Is it a boy or a girl? At gender reveal parties, the guests wait eagerly to learn the answer to that question. When a box full of blue balloons bursts open or a pink-filled cake is cut, friends and family exclaim and celebrate.
Finding out whether you’re expecting a boy or a girl is an exciting moment! Why not share the joy with who your loved ones？You've got yourself a gender reveal party.
Here at Just Joy Events, we’ve made this guide to help you plan a memorable gender reveal party. Stick around to figure out the who, what, when, where, and how of hosting this sort of celebration!
Unlike your average party, a gender reveal can’t happen at any time during your pregnancy — you’ll have to find out the baby’s sex first. A noninvasive prenatal test (NIPT), chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis at your doctor's recommendation can reveal the biological sex of a fetus as early as 10 weeks into a pregnancy. These tests determine the biological sex of the fetus based on sex chromosomes tested in the mother’s blood. If the embryo has XX chromosomes, it is determined to be female, and if it has XY chromosomes, it is said to be a male.
For ultrasounds, you’ll have to wait a bit later — usually around 20 weeks. If the sex is confirmed during an ultrasound, the technician or doctor is determining the sex based on fetal genitalia development.
If you choose to find out your baby's sex, you may want to leave a two- to three-week gap between the time of the anticipated results and the party to account for any minor hiccups along the way. Sometimes, labs get backed up and test results are delayed. Other times, a baby might not be in the right position to determine the sex during a planned ultrasound.
Decide Who Will Be Surprised
Once you’ve scheduled your ultrasound, decide who will be surprised at the gender reveal party — you and your guests or only your guests.
If you want to wait and be surprised right along with your guests, ask the doctor or ultrasound technician not to tell you what they find when you go for your ultrasound. Instead, have them write the gender of the baby on a piece of paper and slip it into an envelope for safekeeping.
Choose a theme
Before you send out invitations, it’s helpful to narrow in on a theme. Think of the invitation as your guest’s first impression of your party — it gives them an idea of what to expect.
Themes don’t have to be kitschy, either. A theme can help keep things cohesive, but it can be as simple as a color or two — yellow or blue and pink, for example. Of course, you can also lean into the playfulness of a gender reveal party and come up with something extra creative that nods to the reason your guests are gathered. Some ideas include:
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, How We Wonder Who You Are
He or She … What'll Baby Bee?
He or She: What's the Scoop?
He or She? Waddle It Be?
Boy or Girl? We DONUT Know!
Just Joy Events provides party decoration services in the Auckland area. Just like any other party, the gender reveal party requires setting a theme, and we will communicate with you before the event to determine the theme of the event decoration. When setting the theme, we will consider the current trend and color scheme of party to develop a plan that is impresived by guests. We will connect the content of all party activities to make the whole party more suprised and joyful. Any ideal party theme is the key to the success of the entire event.
For the gender reveal party, when setting the theme, we usually use two colors for girls and boys (like blue and pink) as the theme colors for the party.Our pink and blue theme package is a very popular party decoration theme for gender reveal. If you want to learn more about these package, please contact our team members info@justjoyevents.co.nz
Pick A Date, Time, And Place
When it comes to picking a date for your gender reveal party, it might be best not to plan it for right after your ultrasound.
If the baby isn’t in the right position, there’s a chance that the ultrasound may not show whether it’s a boy or a girl. In that case, you’ll have to go back a different day for another ultrasound.
Where you host the party is totally up to you. Depending on how many people you want to invite and the atmosphere you want to create, your home, a friend’s house, or an event venue will all do the trick!
Settle on a date, time, and place so that you can be ready to send out invitations.
Send invitations
Good old fashioned snail mail or digital evites? There's really no wrong answer, but you might want to consider how many people you’re including, who you're inviting and when the party is first. (Five to 20 guests is ideal, says Renee Patrone Rhinehart, founder of Party Host Helpers.)
If you're inviting digitally-savvy contemporaries, they’ll have no trouble managing digital invitations — they may even prefer them. Digital invitations are also helpful for last-minute events, since you don’t have to account for transit time. On the other hand, older family members may not know how to navigate digital invitations as well. Plus, a tangible invitation can help make the event feel even more special.
Don’t forget to factor in the cost of invitations, too. Digital invitations are, for the most part, low- to no-cost, whereas paper invitations tend to be more expensive, plus require the additional expense of stamps.
No matter which route you go, aim to send gender reveal invitations out four to six weeks ahead of time — a happy medium that allows guests enough time to plan, but not so much time they’ll forget about the special occasion.
Prepare The Games
Some people don’t enjoy party games, but if you do, opt for games that will get everyone even more excited about finding out if you’re expecting a boy or girl. For example, hold a guess-the-gender raffle or have everyone guess your favorite boy and girl names from a list. Prizes for the winner make games like this even more fun!
You could also frame a photo of your ultrasound and have guests play doctor and take a guess at the gender. Laughter guaranteed!
And if you'd like to have photos or a video of your reaction, don’t forget to delegate someone with documenting the moment!
Plan the reveal
Before you can plan exactly how you're going to do the reveal, you'll need to decide if you want to find out your baby's sex at the same time as your guests — or if you want to know ahead of time and surprise them. Most couples opt for the former and simply ask their practitioner to write "boy" or "girl" in a sealed envelope, and ask someone else to organize the gender reveal moment.
Either way, here are some fun ideas for the main event:
Balloon box: Open a box to reveal pink or blue helium-filled balloons that'll float up.
Balloon pop: Fill a matte black balloon with pink or blue confetti, then pop the balloon to reveal one color.
Gender reveal piñata: This is a fun interactive activity, since your guests can take turns hitting it to find out if there's blue or pink confetti inside.
Cupcakes: Pass out cupcakes filled with blue or pink frosting. Once everyone has one, countdown from three, and have everyone take a big bite all at once.
Eat A Fortune Cookie:This is another way to get your guests in on the fun. Order personalized fortune cookies for everyone to discover what your future holds!
Play Football: For a sports-themed party, purchase a pink- or blue-filled football (or baseball, golf ball, etc.) Sports fans will love throwing or punting an exploding football to find out if it’s pink or blue inside!
Go On A Scavenger Hunt: A scavenger hunt is a fun and interactive way for adults and kids alike to get involved! Follow the clues to find out if a baby boy or baby girl is on the way.
Cue The Confetti: Gender reveal confetti cannons are little poppers filled with colored confetti — either pink or blue. They have a string at the bottom that you can give a good tug to release the confetti. Once the cannon opens, confetti goes flying everywhere! Make sure someone has the camera ready because you’ll want a snapshot of this colorful moment. If you have an older child, consider letting them pull the string on the popper for your reveal. It’ll make their big brother or big sister status even more real to them. Plus, they’ll feel so special that they were the one to do the reveal! Another option is to have confetti poppers for all of your guests. Then, when it’s time for the reveal, have everyone pull the string at the same time!
Paint A Shirt :For your gender reveal, wear a white shirt. Have your significant other stand behind you while someone paints their hands pink or blue. But no peeking, so make sure their eyes are closed! Here’s the big moment you’ve been waiting for! Have them wrap their arms around you from behind and place their painted hands on your belly. Get a quick picture of their hands on your belly before they take them off for the reveal. After the picture, they can take their hands off to see what color the handprints are on your shirt! Surprise! If this is baby number two and you want to include your oldest child in this gender reveal idea, let them be the one to place their hands on your belly for the big reveal!
Take A Swing: If you and your family are avid golfers, you’ll want to take a swing at this gender reveal idea! Simply order a golf ball filled with pink or blue powder. If the reveal is a surprise to you, have someone else order the golf ball for you. To reveal your baby’s gender, take a swing with the golf club. Once you make contact with the ball, it will explode into pink or blue powder!
Pass The Box: Wrap a box in several layers and have something pink or blue inside the box. Then start passing. Just like in “pass the potato,” play some music and continue passing the box until the music stops. Once the music stops, the person who’s holding it can unwrap one layer of the box. Continue playing until the box is completely unwrapped. Whoever it lands on last is the person who gets the honor of revealing your baby’s gender!
Finalize the menu
"Keep your menu simple — the main excitement will be the reveal," says Patrone Rhinehart. First, consider the time of day, as this can help inform whether you serve a full meal or lean on appetizers and a few sweet treats and beverages.
If you've settled on a theme, this can also help you decide what to serve your guests. For example, if you’ve chosen the theme "He or She: What’s the Scoop?," opt for an array of easy appetizers — a vegetable crudité, chips and dip, mini meatballs and bruschetta, for example — and a DIY ice cream bar. Settle on a full meal? Consider having it catered. The pros will do the hard work dreaming up gender reveal food ideas, plus you won't be stuck in the kitchen the whole time.
And don’t forget to keep things pregnancy-safe. For example, a cheese board, a platter of sushi or deli sandwiches may not be the best choice for this type of event.
Decorate
When the day arrives, you’ll decorate and set out food, games, and the like. Here at
Just Joy Events, we provide decoration services for your gender reveal party, you just need to tell us your requirements, we will create a unique, unforgettable party for you. So you can completely relax and enjoy this amazing and unforgettable moment in your life.
Get ready to party
Everything’s ready to go and guests are arriving! Now is the time to welcome all your friends and family, enjoy the time together, and find out if your precious little one is a boy or girl. How exciting!
Make the most of the moment and don’t forget to document it on camera.
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