Dawn McCoy has been our go-to girl for anything travel-related, food-related, or just all-things-celebration related for quite some time now. When we heard the news she had a sweet addition to her family on the way, we were over the moon ecstatic. We were even more excited when she announced that the theme of her sweet gender reveal was going to be “Oh, the places we’ll go.” With her and Nick always being on the move, this theme couldn’t be more fitting! The Conservatory in West Hollywood served as the perfect venue to gather 100 of Dawn + Nick’s closest friends and family to celebrate “Oh, the places we’ll go” as a new family of three!
From the beautiful mama-to-be, Dawn McCoy:
“Nick and I live our travel-filled lives as a couple in full-on pastel color! And, we hope our little one will embrace life in the same, colorful, adventurous, living-large way! To celebrate the exciting announcement of our baby’s gender reveal, we decided to take a page from Dr. Seuss’s book, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” and changed the wording slightly to “Oh, The Places We’ll Go!” because we have no doubt we’ll be a family on-the-go.
Next, we called on our most talented, colorful friend, illustrator Courtney Collins of Courtney Coloring, to inspire the pastel rainbow design and set the magical mood with our invitations and menus. For the invitation, Courtney created a custom pastel illustration of Nick and I, with baby on board of course, along with pastel vintage suitcases and festive balloons. Not only did the illustration serve as the centerpiece of the invite, but it was also used for our welcome sign, our menus and Hansen’s Cakes even incorporated the illustration into our 4-tier reveal cake design.”
“As soon as we knew we were going to have a gender reveal party, we knew EXACTLY where wanted to host it. With its green marble bar, glamorous ambiance and dreamy, desert-pink boho vibes with the outdoor fire pit, Conservatory Weho combines three of our favorite places – Hollywood, Austin, and Palm Springs – all in one.”
“We set the big cake reveal to take place in the fire pit area because it reminded us of our respective high school and college party days living in Texas. And, we also loved the outdoor bench seating with comfy-cozy boho pillows aplenty that just made the space feel like home.”
“Conservatory Weho created the summer-fresh custom menu inspired by our Texan roots and love of brunch and southern fare. As for the extensive cocktail menu? Well, with Azunia Tequila, Slow & Low Rock & Rye and Saved Rosé, the beverages were free-flowing and festive.
A favorite was definitely the PMA Paloma, made with Grapefruit Cinnamon infused Azunia Blanco Tequila, Azunia Reposado Tequila, Cinnamon Juniper Agave, Lime and Q Grapefruit Soda. As one of our gentlemen guests said, “That was the most fun, best, BOOZIEST baby shower ever!!!” As native Texans-turned-Angelenos, we take that as a compliment!”
“While we needed 2 blue layers for the 4-tier big reveal cake (we chose their blue velvet cake and blue buttercream for that) we also wanted to treat our guests’ tastebuds to two of our other favorite Hansen’s cake flavors – banana nut cake with banana buttercream and lemon cake with lemon buttercream.”
“For our guest favors, we wanted to keep the sweet, pastel theme going and incorporate our love of movies – as well as the entertainment industry that brought us both to Hollywood – so we called on our friends at Popconopolis to bring in their unicorn popcorn cones. A sweet and lemony popcorn treat, our guests are still sharing insta-stories showing them enjoying the delicious ‘corn.”
“We plan to be a big book-loving family, so in lieu of greeting cards, we asked our guests to bring books with personal inscriptions inside for our kiddo’s library.”
“We are so lucky to be surrounded by such a supportive and generous network of friends and family members, but there are many parents out there who don’t have that luxury. So, Nick and I decided early on that we wanted our reveal to have a sharing component, as well. I called up my new friends at Baby2Baby and created a Baby2Baby donation station where our guests could bring diapers, new and gently used clothing and toys for families in need. As happy as I was with all of the beautiful party elements, nothing filled my cup as much as seeing so many friends bring so many donations from their hearts and homes.”
Loved this gender reveal as much as we did? Keep the inspiration coming with 10 Fun Gender Reveal Ideas!