILLY STRING!

As mentioned, we had the top two teams from our Jeopardy game compete for the honor of the reveal. We did a race of sorts, where the teams tried to answer four baby trivia questions as fast as they could. Then when the final question was answered by one of the teams, they could race across the lawn and grab a can of silly string. There were only six cans and about twelve adults, so as soon as the first can was snatched, anyone could run and grab the remaining cans (if you've ever played the card game, Spoons, it was a similar idea). It was fast and fun and really heighten the anticipation for the reveal.

And the result was.... BLUE silly string!

Even though the twins had been adamant that they were having a baby sister (they can't seem to comprehend that anyone besides their twin could be their "bro"), I think they were pleased with the result.  

 

(Photos by Devin Hanson Photography) 

Goal #72: Designing for a Cause

Goal #72: Find a ministry that needs graphic design and donate 20 hours of service. COMPLETE 

(2002 - The Original Drama Team,
aka "The Great Eight" with our director Aimee)

(2005 - Abstinence takes on Hollywood
at the Abstinence Clearinghouse)

(2006 - BreakDown American with BreakDown Uganda)

When I was in college, I worked with an incredible group called BreakDown: a peer-to-peer youth outreach ministry that presents the message of abstinence through drama, hip-hop dance and motivational speaking. Their mission statement is, "Breaking down society's lies about sex, love and relationships." It is a seriously cool organization and my life was hugely impacted through my involvement.

During my time with BreakDown, I was privileged to be on the original drama team (2002), direct the first expansion team in Phoenix (2004), attend the Abstinence Clearinghouse in Hollywood where BreakDown was launched nationally (2005), and travel to Uganda, Africa (my first trip) to help establish the first international team (2006).

(I was recently interviewed for a BreakDown promotional video and spoke about the impact that being a part of BreakDown had on my life. You can see my portion of the video here.)

Needless to say, through my involvement has been small in the past couple of years, I am still very passionate about this ministry. When BreakDown's founder and director Aimee Dobbins (a close friend and mentor of mine) asked if I would be willing to complete Goal #72 by designing a logo for the newly launched BreakDown International - I was thrilled to comply.

The new tagline for the international branch of BreakDown is "Catch the Fire, Carry the Flame" - a motivational reminder to teams worldwide to boldly carry the message of true sexual freedom (sex without regrets) to their peers. With this in mind, Aimee wanted to see a torch worked into the logo and stationary materials.

After many moons (okay, twenty-hours worth) of designs, re-designs, tweaks and changes, I was able to develop a logo that stayed true to the original BreakDown brand, while bringing into the design the new mission of the international branch. I also provided BreakDown International with an "emblem" version of their logo to be used on stickers, hats, embroideries, etc. Lastly, I created a new letterhead for them. Here are the results:

www.offbeatgraphics.com

Goal #91: Ryan and Miriam's Wedding

More progress on my Project 101 in 1001 list. Read about my journey here.
 

Goal #91: Shoot at least five weddings with Devin (3/5)

On November 26th, while many were out hitting up the Black Friday deals or recovering from turkey-induced comas, Devin and I were photographing the beautiful wedding of Ryan and Miriam. I also designed this couple's "Classic, Spanish-infused" wedding invitations (which I loved!) It was fun to create the "first impression" of their wedding and then also be able capture their special day on camera.

© Off Beat Graphics 2010

I normally act as the "second shooter" during our wedding sessions, which means I shoot the candid pictures, watch for details (like stray hairs and crooked ties), hold equipment, anticipate Devin's needs and follow his lead completely. But this time around we were very limited on shooting time and had no choice but to divide and conquer. This meant that I got the opportunity to shoot more than I ever have before.

While Devin was photographing the guys, I started taking portraits of the Bride, which - hello! - is a huge responsibility and one that I wasn't entirely sure I was ready for. Fortunately, Devin has been an incredible instructor over the past few months and as I applied the helpful hints and constructive criticisms he has provided me with, I was able to capture some shots that I was really pleased with. Below are some of the images I am proud to call my own. 

To see more images of this stunning Spanish-infused wedding, hop on over to Devin's photography blog.

Thank you Ryan and Miriam for including us in your day - it was so beautiful! May God bless you as you start this incredible journey together.

Today is a BIG day for checking off goals!

My "dream job" is to be at home with my (future) babies. I studied the field of graphic design because I wanted to be a stay at home mom (and still be able to contribute to the family income through freelance design work). Thus, many of my goals for this Project 101 journey are meant to pave the way for that dream to become reality. Today, one small step to that dream has been accomplished! (No, not the baby part. I said small step. Sheesh.)

Devin and I have officially launched our graphic design company Off Beat Graphics!

I don't know if I've ever mentioned that my husband, a gifted photographer, is also a talented graphic artist. Being that he is out of a full-time job right now, we were, by necessity, given an earlier-than-we-planned kick-start to our freelance design business. Between job searches, Devin has been picking up some supplemental design work and it just seemed the right time for us to get out there and get some more! Well, when I say "us" I really mean mostly Devin as I'm still working full-time out of the home. For now, my part in Off Beat Graphics will focus mostly on the wedding design portion of the company, as I want to be ethical in regards to conflict-of-interest at my day job.

I am so excited to introduce Off Beat Graphics and hope you'll take a peek at our website: www.offbeatgraphics.com

I am also rather proud (and relieved) to mark the following goals as complete! 

Goal: 80. Create samples of wedding invitations, announcements and cards (check!) 

Goal #81: Launch invitation-designing side of business (check!) 

Goal #84: Create freelance design website (check!) 

Goal #85: Launch freelance design business (check!)

Goal #82 - Designing for Fun

Goal #82: Design something new, for fun, every week for two months.

I spend forty-hours-a-week designing for my day job and I'll be honest, it can be really un-fun a lot of the time. Some days it's hard to remember why I wanted to become a graphic artist in the first place. Creativity is something I have always had a passion for, but amidst the daily grind the excitement was dwindling. I needed to enjoy designing again; to be reminded of how much truly I love being a graphic artist. So, I assigned myself two-months worth of projects to design just for the love of creativity.
 
I drew this digital portrait as a gift for my friends Ryan and Sarah Shoemaker, who just had their first child - the lovely Brinlee Alexandra Shoemaker.

A piece of art (the final piece was printed and mounted on canvas) for my best friend and her husband for their three-year wedding anniversary. 

What our wedding invites would have looked like had I been smart enough to design them myself. I will also be able to use this design for Goal #80: Create samples of invitations, announcements and cards.

This is the third t-shirt design I have done for Valley Christian H.S. It is always a blast to work with  these students as they are very in-touch with the latest design trends.

Devin and I wanted to do a fun photo of the two of us for an upcoming project we are working on. We concepted, photographed and digitally composed this shot together. I love that we can be creative together. I married the right man for sure!

If my life was represented by a Google Doodle...

An illustration of Royal Flush (I wanted to do something different for each, so these would not be in the same deck)

My last self-assigned project (and possibly my favorite) was a book cover for one of my favorite books, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend that you do. Just be prepared for your heart be very involved during this read.