Gender Reveal: Stache or Sash?

Even before Derek and I knew we were expecting, I had pinned plenty of those “gender reveal” parties and surprises. But when the time came to find out the gender, there really wasn’t good timing to get people together for a big surprise concept. Instead we decided to go the route of little  favor gifts we could give out to reveal our little one!

And so I ask you: will it be a stache or a sash? (aka mustache or bow!)

A week before I planned to make them for real, I did a test run using this recipe from How Does She for the flavoring and followed along step by step.  The taste of the cookies with this recipe is pretty dead on, but I had a few issues that I worked to perfect.

Here are some things I learned in my test run:

• I didn’t grease my baking sheet, but instead used a piece of parchment paper cut to size on each sheet.
• Leave the cookies in longer than she says on the blog. 5 minutes was not enough. It was more like 7-8 minutes.  An underbaked cookie just splits instead of bends when you first fold it over. Make sure it’s much more browned than what she shows in order to make the shape work.
• Do your best to spread the batter really thin on the sheet. My first ones were thick and undercooked! Most of mine were also much larger than a normal store-bought fortune cookie (see above) so practice making them smaller.
• Don’t try to get all fancy and think you’re speeding up the process by putting more than two cookies on a baking sheet at a time. They cool REALLY fast so baking them in twos gives you enough time to shape each one before it sets. Tip: lay a kitchen towel on your counter and put the baking sheet on there out of the oven. This gives you a few extra seconds of warming time to shape it before it starts to form.
• The recipe makes 12-16 cookies depending on how small or thin you spread them.

After cooling, I bagged each cookie in a clear lollipop bag added my personally designed “Stache or Sash” tag. (I’m not sure how to add pdf printables to this post so if someone can direct me to that, I’ll add it on! Otherwise email me if you’re interested in my printable!)

Coworkers and family members were given a favor treat and directed to crack it open for a surprise. (Loved how my sister-in-law, Lauren, smashed hers inside the bag in order to be the first to know the results when we gave it out in a group!) Inside they discovered this:

Yep! Sugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what I’m growing in my belly! :)

FREE PRINTABLE:

I went ahead and turned my tags into a free printable for your personal use! Just click on the image above to download this 8.5 x 11 sheet. I’d love to hear if you use this design for your gender reveal! Please contact me and let me know!