WHAT IS INSIDE THE BOX? That is exactly what my sisters wanted to know when I handed it over to them! I was planning on visiting them the weekend of Mother’s day 2018 and thought that would be a perfect time to tell them all together. I was really coming down to see a Taylor Swift concert with my older sister, Anne and my nieces. My sisters childhood bestie, Emily (they have been friends since they were 5 years old) was also visiting with her teenager daughter. I have known Emily as long as I can remember and the three of us, Emily, her daughter and myself were all flying together to visit my sister up north. I knew I could trust in them the secret of me being pregnant and they would keep it until the time was right! They only had to keep the secret a little over 24 hours! I told them my plan at the airport: we were all to meet for lunch in San Francisco at Pier 39, where I would hand my sisters the DIY baby reveal box. Emily and her daughter Annie, (Yes! Emily named her after my sister Anne!) were slyly going to be taking video. I had been holding on to this idea for about two months and I was beyond excited to share this news with my sisters!

Here is how they took it. It went pretty much according to plan!

 

This is how I shared the news with our closest family members. For the people that live close by, I handed it to them in person and waited for their surprised faces. For Jake’s family we mailed these boxes to them! I have been with Jake for 17 years and I just turned 40, so I knew this would be a surprise to anyone who knew us well. I really wanted to find a way to enhance the moment of sharing the news!

I didn’t even look up, “how to share news of being pregnant”! I just thought about how I would like to do it. Here is what I used:

Supplies:

• Ultrasound Pictures (duh)

• Scissors

• Paper Trimmer

• Kraft Box

• Ribbon

• Confetti

Here is how I assembled the boxes:

I scanned my original image and brought that image into photoshop. I sized it so I knew it would fit inside the box. I brought the sized image into illustrator and layed six out with crop marks on each image on a 8.5″ x 11″ sized art board. I made another 8.5″ x 11″ sized art board and wrote “Welcome Baby Z, Fall • 2018”. I printed on yardstick and I cut each one out using my paper trimmer and the crop marks as guides. Then I filled each box up all the way to the top with confetti, slid the ultrasound in deep so they would be a bit puzzled at first and have to go digging for the “present”. I wrapped it all up with ribbon and a bow! They turned out great and it was such a fun way to surprise my nearest and dearest!

Now we wait until Thanksgiving day, November 22nd, 2018!