It’s such an exciting time of life when you are expecting a new baby! The anticipation of your new family member is building, and you’re watching them grow with each doctor’s visit. Whether you’ve sent out pregnancy announcements yet or not, a baby gender reveal can be a fun way to surprise your loved ones with your news.
Finding out the Gender of Your Baby
Around the 18-week mark, ultrasounds can detect the sex of your baby. During the visit, you can choose to find out the gender right away, or if you want to be surprised, you can have the ultrasound technician put the results on a piece of paper in an envelope for you to open later. Most families who choose to do this give the results to a trusted friend or family member, or the baby’s grandparents, to help make arrangements for the reveal to be announced at a later time. Just don’t peek!
Ideas for an Epic Gender Reveal Party
Cut the Cake: Of course, if there’s going to be dessert at your party, why not let a cake do the revealing? You can take a slip of paper to a bakery or cake shop and have them create a cake for you with hidden candies or colored cake or frosting inside. Then when you cut into the cake, you can let everyone know your baby’s gender! This can also be done with cupcakes, and each guest can bite into the cupcakes at the same time to know the gender of your baby.
Gender Reveal Volcano: Just like the science fair when you were a kid, you can make a volcano reaction. Most couples today use this over a cake or out of a box. A mixture of baking soda, food coloring, and vinegar can bubble up like lava to reveal the sex of your baby.
Outfit Reveals: the expecting parents can unwrap a onesie with the gender results on it or open an outfit that reveals the gender of your baby (for example, a pink dress, or a blue suit). You can find options for personalizing these ideas on Etsy. Or you can find matching outfits to wear as a couple.
Balloon Reveals: Balloons are a fun way to reveal the gender of your baby. You can hide pink or blue confetti inside black balloons and pop them one at a time with a pin or hang them on a board and pop them with a dart. You could also hide a bundle of balloons in a large box and then open it, releasing the colored balloons – and it’s a cute idea to pose with your sonogram results and a balloon bouquet for a post to announce your news.
Party Classics: Hang a pinata with colored candies inside, and let your guests take turns whacking it; purchase party confetti poppers (they sell really cute ones on Etsy!) and have everyone shoot their confetti cannons at the same time; or set off colored fireworks and confetti poppers in your driveway.
Let the Décor Speak for Itself: Surprise your guests by letting them walk into the party and see the decorations in pink or blue, or mustaches, or bows, etc. with streamers, confetti, balloons, and tablecloths. There are amazing theme ideas for décor on Pinterest and Etsy and can be a great way to have a unique gender reveal.
Little Pumpkin: a unique gender reveal, you can celebrate the arrival of your “little pumpkin” through pumpkin decorations (easier done in the fall) and a pumpkin reveal. Cut and scoop out a large pumpkin and staple pink or blue ribbon to the lid. Keep the pumpkin closed until you reveal it to guests by pulling off the lid. Or you can have a Halloween themed reveal with a long sleeve baby onesie photo shoot, or with husband/wife/baby family themed costumes.
Forehead Egg Roulette: made famous on the Jimmy Fallon show, playing egg roulette is a fun game to play for gender reveal parties, and it is growing in popularity. Dallen Reber, a famous Major League Baseball player and self-help author, even took to Twitter to announce with his wife the gender of their baby using this game. To play egg roulette like Dallen or Jimmy, you need to hard boil 11 eggs out of a dozen, leaving one raw. The person who knows the sex of the baby arranges them in an egg carton, coloring pink and blue on half the eggs, with the raw egg being the color of what the gender is. Then the parents take turns selecting an egg and smashing it onto their forehead until someone finds the raw egg and it is smashed all over their face. This would be a fun game idea for an Easter-themed party to find out the gender of your little bunny!
Silly String Gender Reveal: each parent holds two cans of silly string, and on the count of three sprays each other in a silly string war. The color of the silly string reveals the gender of the baby. You could even do a full-on silly string war with the whole family.
Scavenger Hunt: send your family on a physical or digital scavenger hunt, with clues leading them to a place or activity that reveals the gender. This would be fun to do in a sports-themed gender reveal, and you could use balls or other games in the hunt – this would be a creative way to surprise your whole family.
Candle Reveal: You can purchase a gender reveal candle, which burns white for several hours until finally revealing either pink or blue inside! This would be a great way to surprise your partner or a grandparent with the gender of the baby.
Instagram-Worthy Gender Reveal Ideas
Surprise your kids: for those parents who aren’t having their first baby, it can be a fun and often hilarious reveal to video your kids’ reaction to the gender of the baby. A family can record their kids cutting into a cake or reading a letter with the news and depending on if they hoped it was a boy or girl, the results can be quite entertaining.
Take a photo of your themed nursery and post with the announcement – the theme of the nursery would reveal the gender of the baby.
Posting Pups: Post your dog wearing a cute bandana in either pink or blue, next to some balloons or baby shoes. You can have your dog dip its paw into some colored paint and make a cute pawprint keepsake with your handprints side by side; or have them dig into a dog-approved cake with colored frosting.
Many moms love to do a maternity dress photo shoot to announce that they are expecting. You could do a photo spread wearing a maxi dress or long sleeve maternity dress in the color of your baby’s gender or with your partner
Fortune Favors: This one is a little more complicated, but thanks for Etsy or Amazon it is much easier these days! Order fortune cookies with the baby’s gender inside, then give them to guests as favors or after a meal. This can also be a creative gender reveal to husband or wife.
Conclusion
There are countless ways to announce your baby’s gender. You can be a part of the surprise or get in on the planning fun with your partner – all are great ways to celebrate your bun in the oven! Congratulations, mommy!
