DIY gender reveal party decorations

As first time grandparents-to-be, we recently hosted a gender reveal party for our second son and daughter-in-law.  Are you ready?  There are quite a few photos in this post, with plenty of diy decorating ideas.

This was a casual outdoor occasion, with a little over 30 guests.  The color scheme was basic baby pink and blue.

Here is an easy DIY decoration--hang some pink and blue vintage baby clothes (the blue outfit was grandpa's, making this even better!)

tiny clothespins are always a fun touch!

Construction paper rosettes, always one of my favorite go-to decorations!

Fabric rag swag

 tiki torches and table candles were citronella, keeping away mosquitoes

You can purchase fabric to make these swags, but a less expensive, not to mention greener, option is to visit a thrift store and find whatever cotton shirts happen to be on clearance.  Cut or tear the fabric into the desired length of strips, and attach as follows to a length of twine or clothesline.  I generally use jute twine for hanging, but be sure it's a 3 ply for strength.

1. Loop  fabric strip, as shown, and lay it under a length of twine

2. Bring the two ends of the looped fabric around twine & through fabric loop

3.  Pull the ends as tight as you like

Here is my result--yours may be tighter, or looser, or differently spaced.

You can add other elements, such as burlap panels, like I did here for a baby shower:

Back to the gender reveal--it was a windy day, and even though you can't see these in the photos,  I absolutely LOVE these DIY tablecloth weights!  So handy, inexpensive, and easy to make:

 
Regular spring clip clothespins, with large sized glass dragon tears glued to the ends--simply clip these to the corners, and sometimes center edges, depending on how windy it is, of the tablecloths to keep things from blowing about.

Centerpieces--vintage baby shoes stuffed with tulle and tiny glass jars filled with wildflowers.  These were set on pink or blue trimmed hankies (my grandma's) on  "silver" platters, along with lengths of ribbon.

the tables also had a sprinkling of star confetti

That covers all the basic decorations.  All of these things were either in my art or decorating stash, along with a vintage stork you can see here.  Just in case you're interested, and at the risk of oversharing, here is the actual reveal:
Just in case there was any doubt, the blue-for-boy was repeated in the delicious cake, made by daughter-in-law #1:

Baby Boy is due in early January--how much baby stuff do you think I can get made by then????
Happy Wednesday!
:)trisha