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Would You Throw a Baby Gender Party?
I like babies. A lot. And I know from personal experience that there is nothing more exciting and life-changing than discovering that you are going to have one. Parents-to-be usually want to celebrate and share their happiness with their nearest and dearest and I totally get that. That’s what baby showers are all about, right?
But it seems that some parents have taken the idea of sharing their baby joy a step further. They are throwing what is unfortunately being called a “baby sex party” and it’s nothing like it sounds. It’s a party thrown by the parents-to-be in which the gender of their unborn baby is revealed to them and their guests at the same time.
Here’s how it went down for expectant father and AP writer Greg Bluestein:
When the ultrasound that revealed his unborn child’s sex was completed, he and his wife had the doctor write down the gender on a slip of paper without revealing it to them. The paper was then sealed in an envelope that he and his wife, despite their desire to do so, pledged not to open. The two then had lunch while discussing which family members wanted them to have a boy and which ones were hoping for a girl.
They then had a trusted friend take that sealed envelope to the bakery. There, the baker was instructed to open the envelope and create a blue or pink-filled cake based on the gender revealed.
They then invited all their friends to a big party where they could eat, drink and wait anxiously for the gender-revealing dessert to be served.
Over the next few hours, about 50 friends gorged on a dozen pizzas and guzzled down some beer until it was time for dessert. Then we all gathered in our kitchen in front of the massive sheet cake, giving our guests a brief reminder of the import of the moment.
Anticipation mounted as we eyed the icing. We slowly cut into a cake, separating a piece.
I looked. Sheryl looked. I wasn’t quite sure. I checked again. She checked again.
Cheers echoed through the house as we saw the pink icing.
I am trying to imagine myself as a guest at this party. After having some pizza and guzzling down a few beers, I would likely be having a good time and looking forward to the big reveal. But then, when the host paused to give us guests “a brief reminder of the import of the moment,” I might have started to feel a little uncomfortable.
After all, this is the kind of moment that parents usually share just between themselves, right? What am I – and these 49 other people – doing here?
Then I would eat some cake and go home wondering what that was all about.
Daddy-to-be Bluestein admits that, at first, the idea of sharing such an intimate family moment made him a little uncomfortable as well. But his wife was really in to it. In fact, her aversion to being told the sex of her unborn child while sitting in the sterile environment of a doctor’s office was so severe that it “made her stomach turn.” Of course, that could have been morning sickness, but she got her way because, as Bluestein says, she was the one carrying the baby.
According to Momania, this kind of party might be a bona fide trend as there are bakeries that now specialize in creating surprise gender cakes. This is the first I’ve heard of it but I can’t imagine doing it. I think presuming that all of my friends will be as excited as I am to learn the sex of my unborn child is a little, well, presumptuous.
What do you think about what I will insist on calling a baby gender party? Is it a sweet idea and a great way to share the joy with your nearest and dearest? Or the little over the top?
Image: Cake Girl by Hyeyoung Kim/Flickr
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[...] Would You Throw a Baby Gender Party? [...]
Back to School for Kids with Migraines | Strollerderby commented on Aug 31 10 at 2:02 pmbob commented on Aug 31 10 at 10:43 amPizza doesn’t seem quite right. It’s more of a hamburgers and hot dogs occasion.
John commented on Aug 31 10 at 10:52 amI love pizza :)
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Angela commented on Aug 31 10 at 12:37 pmIf the parents want to share this exciting moment with friends and family I can’t see what the big deal is. Not sure I’d ever do it myself, but I definitely wouldn’t feel awkward as a guest. I’d figure that if they wanted it to be a private moment they wouldn’t have chosen to have the party. It also seems like a really fun way for older siblings to get excited about a new baby. I’d just love to see the baker’s face when some couple takes this trend a step further and brings an envelope with a pee-soaked pregnancy test to tell them the results through their cake!
Becca commented on Aug 31 10 at 4:46 pmIt sounds cute for a shower I wouldn’t have a separate party for it. I never considered it to be a particularly private thing since if you find out you immediately go and tell everyone on facebook and twitter.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Aug 31 10 at 5:29 pmBob continues to bring the awesome.
mbaker commented on Aug 31 10 at 7:28 pmI think it would be more fun to mess with the guests by putting lavender icing on the cake.
Lisa Harshaw commented on Sep 01 10 at 11:26 amI wonder if this is in addition to the baby shower. Is betting allowed? I could see this being fun in a baby shower, with a gender neutral theme {I honestly don’t care for the gender stereotyping society seems to require} along with the safety pin and bottle games.
But as a separate party, it seems kind of a drag.
Manjari commented on Sep 01 10 at 2:22 pmYes, bob does continue to bring the awesome.
JCF commented on Sep 01 10 at 11:04 pmWe didn’t find out the gender for any of our three until they were born, but I could see having a small dinner party with the grandparents, aunts, and uncles to reveal the gender. I certainly think that having 49 people to witness the occasion would be a little much, but that sounds like a fun way to get the family involved.
sammy commented on Sep 02 10 at 6:00 amwhy don’t you try to use baby gender predictor, like http://www.genderpredictorsite.com
bob commented on Sep 02 10 at 1:08 pmThanks for the scam spam, Sam. Now scram.
Em commented on Oct 05 10 at 7:25 pmI have a good friend who is doing this next month at her baby shower – but only because she is tired of relatives harassing her about the baby’s gender – she actually didn’t want to know at all.
It’s a compromise – they find out the gender, but too late to swamp her with pink or blue baby items at the shower since she really wants gender neutral colors for everything. I think it’s a pretty smart idea.
I wouldn’t want to go to a seperate party for it however.
Mary commented on Mar 14 11 at 11:50 amMy husband and I are thinking about having a gender party, BUT we will know the gender before hand. I agree that it is a private thing (for some people), and I am a pretty private person and will want to celebrate that with my husband. The idea was thrown at us from a friend, who suggested baking yellow cupcakes with white icing, and having only one of the cupcakes dyed either pink or blue. The guests wear pink or blue to the party depending on what they guess the baby is and parents where neutral; yellow, green. Everyone bites into their cupcakes at the same time and the one with the colored cupcake gets to make the announcement. I like this version because for one we aren’t findind out the gender in front of all our friends, and it also includes everyone. This will not be an event for 50+ of our friends. Just the close ones who are already “dying to know” what we are having. I do agree it would be presumptuous to assume that every single “sorta friend”, co worker, fellow church goer, etc. is just as excited as we are to find out the gender. But I do know that our very close friends are really excited, especially since we are the first out of our group of friends to be having a baby. Plus, we would be calling each friend individually to tell them the news, so might as well do it all at once in person in a fun way. The rest of the world can find out the way all other news is fed, via facebook haha
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