How to Plan the Ultimate Gender Reveal Party

If you choose to find out your baby’s sex during pregnancy, you may want to mark the moment surrounded by your nearest and dearest. A gender reveal is when the expectant parents find out the sex of their growing baby — usually during the second trimester — and if you're inclined to include your loved ones, you've got yourself a gender reveal party. Follow this comprehensive guide to pull one off without a hitch.

Pick a date

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.

Choose your 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! 

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.

Plan gender reveal party games

Do you need have games at a gender reveal party? Absolutely not — if games aren’t your style, feel free to skip right over them, but activities can serve a great ice breaker.

If you do opt for games, keep it simple. You don’t want to have to explain the rules over and over again. And stick to just one or two games, max. Anything more can make the party feel a little too structured. Here are some tried-and-true favorites:

• Minute to Win It: Hand out paper and pencils, then ask guests to write down as many song titles with the words "boy" or "girl" in them as they can in 60 seconds. Winner gets a prize! 
• Diaper Raffle: It’s never too early to stock up. Each person who brings a pack of diapers gets entered to win a prize. 
• Old Wives' Tales: Run through a list of old wives' tales, and ask guests to indicate whether they think each one means boy or girl. Whoever gets the most right wins. 
• Candy Count: Fill a jar with a pre-counted amount of small pink and blue candies. Leave little slips of paper out next to a second jar for guesses. Whoever wins — or comes closest without going over — gets to take the sweet treat home.

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. 

And if you'd like to have photos or a video of your reaction, don’t forget to delegate someone with documenting the moment!

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. 

Pick out your gender reveal dress

When dressing for your gender reveal party, opt for something sweet and simple — a flowy maxi dress like one you'd wear to a baby shower is a great option, since you'll look cute but feel comfortable. Some parents opt to wear a neutral color — like yellow — while others wear a combination of blue and pink. Sometimes, one parent wears blue, while the other wears pink — it’s totally up to you.

Another fun idea: Encourage your guests to "wear their guesses." On the invitation, simply make a little note asking guests to wear blue or pink, depending on what they think the baby’s sex will be. The end results is a fun visual representation of everyone’s guesses — and a great conversation starter on the big day.

Get ready to party

Sticking to a simple schedule can help a gender reveal party go smoothly. Leave about 30 minutes at the beginning of the party for welcoming guests and mingling. This is a good time to have some appetizers and low-stakes activities — like guessing the amount of candies in the jar — out.

If you’re playing any formal gender reveal games, do those after the initial welcome. Then, serve the main meal (if you're having one), and move on to the big moment — the reveal. Finally, serve dessert, and thank your guests for coming to your gender reveal party.