By Christine Martin
We carry our names with us for the rest of our lives. You and your partner have likely spent countless hours combing through various baby name books and debating the “perfect” name for your baby. Whether you’ve chosen a name based on a specific meaning or maybe your child will be named after a family member, your child’s name is something to be celebrated.
While baby gender reveal parties have been a HUGE trend over the last number of years, we haven’t really seen baby NAME reveal parties… until now! We think your baby’s name is so important you might want to consider throwing a party to reveal their name to your friends and family.
Here are a few ideas on how you can create the perfect baby name reveal party and share your baby’s brand new name, either before or after they arrive!
Combined Gender & Name Reveal Party
Gender reveal parties have been a huge trend over the last few years. One quick search online will reveal hundreds of thousands of amazing ideas on how to share with your friends whether you are having a boy or a girl. We love this party idea. But, we want to step things up a notch and combine both the idea of gender reveal and name reveal, not only at the same party, but at the same moment.
Taking the famous pink-or-blue-balloon-pop-out-of-a-box idea, we’ve first-off switched up the color palette and added in some soft peach and gold, if you’re having a girl (for a boy, think various tones of mint greens and silver).
Next, to incorporate the name reveal, we’ve added the letters of the baby’s name on the string of the balloon. The letters are all jumbled up, so this is a perfect way for your guests to work together to try and figure out your baby’s name. Remove the balloons from the box and hand them to your guests, allowing them to walk around and try various combinations of letters to get the name right. If you want to help them out (and if you are revealing both a first and middle name), let them know how many letters are in each name to give them a head start.
Because we feel that gender is still a really exciting thing to celebrate, we love marrying these two ideas together for one giant, exciting reveal!
Watercolor Painting Name Reveal
We love the idea of getting your guests involved at parties. So what better way to get your guests involved in revealing the name of your baby than with this watercolor painting activity.
Using a white crayon, spell out the name of your baby on sheets of watercolor paper before your guests arrive. You could choose to do the whole name on one large sheet of watercolor paper or you could have one letter per sheet. I personally prefer the second idea because it allows more guests to get involved in the painting/revealing process.
The magic behind this activity is that watercolor paint will NOT paint over the white crayon colored letter. And because the crayon is white, on white paper, your guests won’t be able to see the letters until they begin painting over the top of them, slowly revealing the baby’s name.
This is such a fun and creative way to get your guests involved in revealing baby’s name, and the end result is something you can frame and keep in your baby’s room as a beautiful piece of art.
Crafted Letters
Keeping in the same vein as having guests participate in a craft to ultimately reveal your baby’s name, we thought that if you have a particularly crafty group getting together for this celebration, why not have them decorate the letters of the baby’s name.
Using similar colored arts and craft supplies that will match your baby’s nursery, this is a fun project you can ultimately display for years to come in your child’s room.
Mixing up all the letters, have your guests design a beautiful piece of art with the supplies you’ve given. Once they are finished, they will need to work together, arranging the letters in such a way that will reveal the baby’s name. You can play this game at a long table, on the floor, or, if the letters can stand on their own, why not play it on a bookshelf? You could also add in clues to help your guests, such as how many letters are in each name (assuming there will be a first and middle name revealed) or reveal the first letter of the name to give your guests a head start. Another fun clue would be to tell them the meaning of the name and see if anyone can guess the name based on that hint.
Get the Food Talking
When we throw a party, we love to have a theme that runs through the entire affair. Because we’re talking about a name reveal, we thought it would be fun to have the theme of “names” woven all throughout your party and this should definitely include food, too.
Using alphabet cookie cutters and fruit, cut out the letters of your guests names and skewer them to add to their drinks. You could also do this with cake and/or cookies, in which case they could double as place cards, if you’re having a seated dinner party.
This is such a fun and personalized way to bring the name theme into another aspect of your party. One thing’s for sure, none of your guests will get their drinks mixed up.
Name Puzzle Favor
After you’ve had the big name reveal, eaten tons of food and had a great time with family and friends, you don’t want your guests to leave empty-handed. So why not create a name puzzle for your guests. While we’re suggesting it as a take home gift, this idea could also be used as the main activity at the party for the initial reveal as well.
Here’s how: Taking a child’s puzzle (about 50 mid-sized pieces), paint each piece individually (trust me, you need to do each piece separately or else the whole puzzle will become glued together with the paint and you won’t be able to pull it all apart to put into party bags for your guests). You will likely need a few coats to cover whatever artwork was originally on the puzzle.
Once dry, assemble your puzzle (this might be easier if you’ve laid out the pieces where they belong before you started painting them). After your puzzle is put together, use a fine tip paint brush and acrylic paint of choice to paint out the baby’s name. You can add some other artistic details as well if you’d like.
Once everything is dry, break apart the puzzle and put pieces into clear plastic party bags with a tag. Give these to your guests as they leave, as a beautiful party favor and reminder of this special celebration.
Note, if you have any family or friends who can’t attend the baby name reveal party, consider sending them a puzzle in the mail a week or so prior to the party. This way they can join in the fun at home, too.
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Well, there you have some of our favorite baby name reveal party ideas. You could incorporate one or all into your party, making it truly creative and memorable for your guests. Even if you don’t want to throw a party, you could incorporate some of these ideas into a photoshoot that can later be posted online or sent through the mail (the name puzzle) to reveal your baby’s name in a special and unique way to those closest to you.
Christine is a married mother of three kids under the age of six, living just outside of Toronto, Canada. Life is chaotic on most days, but Christine believes that there is still beauty to be found, amidst the chaos of everyday life. She loves to blog about all things entertaining: from party planning to delicious recipes, simple DIY projects, home decor and so much more! You will also find a few personal anecdotes where Christine opens up about some of the harder struggles in life that we all face. This is what makes her blog authentic and relatable while still having a knack for everyday beauty!
You can read more of her blog at www.amidstthechaos.ca
