How to Plan a Gender Reveal Party

Pregnancy is a cause for celebration! And what better way to celebrate than with a baby gender reveal party where you can share the joyful news with family and friends? This article will take you through all the ins and outs of how to memorialize this significant milestone in your pregnancy.

Get ready to gather your loved ones and hit the Pinterest boards to share great ideas as you learn how to plan a gender reveal party. Because seriously, who can resist a themed party, especially given these baby reveal ideas?

It’s a Boy! It’s a Girl! Those Three Magical Words^TM

Knowing the gender of your baby is helpful for the planning process. For that, SneakPeek has your back. With an early gender prediction test, you can know the gender of your baby as early as eight weeks into pregnancy. And from the moment you order your kit online, you could be saying those three magical words within days after ordering.

It’s a… It’s a… Wait!

It’s a gender “reveal” party, remember? So (reluctantly) hand over your gender blood test results to your party planning partner in crime and start making your way through the below. The steps of how to plan a gender reveal party are as follows:

• The guest list and party invitations
• The dream theme
• The setup
• Themed games
• The big reveal

The Setup

Before bringing in the balloons, it would probably be helpful to decide who will be in charge of the big news first. If possible, you could tap the shoulder of a relative or close friend to be the secret keeper. Or, if you’d like to leave it a complete surprise for everyone, you could pass the results of your gender test onto the bakery in an envelope (stay tuned to see how you can incorporate dessert into the reveal).

You can also choose between having the reveal be a surprise for just you and your partner or for all the partygoers. Just know, this decision will impact some of the party details (e.g., decor, activities, and invitations).

The Dream Theme

A party theme can be the bow (or bowtie) that binds this fun gathering together. Trying to think of the perfect gender reveal theme? You can try drawing inspiration from you and your partner’s interests. For example, sports fanatics can turn their gender reveal into the ultimate Super Baby Bowl—where guests who think the baby will be a boy compete against those on Team Girl in tee-ball, zygote toss (egg toss, but thematically relevant), and other fun party games.

Winning team gets to pick the gender of the baby! Wait… that’s not how it works.

Or, simplicity might be your thing. There’s nothing wrong with a classic pink or blue theme. For this, you can request that your guests arrive donning pink or blue clothing—whatever they guess the gender will be!

Need some more inspiration? Here are some gender reveal party ideas to spark your imagination:

• Bow or bowtie
• Buck or doe
• Pirates or mermaids
• ‘Staches or lashes
• Prince or princess

For more ideas, check out these epic gender reveal themes.

Invite-Only | Prepping the Guest List

An added benefit of throwing a gender reveal party is that you can invite men and women, old and young, as opposed to the generally stricter baby shower guest list. Although whether this is an intimate gathering or a big bash is entirely up to you.

Per scheduling considerations, it can be helpful to send out party invitations about six weeks in advance. This gives your guests plenty of time to wiggle this festivity into their calendars. And when it comes time to create the invites, there are several easy options:

• Order custom invitations.
• Handcraft each one for a personal touch.
• Pick and print an online design (check out Etsy’s extensive selection).
• Send a customizable e-vite (Punchbowl is free, easy to use, and the invites come out adorable).

Regardless of your preferred method, you might want to keep in mind that not everyone knows what a gender reveal party is. Including a small blurb could be beneficial.

To Gift or Not To Gift

Whether guests should bring gifts or not is up to you. If you are hosting a joint gender-reveal party and baby shower, then a standard shower gift may be expected. While some individuals may be kind enough to contribute something anyway, guests are usually not obligated to bring anything for a gender reveal party.

A thank-you note would be appropriate for any generous partygoers. Otherwise, a line or two on invitations indicating that they are not expected to come bearing goodies may help clarify gender reveal party etiquette for your guests.

It’s All Fun and Games

What’s a party without activities? Keeping your guests engaged can make the event much more fun and interactive. Additionally, connecting the gender reveal party games to your theme can be an adorable tie-in.

How can you have everyone play a part?

• Consider hosting a best-dressed competition and rewarding the individual with the most creative interpretation of your party’s theme.
• Upon entering, guests could put their name into the jar with their guess for the baby’s gender. Winners of the guessing game get an extra helping of dessert!
• Hide pacifiers throughout the party area. Hand each guest some clues and watch everybody suddenly turn into Sherlock Holmes.

Check out these fun gender reveal games to encourage guest participation and make it a moment to remember!

Boys Versus Girls

You can keep the rivalry going and show who’s team baby boy and who’s team baby girl with a few thoughtful details that also stay on theme:

• Beverages can add to the fun! From pink or blue mixed drinks to pink or blue lemonade, guests can make their bet on the gender with a few drops of food coloring.
• Party favors let loved ones take home a memento of the reveal. For an edible memento, blue or pink colored icing and sugar cookies make a cute take-home item.
• Props are an easy and inexpensive touch. The addition of “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl” pins or colored wristbands involve the guests and up the anticipation for the reveal-to-come.

Picture This

As one of the first gatherings for your child, it would be great to have some keepsakes. Memories are also one of the greatest gifts that you can give your child! They’ll get to see everyone who’s rooted for them from the very start. This unique gender reveal idea adds a meaningful and sentimental touch to the occasion.

Depending on your budget, you can:

• Hire a professional photographer.
• Request the photography/videography services of a friend.
• Set up a small photo booth or backdrop and include baby gender themed props to make the photos fun.
• Pass around a Polaroid camera.
• Create a shared folder online for all the guests to pile in their pictures.
• Use a specific hashtag on social media to gather all the posts in one place. (For this one, be sure to use a hashtag that nobody else is using; that way you don’t have to share the space!)

The Big Reveal

Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: The Big Reveal. In today’s day and age, there is no such thing as too over the top. So, now is the time to let your creativity shine.

Here are some ideas for the momentous reveal:

• Food – The most popular method of gender reveal is to provide a baked good or sweet treat for the good news. You can use cake, cupcakes, cake pops, and more. The options are delicious and endless. Thanks to your coordination with the baker in advance, you just have to make a cut or take a bite to reveal a pink or blue filling. It’s a sweet ending that will have everyone leaving with a full heart and stomach.
• Balloons – Also, with a dual function of decor, balloons are another typical conveyor of your child’s gender. You can fill an opaque balloon with blue or pink confetti and pop it for an explosive surprise. Or you can fill and seal a box with colored helium balloons, then open the box to see what gift floats up into the sky.
• Piñata – Seeking a more interactive reveal? The piñata can be filled with colored ribbons, toys, or pink or blue candy to give your guests. It’s also an entertaining way to involve your baby’s older siblings if they have any. This method pairs especially well with a señor or señorita gender reveal theme!
• Cannon – Feel free to end the party with a bang. There’s no more appropriate time for dramatic flair than now, right? A colored confetti cannon will make an announcement that none of your guests will forget. There are even gender reveal smoke bombs for the expectant parents to make a truly grand statement.
• Clothing – Why not start your baby’s wardrobe and reveal the gender in one go? Your designated secret keeper can place male or female clothing items in a gift box. Unwrap your gift and show the contents to everyone. (We suggest tiny socks because the only thing more precious than tiny socks are the feet going in them!)

Thanks for Coming!

After your guests have cleared out and all the mess has been dealt with, you’re finally free to take a well-deserved break. For a thoughtful afterthought, you can send out thank you notes to those that attended. Everyone appreciates being appreciated, after all.

The Gender is Out of the Bag

While some are willing to wait nine months to discover the gender of their child, that isn’t true for everyone. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to know early and sharing the news with loved ones. For the celebration of a new life, it makes perfect sense that you would want to make an event out of it as the expectant parents.

A gender reveal party is a fun way to introduce your baby to everyone you care about. Intimate or expansive, a quick event or an all-day cause for celebration, your gender reveal party will be one thing above all else… fun!

Now that you know how to do a gender reveal, try your best not to stress over every detail and simply get excited for all the memories to be made with your friends and loved ones!

Sources:

Bump Reveal. Gender Reveal Party Etiquette. https://bumpreveal.com/blogs/content/gender-reveal-party-etiquette

Bump Reveal. How to Plan a Gender Reveal Party. https://bumpreveal.com/blogs/content/how-to-plan-a-gender-reveal-party

Kate Aspen. 9 Themes for a Gender Reveal Party. https://www.kateaspen.com/blogs/kate-aspen-blog/9-themes-for-a-gender-reveal-party

Pampers. Ultimate Guide for Planning a Gender Reveal Party. https://www.pampers.com/en-us/pregnancy/pregnancy-announcement/article/ultimate-guide-for-planning-a-gender-reveal-party