Gender reveal parties are all the rage today. You get your friends and family around either in person or online to announce the sex of your new baby. While many parents come up with unique ideas, not all of them are safe. For example, an Arizona couple recently sparked controversy and 73 square mile fire when their gender reveal went awry.
You don’t have to create a week-long wildfire to have a memorable gender reveal There are plenty of ways to find out and announce the gender of your blessing to an adoring world.
Your Trusted Person
Regardless of what else you may do, if you want to be surprised, you will need a trusted person to find out the gender of your baby and prepare the reveal. Choose your person carefully. You don’t want to pick someone that you deal with every day. It makes it more likely that the secret will slip. You also don’t want to get someone that will tell everyone else, deflating your surprise. Discuss with your trusted person exactly what kind of reveal you wish. If you don’t know what you might want, explore some of these ideas.Gender Reveal Cake
This is one of the more popular gender reveals. Many bakeries can make you a gender reveal cake filled with either pink or blue frosting. But they are easy to bake at home. Simply bake three layers of cake. Cool completely and cut the center out of one layer so that the cake looks like a giant donut. Place the first layer on the plate and frost. Place the cut layer on top and fill it with pink or blue frosting and frost the cake portion of the center layer. Top it with the final solid layer and frost the cake. You can make it simpler, just adding food coloring to a white cake mix and dying the sponge either pink or blue. But it can be hard to cover the cake with enough frosting to totally hide the color. This method of filling ensures that a finger slip won’t result in either parent “accidentally” discovering the gender before it’s time.Gender Reveal Cupcake
If you are serving finger food, consider an alternative in filled cupcakes. Cupcakes let each of your guests discover the gender on their own. Just bake your favorite cupcakes. While the cupcakes cool, fill a pastry bag with either pink or blue frosting. Attach a filling tip to the bag and insert the tip into the center of top of the cool cupcake. Squirt a small amount of colored frosting into the center. Remove the tip. Pipe a generous amount of frosting on top of the cupcake to cover the colored hole.Gender Reveal Gift
A gift can be a fun seasonal way to share the gender of a new baby. Christmas, Chanukah, Birthdays or Valentines day can all be the perfect time for this reveal. Simply purchase two gifts, one for a boy and one for a girl. Then ask your chosen person to wrap the gender specific gift for the baby. Try to stay away from blatantly sexist gifts. For example, a baseball mitt or other sports equipment are used by both genders. Consider something that is family-specific. For example, if you and your partner are fans of a specific sports team, consider pink or blue jerseys from the team. If you are movie buffs, why not wrap posters or memorabilia from Rocky and Pride and Prejudice.Sibling Gift Reveal
Do you already have a little prince or princess that is about to be dethroned in the cuteness department? Why not make your older child the center of the reveal? Simply ask your chosen person to wrap a gift for the older sibling that reveals the gender of the baby. Consider a boy or girl doll, or a pink or blue stuffed animal. Your child might find it a little intimidating to have everyone watch with bated breath while he unwraps his gift but will love the new toy.Gender Reveal Pinata
Another fun reveal at a party with children is a gender reveal pinata. Simply choose a pinata that goes along with the theme of your party or is shaped like a question mark. Ask your trusted person to fill the pinata with pink or blue candy. There are a wide range of candies that are either dyed pink or blue, such as Jolly Ranchers, or wrapped in pink or blue, such as Hershey’s Kisses. At the party, most pinatas give you the choice of either having children take turns bashing the pinata with a stick, or you can let the children pull on included ribbons to release the candy.Pop the Question Gender Reveal
Purchase a black balloon, something that is completely opaque when inflated. You may need to purchase a couple of balloons to find the right one for your project. Make a poster with a giant question mark. In the center of the dot at the bottom of the punctuation, make a small hole. Just before the reveal, ask your trusted person to pour about a cup of either pink or blue paint into the balloon and then inflate it slightly before tying it off. Push the knot of the balloon through hole in to poster and tape it to hold it in place. When the time comes, give both parents a dart and ask them to throw it at the question mark. As the balloon pops, the paint spills out revealing the gender of the baby.Long Distance Gender Reveal
Do you have someone that just can’t be at the party? Make them part of the fun by sending them their own gender reveal box. Encourage them to add their presence digitally, opening their box as you reveal the gender to your local party-goers.Twin Reveals
Most of these ideas can easily be altered to accommodate twins. For example, simply ask both parents to cut designated places on the gender reveal cake. This can show whether they will have one gender or both. The same with the cupcakes. For the gender reveal gift, consider announcing the twins when your child opens the gift. After the initial excitement of the first gift begins to wane, tell the child that two gifts are always better than one, and let everyone know that you are carrying twins.With a little creativity and a lot of love, you can share your good news with the world. And stay safe.