Our tips and ideas for the best gender reveal party

• What exactly is it?

English words, and more English words… Don’t worry: we’re here to explain what a “gender reveal party” is. It is simply a party at which you announce, or find out, your baby’s sex in an original way. The idea came straight from the United States and has been growing in Europe for several years.
While some parents-to-be prefer to keep the secret until the birth, others are happy to announce the sex officially to family and friends. Unlike a baby shower, a gender reveal party is one the whole circle is invited to. The parents may already know the baby’s sex or, as custom has it, find out at the same moment as their guests. In that case, simply ask your gynaecologist to write “girl” or “boy” on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope, then hand it to someone you trust (a sister, an uncle, an aunt, your best friend…). That person will be the only one who knows, and will be in charge of organising an original party to reveal whether it is a little girl or a little boy.

• Our tips for a gender reveal that works

To make the most of your gender reveal party, we have a few tips for you. As for the decoration: since this is a surprise party to reveal the baby’s sex, most people go for pink and blue. If you would rather not box yourself into those stereotypes, you are free to stay with more neutral colours. Here are a few things you could match to your colours: the napkins, a balloon arch, the cups, the straws, the cutlery, the garlands…

If you have gone for pink and blue, you can match the food to those colours too. A few ideas you can make in pink and blue:

– Cupcakes with coloured icing

– Cake pops

– Fruit dipped in coloured chocolate

– Doughnuts iced in your chosen colours

– Sweets (candyfloss, chocolate beans…)

– Macarons

In the end these are only ideas — you are free to do whatever you like.

To make the party even more fun and interactive, you can organise a few “activities” everyone can join in. Here are some ideas:

–   Guessing the baby’s sex: the principle is very simple. You have a list of questions, each with two possible answers — one pointing to a girl, the other to a boy. For example, whether you have been craving sweet things (which would mean a girl) or savoury ones (a boy). At the end you add up the scores and see which sex wins.

–   Not exactly an activity, but you can ask your guests to come dressed in pink or blue depending on what they predict. A variation is to put up a board with two columns and ask each guest to put a cross under “girl” or “boy”, then count them at the end.

–   Why not also run a sweepstake on the baby? Ask your guests to guess the weight, the length, the future name… The suspense will last until the day the baby decides to show up.

–   Plan a “photo session” with each of your guests so you can capture this one-off moment. It is the perfect occasion to use the Eventer app, which lets everyone see everything the others photograph, and the other way round. No more chasing pictures from one person to the next: they all end up in a single album, the one for your gender reveal. 1 event = 1 Eventer album, so you are free to use it as often as you like, and all of it for free.

–   You can put out a guest book so people can leave a few words you will love reading and re-reading. You can personalise it by decorating it in the theme you have chosen for your party.

• Our original ideas for revealing the baby’s sex

The moment every guest — and you — has been waiting for: time to reveal the baby’s sex. To mark the occasion we have put together a (non-exhaustive) list of ideas you can use on the day.

–   Popping a balloon: a matt black balloon is filled with pink or blue confetti; all that is left to do is take a needle, count down and burst it.

–   For the sweeter side, you can order a cake covered in neutral-coloured icing. The sponge inside will be pink or blue — suspense until the moment you cut a slice and the sex is revealed.

–   Still with balloons: take a large box and fill it with pink or blue helium balloons. Tape it shut and, when the moment comes, open it and let the balloons fly.

–   Bursting a piñata filled with confetti: this one lets your guests join in if you want them to. Take something to hit the piñata with and keep going until it opens and the confetti falls.

–   Confetti cannons: take as many as you like, count down and BANG — an explosion of pink or blue confetti.

–   Along the same lines, you can use coloured smoke bombs, which make spectacular keepsake photos. Same again: count down, and at zero everyone sets theirs off.

Tip : you will find all these props in any party or novelty shop, and in the specialist online stores as well. Either way, get them in good time so you are sure to have everything you need — especially if something is made to order. You can never be too careful 😉