Gender Reveal
This photo gives me so much joy! Also, Joey jokingly trying to return the pink confetti, hahaha!
A gender reveal party. I honestly wasn’t keen on hosting one, being the lazy preggo that I am, hehe! But upon learning that my in-laws will be in Manila the weekend of my 20th week, coincidentally the perfect time to check our baby’s gender, Joey and I decided to just go on with it! Our families and closest friends have been with us in praying and waiting for this child, so we thought it would be nice to gather everyone again (the first after our 2015 wedding) in this special occasion of finding out if it’s a boy or a girl. :)
Plus, we thought it would be fun to find out the gender at the same time! And much fun it did prove to be! :)
Team Libubs or Team Lilibubs
As I’ve shared on my social media, my husband and I have been calling our little one “Libubs”, which is short for Lil Bubs, since Joey and I call each other “Bubs”. :D It was the moniker that stuck because it rhymed with “libag”. I know, I know kawawa si baby pero loko-loko ‘tong tatay talaga e! Siya nag-isip nun e! Anyway, it was Joey’s idea too to call the baby Lilibubs if it was a girl. So for the party, we had blue Team Libubs and pink Team Lilibubs stickers made by our favourite go-to shop for all design and printing, Print Café. At the party, we asked our guests to make a guess and stick them on their shirts.
The Ramirezes manning the buffet table. Daddy Dan and Mommy Jing batting for different teams! :D
One Week Planning
When I thought about the kind of gender reveal party that I wanted, my initial desire was really just to hang out at someone’s house, eat pancit and ask our guests to play patintero for me because I’ve missed it :D But when I asked my husband who he wanted to invite, and when I looked at my large family, I knew we wouldn’t fit inside a residential house (besides, nakakahiya haha). So from eating pancit and playing patintero, the idea bloomed into having a full-fledged Pinoy-fiesta / Philippine Games-themed gender reveal party, in which aside from patintero (my favourite game), the plan was to ask our guests to join a tumbang preso game, too (Joey’s favourite). The reveal, in keeping with the theme, was to hold a traditional Paluin ang Palayok game but instead of an actual palayok (since we didn’t want to injure anyone haha), we asked our good friend Nicole if it could be a palayok-designed piñata instead. She said yes that was super doable :)
The mysterious palayok piñata!
Our simple Pinoy-fiesta themed DIY party. Na-achieve naman di ba? Hehe! Colourful banderitas ftw!
My cousin, Gabo. Blue, red, and white balloons (Philippine flag colors) tied all around the basketball court and popped or taken home by the kiddies. :)
It was a one-week DIY preparation that I couldn’t have done without my Tuesday ladies-only, bible study group. These gals are so experienced at holding parties for their little kiddos or pamangkins, I only had to viber them my questions and they were so quick to help! And even at the party, since we didn’t hire catering (tipid hits!), they with their husbands, Joey and my in-laws actually helped man the buffet table! Really so grateful for their help. <3
I asked my Tita Budeng to prepare pancit bihon, chicken and cheese lumpia, biko, sago’t gulaman and iced tea. She added palitaw to complete the Pinoy fiesta theme. My Tita Letty generously made and gave puto’t kutsinta. I ordered pork barbecue from our favorite nearby barbecue-han. And to top it all off, Mommy Jing and Daddy Dan ordered lechon from Bacolod! They also brought some callos! Was so grateful for all the yummy food and the tulungan spirit, especially seeing how our family and bible study friends were the ones serving everyone at the buffet table.
Sa sobrang DIY di namin na-anticipate ang mga langaw! Haha! While Tita Budeng was looking for candles, kami-kami lang din muna ang nagpapaypay while our guests got food. :D
Lechon skin yummmmmm
We also hired mixed balls and ice cream carts to complete the Pinoy experience!
Patricia and Pistin :)
Games Games Games
It wasn’t raining but it was a bit humid on that Sunday, July 15. So we scrapped the patintero and tumbang preso plans and just had three non-active games.
Paper plane race! Pilots getting ready!
When I was a kid, my friends and I used to always play with mga bankang papel (paper boats). I remember having had so much fun making them; on rainy days when the water flowed strongly in the neighbourhood gutters, we would put our paper boats there and follow their courses, sometimes even blowing on them to egg them on. I thought it would be nice to make paper boats as part of the table centrepieces :)
Little Theo and his paper plane.
While we were making them though, the others started to fold the papers into planes. It probably brought them back to their childhood as well because before long, the boys were holding races, seeing whose paper plane would fly the farthest! Thus, the idea for our first game was born.
Coach Ige showing us how to do it.
I asked for a parent and child tandem, desiring for them to bond over making paper planes, and so that our peers could introduce our childhood games to their kids as well. So many joined the game and it was so fun to watch all those colourful planes fly past each other. :)
Joey having a hard time asking all the kids to settle down and fall back into a line. :D
We also made old-school telephones using tin cans joined by a piece of yarn. I used to play with those as a child too! So we had that as a game as well. Our friend Rachel asked seven pairs of guests to communicate various song lyrics in a sort-of Pass the Message. Everyone heard each other clearly. Again, it was fun to watch! :D
Lastly, my sister-in-law Danette held her famous Name That Tune game. The twist is, instead of singing the actual lines from the songs, the participants were made to sing the tunes using the animal sound they picked from a cup. Example, if the song was Leron Leron Sinta and the animal picked was a cow, the participant must sing the Leron Leron Sinta tune using the moo sound! You can imagine how hilarious it was! Of course, the songs we had them guess were all OPM. :D
Joey keeping score :D
The Big Reveal and How We Kept It a Surprise Even For Ourselves
When he saw the pink confetti, Joey kept on saying, "Sabi ko sa'yo e!" He already had a feeling it was a baby girl. <3
We went to see our OB, Dr. Eileen Manalo, the Saturday before the party for the sole purpose of finding out the gender. :D Days before, Joey and I and our prayer partners kept on praying that the baby’s gender would be determined, otherwise walang party hahaha! My Tuesday ladies group advised me to eat a lot of sweets para maglikot si baby, so for the first time during my entire pregnancy I had regular coke for lunch and more than my usual share of dessert. Joey’s best buds since toddlerhood Chris and Pau, together with their wives Nic and Rache who were part of my Tuesday discipleship group, all went with us to the checkup. :) <3
The big hug after the big reveal <3
We were fourth in line. Joey and I who are always excited to see baby’s progress at every ultrasound, chose not to look at the machine that time. We just trusted Dra when she said that the baby is doing good, even rejoicing at the news that my placenta has moved up! Praise God talaga! It had been low-lying for the first weeks of my pregnancy that’s why I’ve been extra careful.
More answered prayers! Dra has clearly seen our baby’s gender. We asked her to just write it down on a piece of paper, which Joey took and gave to Chris. Chris told the others, and I wonder if it was all four of them who put the confetti in the piñata. I haven’t asked, but i’m really grateful for these four friends of ours who have always stood by Joey in every precious milestone. Now that Joey and I are one, I know they will stand by me too. <3
I took the printed sonogram from Dra without looking at it, promising to control myself until after the reveal. I kept my promise, and after all that pink confetti burst from the piñata, looked for myself, showed it to Joey and our families, and confirmed that indeed, there could be no boy parts in there. It was true what Dra said, that it was very clear on the ultrasound what gender our child would be. :)
HI LILIBUBS! And thank you to our families and friends who celebrated with us. See you at her birthday next year! Will we still DIY? I honestly can’t say. Something tells me this little one will have our hearts full and our hands tied! :D
Navarro family <3
Ramirezes with our cherished friends, Jay and Geli, Pau and Rache, Carlo and Mitch, and Chris and Nic <3
Thank you for reading! And to our batchmates in this new journey, God bless us all and our coming little ones. <3
Bossa love,
Sitti
P.S.
A special thanks to Pau and Rache and to my brother Buboy for the pictures. :)