Black Cape + Black Leather Pants

Although I'm pregnant, it doesn't negate the fact that I still want to dress stylish. While style has always been a great concern, I now have to think about comfort for my new baby - growing vessel. At times it can be challenging to find cute pieces, especially bottoms, that fit correctly, are stylish, AND comfortable. So when I scored these [p]leather pants from JC Penny a couple months back I was ecstatic. They have an elastic band so they stretch with my tummy and they don't have any buttons or zippers up top, which you would never know bugged you so much until you have an expanding belly. While scrolling through a fashion blog I found a picture that inspired me to go to my closet and remix the outfit with a mom - to - be spin. I think I got pretty close. What do you think?

The Inspiration

Outfit Details: Cape (CA Garment District), Black Tee (H&M), Pleather Pants (JC Penny), Black Wedges (Target), Fedora (H&M), Charm Bracelet (Juicy Couture), Sunnies (Forever 21), Red Lip (M.A.C Ruby Woo)

This cape makes me feel like a super hero... or maybe a super - mom; like a I can conquer the world. It's such a fun piece to have in your closet. I'm excited to explore new styles and do more Ali Fashion Sense Remixes in my preggo state. Stay tuned.

-Ali

Baby Anderson's Gender Reveal Party

HI!!!! As I type this blog post, I know what you're probably thinking..."WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALI?" Well, now that I finished my Fall 2015 semester, have gotten through the Christmas holiday, and my baby's reveal party...I can FINALLY start blogging again. The last time you saw me was in October. A lot has changed since then...mostly the size of my [preggo] belly. I am now 25 weeks (more than half way there). On December 19, 2015 my husband, close family, and friends celebrated my babies "Gender Reveal!" As a new - age "mom - to - be" I have seen over the past few years gender reveal parties become the new rave. After hours of perusing through Pinterest and YouTube for creative ways to reveal the sex of my baby, I finally was able to come up with a cool way. 

THE PREP
My good friend, whom I call my fashion twin, Ashley was my co - planner for the party. She helped me plan, prep, and execute the party from start to finish. I told her my ideas and she helped me bring them to life.

My awesome party planner Ashley :)

THE INVITES

I created a list of about 42 people to invite to my reveal party. Out of those 42 I had about 35+ show up. Not to bad Baby Anderson :) I used a evite.com a free invitation based website to send out my Reveal Party invites. All you need is the email address and names of your potential attendees and you're all set. It lets them RSVP, comment on a wall, and even add a guest (if you so choose to enable that feature). 

THE DECORATIONS

We used pink, blue, and gold as our color scheme. I purchased pink and blue plates, cutlery, napkins, cups, straws, tablecloths, and tulle to push home the theme for "Team Boy" or "Team Girl." We created centerpieces using mason jars, tulle, sticks, gold confetti, and a glitter cut outs of boy and girl props (mustaches, question marks, pacifiers, bows, lips etc.). We also made props for a photo booth that guests could hold up and take pictures with. I ordered 2 balloon bouquets, and even had mason jars filled with gold confetti where people could place their votes for the party.

The room layout

The voting station

Photo booth props

THE MENU
I wanted my menu to be fun, festive for the occasion, and simplistic so I chose to do a Taco Bar and a Dessert Bar. My taco bar consisted of ground turkey with a bevy of toppings: shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, sour cream, salsa, diced tomatoes, hard and soft taco shells. For the Dessert Bar Ashley and I dipped pretzels and Oreo's into Ghirardelli white and milk chocolate and covered them with pink, blue, and gold sprinkles. We even served cotton candy in cute martini-esque glasses.

The Taco Bar setup

The desserts: Cotton Candy, Pretzels and Oreos dipped in chocolate

THE ITINERARY

A lot of people were wondering...what do you do during a gender reveal party? Honestly, I had no clue. So I searched my friend handy, dandy Google and came up with an itinerary to cover the 2 hour party span to keep my guest entertained and guessing. We had a slideshow playing music and showing pictures of my hubby and I when we were growing up. When guests arrived we had them place their names into a jar with a blue or pink ribbon to indicate which team they were on as far as gender was concerned ("Team Boy" or "Team Girl"). After they voted, we had each of the guest take a picture at my "make - shift" photo booth using props that me and my party planner created to show their team spirit. Once the majority of the guests arrived we went around the room and had all the guests introduce themselves and how they knew us...the "parents - to - be." Once that was complete we served lunch and then played a couple games. After the games were complete we took a final count of "Team Boy" and "Team Girl." Our final count was 13 for Team Girl and 17 for Team Boy. We then passed out the cupcakes and revealed our baby's gender. That moment was so priceless and made the entire day worth it, just to see all the smiles and love in the room! I had the teams take team photos and even did a raffle (a $10 Outback Gift Card) for a member of the winning team...pulled from the mason jar with the winning colors ribbon. I took pictures with guests and then we cleaned up and went home.

Team Boy

Team Girl

The excited parents to be and my baby bump ;)

The hubby and I with the happy grandparents (my parents)

THE REVEAL

We used cupcakes as our medium for the reveal. I saw so many different ideas scrolling through Pinterest from the balloon pop reveal, to the cake reveal. We ended up landing on cupcakes. We had the cupcakes made by Ashleigh Harper from the Candy Bartender (if you're in GA check her out, she was amazing to work with and the cupcakes were great). She made the cupcakes (upon my request) with pink and blue frosting in chocolate and vanilla with a small touch of cotton candy on the top. All the cupcakes were one color EXCEPT 1 which was the actual color of the gender. The actual reveal didn't quite go as planned because I didn't give out the right cupcake for my mom to do the honors. But none the less everyone was excited about our little bundle of joy.

The Gender Reveal cupcakes...they were delicious!

WE'RE HAVING A...

Me and my hubby at the photo booth...with our "Team Boy" crown!

Inspiration for the Centerpieces from Pinterest...Along with the announcement!

MY OUTFIT

Since this is a fashion blog, I have to discuss what I decided to wear. I wanted to wear something that would incorporate pink and blue so not to give away the sex of the baby. Since being pregnant my growing belly has been a little harder to dress (especially wearing pants that aren't stretchy). Being that it is Winter season there isn't as much pink in stores so I searched long and hard until I ran across a pink tulle skirt, chambray button up, and pink and blue statement necklace (all from Charolette Russe). I paired the foundation of my outfit with a shaggy nude vest and tan nude booties. I also got a pedi and mani and chose a very nude pink with gold details on one finger. All in all I think the outfit like the rest of the reveal came together harmoniously. 

Mi Madre and I posting with the bump

Outfit Details: Chambray Button Up (Charolette Russe), Tulle Skirt (Charolette Russe), Shaggy Vest (Forever 21), Statement Necklace (Charolette Russe), Hoop Earrings (Charolette Russe), Watch (Charming Charlie's); Not Shown Fringe Booties (Charolette Russe)

Have you ever attended a Gender Reveal Party? What types of activities did they do at the party? How did they ultimately reveal the sex? I'd love to hear from you in the comment section below. I hope you had an awesome Christmas Holiday. We will be back to our regularly scheduled outfit posts on Wednesday.

See ya soon,
-Ali