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Creative Gender Reveal Ideas...Part Deux

Way back in the fall of 2014 (yes, six months might as well be ancient in the blogosphere!), Jen wrote a very popular and useful post about “How To Plan A Gender Reveal Party”. Now we’re onto a new year and with a new year comes new trends. Here is a quick rundown of some of our favorite creative ways to make your big announcement!

If you’re having a party, consider wowing your attendees with these super cute and creative gender reveal ideas for 2015:

Dress The Part

Guests can cast their “vote” for either Team Boy or Team Girl by cleverly adorning themselves with quintessential boy and girl gear. Some awesome prop pairings include: 

      “Ties or Tutus”

      “Team Pink or Team Blue”

      “Lips or ‘Staches” 

 

Let the Décor Speak for Itself

 No confusion here. Invite your guests to enter the party and immediately be enveloped by an explosion of all things baby boy or baby girl!

No Party, No Problem!

 So, perhaps planning a lavish gender reveal event isn’t really your scene. That shouldn’t mean you have to forego an exciting and meaningful gender reveal, right?! Consider these creative alternatives for sharing your big announcement (whether it be via snail mail or social media!).

      Send ‘em a Scratch Off

      Spread the news with a photo shoot

From paint fights to glitter, baby gender reveal photo shoots have boomed in popularity. Try one of these cute photo shoot themes.

Whether you’re throwing a bash or opting for a more understated gender reveal, there are a plethora of creative ways to share your announcement with family and friends.

As always, we would love to hear from YOU on this topic!  Have you recently hosted a gender reveal party or crafted a creative baby gender announcement?  At My Scratch Offs, LLC, we’re perpetually perusing unique ideas to help our clients make the most of their messages and events. Tweet us @MyScratchOffs #GenderReveal or catch up with us on Facebook!

Life of the Party: 8 of Our Favorite Baby Shower Game Ideas

If you think a baby shower has to be all tea sandwiches and small talk, think again! With a few creative games and lively décor, you can create an atmosphere that is conducive to letting love and genuine laughter fill the room.

Last year we shared our list of 9 Creative Baby Shower Themes. And now we’ve scoured through blogs and baby forums searching for our favorite baby shower games.  We think the activities you’ll find here are all adorable, completely classy, and sure to amp up the good energy at your baby bash.

The Name Game

Has the expectant couple been keeping the name of the baby a secret?  If they are ready to reveal their selection at the baby shower, the Name Game is the perfect way to do it.  If balloons will be part of your décor at the event, tie little strips of paper with different names to each balloon, otherwise you can just print a sheet with a list of name options for guests to choose from.  Each guest can place their bet for the name they think the couple has chosen.  Perhaps you can grant first dibs at the dessert table to the guests that correctly guess the name.

Diaper Doodle Station

Who says changing baby’s diaper has to be a drag? Offer your Mom-to-be a little comedic relief by having her baby shower guests get creative at a Diaper Doodle Station.  Guests can write personal messages of encouragement, famous quotes about parenthood, draw pictures, or adorn the bum cover with clever Mommy mantras.   

Scratch Off Baby Shower Game Cards

Of course, here at My Scratch Offs we think this is the greatest baby shower game of all!!! Scratch Off Baby Shower Game Cards are a fun surprise for your guests and are sure to spark conversation.   You might tape a game card to the bottom of each chair in your venue, and when the time is right, have your guests reach under to find their card.  

Baby Gift BINGO

This is an easy DIY baby shower game that keeps guests involved while the Mom-to-be opens her gifts. This free printable from FrugalFanatic.com lets guests fill in their own spaces with the gifts they expect the Mom-to-be to receive.  Just place a bowl of candy to use as markers and let your guests play along!

Daddy Knows Best

Include the Dad-to-be in the baby shower fun with this game idea from About.com.  A twist on the classic Newlywed game, the hostess will ask Dad questions before the shower and the Mom-to-be and the shower guests guess his answers.

Custom Crossword

Head on over to the KreativeKupcake shop on Etsy to find a very cute custom crossword puzzle for your baby shower.  The first person to complete the puzzle correctly wins a prize.

“Minute to Win It” Baby Shower Games

We found a great blog about Minute to Win It Baby Shower games over at flibbertigibberish.com and came up with a few substitutions and modifications of our own:

• Boogie Bulb Relay - Using a baby aspirator (aka “blue boogie bulb”), each team member gets one squeeze to transfer as much liquid down the line as possible. The team that gets the most liquid to the end wins.

• Diaper Pin in a Toy Bin – Playing on the “needle in a haystack” idea, hide a safety pin that is usually used for cloth diapers in a bin of Legos and/or other small toys.  The first team to find their pin wins.

• Find That Binky! – Hide a baby pacifier for each team around the room and set the timer to find that little life-saver as fast as they can!

• Baby’s Day Out – If you’ve ever tried to get kids packed up for a day out on the town, you know what a process it can be!  Have the teams work together to dress a baby doll and pack a diaper bag according to your instructions.

How Sweet It Is

We love this baby shower game idea from LilLuna.com.  This cute and colorful printable challenges guests to match common pregnancy and baby words with the names of popular candy.   

Have a Unique Baby Shower Game Idea of Your Own?

We’d love to hear from you!  Here at My Scratch Offs, we’re always looking for fun and creative ways to help our customers make the most out of their events. Tweet us @MyScratchOffs #BabyShowerGames or catch up with us on Facebook!

   
   

Write It Right: Wedding Invitation Wording Etiquette

Although micro-planned weddings are popular these days, wedding mania is really nothing new. So-called modern trends are actually rooted in wedding ceremonies dating as far back as ancient Greece. And along with this age-old tradition comes a laundry list of expected social graces. For many modern brides, the Wedding Save the Date sets the stage then the formal wedding invitation introduces the details of your special day with an added level of style and sophistication. While a great invitation design will catch your guests’ attention, it is important to also be mindful of the wording on your wedding invitation.

Order of Introductions

Traditionally, the first names that appear on an invitation are the people who are hosting the event(and likely footing the bill!).  Since wedding ceremonies are as old as recorded history, it’s only relatively recently that the bride’s parents weren’t the default entry on the first line of a wedding invitation.

Now there are blended families, brides and grooms who are paying for everything themselves, even crowd-sourced weddings. Maintaining the tradition of keeping the event hosts on the first line of the invitation gives guests a sense of who’s who and what’s what. More than just clunky tradition, think of this part of the wedding invitation as an event roadmap for your guests.

Tone and Tenor

The mood and style of your wedding should dictate the wording for the rest of your invitation. Formal phrasing like, “request the honor of your presence,” and “request the pleasure of your company,“ would be fitting for a black tie affair; but the more casual “please join us,” is best if your event will be focused more on fun than fancy.

A major faux pas (that’s French for embarrassing mistake) until very recently was to use numerical characters for the wedding date. Yes, it’s true. If your invitation said Saturday, May 15, 2002, instead of Saturday, May fifteenth, two thousand and two, no one would show up. O.K., maybe that’s an exaggeration, but the acceptance of numerical characters is new. The numbers sneaked in with the advent of theme weddings, location weddings and canine ring bearers. Just triple proofread your invitation to make sure the day of the week and the date match, and go with what works for you.

Blending Classic and Creative

Invitation must-haves include location, reception and RSVP information. Coordinate the wording with the tone of your wedding and triple proofread addresses and dates. As unique weddings become more and more clever, couples are delivering this information to their guests in creative ways:

• A QR code (QR=quick response) is printed on a separate sheet of paper and included in the wedding package. Guests use their smart phone to go to a web page with wedding location and/or reception information or to an RSVP site.
• Fun-loving couples include Scratch Off Cards (oh, and by the way, My Scratch Offs can help you with that!) that tie in to their wedding’s theme and provide the location of the reception.
• A link to a wedding website that provides maps, hotel recommendations, local restaurants and other helpful details.

Your wedding invitation is one of your guests’ first glimpses into the celebration of your marriage. Let them know how much their presence at this important event means to you, and connect them to the event itself with creative design and choice phrasing.

Are you a bride-to-be? We would love to hear from you on this topic! Connect with us on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter to share photos or comments about this post.

#Promposal

Of course we have all heard of a proposal…but how about a “Promposal”? Prom season is upon us and with that comes the (fairly) recent trend of the often creative and sometimes over-the-top Promposal. You know, the popping of the big question…“Will you go to prom with me?”

Here at My Scratch Offs, we have jumped on the bandwagon and recently introduced our Promposal Lotto Replica Scratch Off Ticket! On the heels of our wildly popular “Will You Marry Me?” Proposal Lotto Replica and our “We’re Expecting!” Pregnancy Announcement Lotto Replica, a Promposal seemed like the perfect addition to our Scratch Off arsenal!

Read on for a round-up of our favorite Promposal Tweets courtesy of #Promposal…

Toby Keith would be proud!

She said YES!!! (She had no choice though....) @AlanaHouston624 #prom2k15 #promposal pic.twitter.com/iDQ92Be1zW
— Corey Bradford (@iCoreyBradford) March 2, 2015

Taco 'bout a clever play on words.

Taco bell #promposal 😂😂 😂😂 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/70M7V0CDlt
— ALYCE Paris (@alyceparis) February 26, 2015

This guy enlisted the entirety of Twitter in his Promposal!

If this tweet gets 100 retweets @BrennaGreene_ has to go to prom with me #promposal
— Chase Rossmiller (@ChaseRosmiler12) February 27, 2015

Short and oh so sweet!

S/O to @CakesByDarcy for the help #promposal @CayleeYanes pic.twitter.com/EmtIUP4dLE
— Giancarlo Rocca (@giancarlo_rocca) February 21, 2015

American Prom Story.

Omg this is very original 😭😭😩😍😍 love love love this #AmericanHorrorStory #promposal pic.twitter.com/Ndaot0LU8M
— Brandy (@imaginesweeter) February 15, 2015

Bear-y cute!

Bf Pulled through. I am so blessed I love him more than anything! 💋 #promposal #2015 pic.twitter.com/eqalIC2eUg
— SadieKate (@Sadiekate3) February 15, 2015

See ladies, you can do the Promposing, too!

I asked my boyfriend even though he already asked me because it's my senior prom 😍❤️ @ThePromposals #promposal pic.twitter.com/cdPjgDkv5L
— Ƥαιɢɛ Єαcяɛт (@Honestly_Paige) February 15, 2015

Do you have an uber-creative Promposal you’d love to share? Tweet us @MyScratchOffs #Promposal or catch up with us on Facebook!