Sunday 6 May 2012

Boy or Girl? Gender Reveal Parties

The other day when I was online I kept seeing articles*, posts and comments about a new craze sweeping our nation for parents-to-be.  This new craze comes from the USA where the craze of baby showers also began. This latest trend is The Gender Reveal Party. 

A Gender Reveal Party is as the name suggests a party where parents-to-be reveal the sex of their unborn baby to family and friends.  Not only are the family and friends learning the sex of the unborn baby for the first time during the party but in most cases the parents-to-be are also hearing the news for the first time too.
Parents-to-be organise a party inviting friends and family who gather around the expectant mum as the parents-to-be reveal the sex by slicing a specially baked cake.  These ‘reveal’ cakes have either pink or blue sponges hidden underneath neutral icing and with a slice of the cake the sex is revealed.  Some parents-to-be already know the sex of their unborn baby beforehand but others choose to learn the news of this exciting surprise at the Gender Reveal Party.  For parents-to-be who choose to learn the sex for the first time at the Gender Reveal Party they ask the sonographer at their 20 week scan to write the sex of the baby on a piece of paper and then seal in it an envelope to keep the gender a secret.  They then give the envelope to a cake maker to bake them a cake with sponge coloured to represent the gender revealed within the secret envelope.

In the USA many of these parties are themed with colour-coded decorations and some parents-to-be ask the guests to come in ‘team’ colours; blue if they think the baby will be a boy or pink if they think it will be a girl.  There are hundreds of videos of these parties available to watch on YouTube where you can witness this craze and see how parents-to-be are revealing their news and celebrating.

Nowadays it has become the norm for parents-to-be who use social media to tweet news and update statuses on facebook about their pregnancies and upload baby scan pictures and reveal the sex of their unborn babies.  The days of not finding out until the birth are dwindling with less and less parents choosing not to find out and leaving it a lovely surprise until the day their little one makes an appearance into the world.  The majority of parents-to-be choose to find out the sex of their unborn baby and many choose to have Gender scans and 4D scans.  

When I was pregnant with Tristan we did decide to have a 4D scan when I was 28 weeks pregnant and I loved the experience, we had some lovely photographs and a DVD that I cherish and look forward to showing Tristan one day.  Before the 4D scan we had been told the sex of our baby during our 3rd follow up scan after our 20 week scan, in the previous scans they couldn’t tell for sure as he was always in a bad position or wriggling around too much.  When we did find out we were going to have a little boy we told our close friends and family. 


I’m sure these parties can be a lot of fun but for me I don’t think I would like to learn the news of the sex of my unborn baby at a party.  For me it is a personal, special moment that I wouldn’t want to share with everyone.  I do however think it sounds like a lovely way to make it special for other children you may already have to learn the news in a close, family setting.  Also as many parents will attest having a child is expensive and do you really need to celebrate with an expensive party when the money used for an elaborate party could be saved for the little ones arrival.

It seems nowadays with baby showers, gender reveal parties and 4D scans that parents want to celebrate throughout the pregnancy.  I’m sure it won’t be long before there is a new trend for parents-to-be to celebrate their pregnancy, perhaps pregnancy test parties will be the next craze or something similar.

I do believe that the focus of pregnancy should be the baby’s health and I found myself throughout my pregnancy with Tristan reservedly cautious; apart from my mum and sister we did not tell anyone will after 12 weeks and I never really shared much news on facebook.  I did love the 4D scan we had an even though it isn’t necessary and is expensive when I am pregnant again I would love to have another 4D scan and possibility a gender scan if we could afford to.  I can’t imagine ever having a gender reveal party even though a party does sound a lot of fun.

As with most things to do with parenting there are differing opinions.  This trend is becoming increasingly popular here in the UK and many people like the idea but as with all things there are also many cynics and people who dislike the idea.  Good or bad idea, what do you think?  Would you ever have a gender reveal party or have you already had one?

*(Have a read of the articles on the Telegraph and Parentdish which I read about this new craze)

2 comments:

  1. Samantha_ripley29 May 2012 at 09:49

    Baby showers are becoming increasingly popular in the UK it seems. I found out the sex of both of my babies but dont like the idea of a reveal party, to be honnest it wouldnt have been much of a suprise anyways as we seem unable to produce boys in my family :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. ashleigh allan15 July 2012 at 08:00

    have to agree that i wouldnt really like to find out the gender of my baby at a party!

    ReplyDelete