I had a lot of mixed feelings about having this party in the days leading up to it. Family stresses the living daylights out of me, and both of our families in the same room- instant stress/anxiety for me! BUT- I felt really strongly about celebrating with our family. I wanted them to feel part of it, to feel that this baby was their family member too. I have a really hard time feeling connected to my nieces and nephews on Dan's side of the family. No one has ever said, "Congratulations your an aunt!" when new babies have been born or when pregnancies have come out. It's just not a a big deal in the Wouden family, or maybe just never crossed their minds. Somebody was just having another baby, and I never felt sure how involved I was supposed to be in its life.
So I sort of took an opposite end of the spectrum approach. I made sure every person in both our families got an individual card saying, "Congratulations! You're going to be a ______! Baby Wouden coming March 2017!" I wanted to have a party where THEY found out what THEIR grandchild, niece or nephew was going to be. I wanted the party to celebrate this new baby in THEIR lives!
Even though it was stressful at some points, I am glad we did it. It helped time pass SO quickly for me in the days leading up to our big ultrasound appointment! It got both our families united in a common love/cause at the same time, in the same room (big feat!) Plus, we have some great pictures, gender predictions cards, and footage to show this little boy how excited his family was for him to be born! I think it'll be fun to pull this stuff out and reminisce at his 1st Birthday!
But enough about my soapbox feelings, here's how the party turned out!
Our awesome mothers and grandmas helping with all the food!
This is the little table we had for people to fill out their gender predictions! They were hilarious!
We bought everything from the Dollar Store, and found fall leaves for center pieces, turned out really cute I thought! I can't thank the twins enough for helping decorate!!!
Having family parties in the church gym is the best idea we've ever had! Messes are so easy to clean up, and there is plenty of room for people to spread out and kids to run around!
Dan was a genius in helping create our gender reveal box for everything to fall out of!
Blue for Boy!
Dan's long time friend Mike! Pretty much our double dating buddy when we were first dating!
Woody + Suzanne, the famous in-laws!
Twin #1: Amy! She was SO nice and came to help us set up early! Can pretty much thank her for the backdrop in all these pictures.
Twin #2: Joni! Joni also came early and helped with all the decorations! SUCH A LIFESAVER!
Baby Sister: Laura! We felt honored she could spare an hour of her busy 19 year old social life to celebrate with us!
Oldest Sister: Emily! and all our baby's cousins + baby Logan not in the picture! She brought AMAZING Italian Peasant soup and hauled all her kids there- she's super woman!
Oma: AKA Grandma Wouden! She was the MOST EXCITED that it was a boy so the Wouden name would live on...
Grandma Anderson: She has been our cheerleader from the beginning and brought the best salad for the party! Our sweet Grandpa Anderson also came and it meant the world to us.
The Hanselman/DeVries Family: If my dang mom and grandma would have gotten in the picture, it would have been my whole family. But it was really great to have my Grandpa Don and Brothers, and Sister-in-law support us!
Brothers: Garet + Gavin! They thought it would be hilarious to take a picture with their hands on my belly. And it actually was!
My Mother: Diana! She was in charge of the carmel apple bar. She brought enough toppings, carmel, and nutella that we could have skipped all the soup and salad!
Grandma Anne: I really lucked out in the grandma department! She has been so excited and said "FINALLY!" when we told her we were expecting.
Grandma Karen: She had a crazy day this day. She came and supported us at the party and when she got home, found out my grandpa had a heart attack! I felt terrible, but was very thankful to have her there.
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