Four Key Steps to a Successful Gender Reveal

Gender Reveals are such a fun, creative and exciting way to get your family involved in revealing the sex of your baby.  They are so popular today but many people don't know how to plan one especially without knowing the sex themselves. Today, we are explaining the key steps in planning your own. 

Here's a video of ours. We decided to do it on Easter because we knew we'd have our family together on that day. 

How to determine the sex of your baby while still keeping it a surprise for yourself

Around 16 weeks, your doctor will be able to offer a blood test that will determine the sex of your baby. You tell the doctor and all the nurses in the office that you do NOT want to know the results. Instead, ask them to write down the sex of the baby and seal it in an envelope. One thing that is very important to note: tell them to make the result CLEAR. For example, have them write the sex of the baby on just a plain piece of paper instead of enclosing the actual report from the lab. The report can be very confusing and you want whoever you choose to read the letter to pick the appropriate colored balloons (or whatever props you choose) and plan a successful reveal.  

My husband, little babe and I moments after we found out we were having another BOY.

Chose someone you trust to open the envelope 

This is a tough one because you want all your close friends and family to be surprised but you do need one person that you really trust to know the gender first and help plan the actual "reveal" part of the party. 

Be prepared to document 

Before the event starts, make sure you’ve setup a way to document the event. If you have a nice budget, you can hire a professional photographer or videographer for the event. Alternatively, assign one of your friends to take photos. Or, be creative and grab a Polaroid. Have guests write well wishes for the baby on the back of the Polaroid shots as they come out of the camera.

We used a tripod for the video and assigned my mother-in-law to take the photos. 

Pick a way to reveal the gender 

The entire point of a gender reveal party is to work your way up to one big moment to reveal the gender. We chose to use confetti pops (pictured above). We gave the job of popping them to my husband's nephews because we knew it would be a super fun way to get them involved. Here are some of the most popular ways to reveal the baby’s gender:

• Bake a cake with the with either pink/blue color inside (you can give the envelope to a local baker or to a trusted friend, and they can make or pick up the correct cake)
• Have a friend put pink or blue helium balloons into a sealed box; open the box and let the balloons fly out to reveal the baby’s gender (if you want to be fancy, you can use a trunk or chest)
  
• Get a piñata and fill it with blue or pink items inside, based on the gender of the baby (this one is particularly popular if you already have kids, or if there are going to be lots of kids at the party)