Writer / Eghe Lenze
There’s an exciting new trend among expecting families called gender reveal parties. If you’re asking yourself, “What’s a gender reveal party?” then you either don’t know anyone who’s expecting, you aren’t expecting or you live under a rock.
A gender reveal party is a party to find out the gender of an expecting couple’s baby. Generally, gender reveal parties lie somewhere between the pregnancy announcement and the baby shower. Thanks to social media, this trend is exploding with some good and bad reviews, but it’s a trend that is not going anywhere any time soon.
Who is doing it? A lot of people. Gender reveal parties started popping up around 2011 with a simple cake you could cut into to find out reveal the baby’s gender: blue for boy and pink for girl. What started with a small gathering of immediate families has grown to include friends, extended families and even the whole world.
Celebrities like Snooki, Dave Annable and Carrie Underwood, just to name a few, revealed their baby’s gender on national television or video to not only tell their families but the entire world. Other celebrities have used gender reveals on their Instagram and other social media pages.
If you are invited to a gender reveal party, you should expect food and games, maybe even together. Be prepared to have some cookies or cupcakes either pink, blue or some neutral color. Games often include guessing the gender of what you think the baby might be, predicting the day of birth or learning old wives’ tales of boys versus girls. Finally, the reveal — is it a boy or a girl? If you are thinking of bringing a gift, it’s not necessary (unless it’s a shower and gender reveal in one).
Thinking of throwing one? Let your sonographer know ahead of time that’s the plan, but you can always know and keep it a secret too. Bring an envelope if you don’t want to know and ask the sonographer to put the gender inside. At that point, you can give the envelope to a trusted friend or family member or give it directly to your baker/party planner. If you plan on doing a cake reveal, contact a local bakery and see if they accommodate your request.
Setting the date a month in advance for your gender reveal party is enough time for you to plan and invite guests. Decide how you want to do the reveal — Cake? Balloons? Silly string? Reveal tees? The possibilities are endless and honestly a lot of fun!
If you are looking for a little bit of inspiration, check out our Pinterest page for tons of ideas. Pinterest is full of tips that you can use for themed gender reveal parties such as Football theme, Ties or Tutus and What will it Bee. Don’t forget to check out gender reveal themed decor. Visit your local party supply store for more ideas. Another forgotten gem for inspiration is Etsy. If you have something more out of the box, this is definitely the place to go for inspiration, ideas and one-of-a-kind decor. And to see what not to do, search YouTube.
Whether you have been to one, think it’s ridiculous to have one, are thinking of having one for your first or your third or never heard of one, one thing is for sure — this trend is not going away. Prepare to see more Instagram reveals, YouTube videos and whatever social media platform is coming next. My advice, enjoy the cake.
