Gender Reveal Party?

So since this will probably be our last I was thinking about throwing a gender reveal party for friends and family where we do one of those Pinteresty things like cut a cake to reveal pink or blue frosting or open a box of pink or blue balloons.

I've been debating though if my husband and I should also be in the dark about the gender until the party. It could really go either way: if it's a girl everyone will be able to tell how excited I am, if it's a boy, I'm unsure I'd be able to hide my disappointment, and I'm pretty sure I want to process that privately. I think we'll do the party but my husband and I will be the only ones in on the gender beforehand.

Anybody else thinking of doing something special like this to celebrate, even if you don't get your DG? Would you want to be in the dark too?

I'm hoping to stay team green, but the further along I get, the more uncertain I am about it. If we do decide to find out, I am going to do a gender reveal and I will be in the dark until the cake is cut. I love the ideas of balloons wrapped in a box, too :) Those who would be invited (in my case) would understand if I show a little disappointment but it will probably be less than theirs!

Angie

PLEASE DONT I have a horror story to tell you.

A friend of mine desperately wanted a DS. But she also wanted a gender surprise party. She thought she could handle learning the news at the gender reveal party so she had her gender ultrasound and had the tech write the gender on an US pic and put it in the envelope. It's a long story but there was a MAJOR mix up!! It was announced as BOY! at the party and she was so happy, about 10 minutes later they figure out no, it might not be a boy, so she opens the envelope and it says GIRL and she started bawling at the party. It was absolutely horrible but a darling little girl was born a few months later.

Oh my goodness!!! how does THAT happen?! How heartbreaking for her.

Angie

They had two small cards, one said boy, one said girl, the tech was supposed to throw away one and put the other in a giant bag of other cards that had question marks on them and then mix it up, guests would draw cards and everyone would read their cards at once, so no one knew who'd find out the gender first. Someone yelled boy really quickly, so a few people didn't have time to read their cards. But then someone said wait, my card says girl, so they had the envelope with the pic to confirm.

I did cupcakes...and the gender was wrong!!! This time I'm waiting until I know for sure and since my husband will more than likely still be in Afghanistan...I'm trying to figure out a way to surprise him. For my family...I'm keeping everything hush until the day I give birth.

Honestly, I'd never be in the dark unless I had no preference whatsoever. I've seen it go south too and I just think how hard it would be both for mom and for the party guests who have no idea how to manage an upset mama.

My friend decided to do an announcement photoshoot and was letting the photographer create a collage of the announcement pics and posting on FB while tagging them. Well...baby was not what mama hoped for...and unfortunately you can tell in the first few pics before she managed to get her "game face" on. But I just felt bad because I wouldn't have wanted those pics all over the Internet and potentially even having it around forever for the kid to find down the road. It was pretty obvious she was really upset.

Yeah, so if I were doing a gender reveal party, I'd make it a surprise for everyone else, not me. Even with barely a preference, I still don't think I want to find out in front of anyone, just in case I don't react terribly wonderfully in that first moment. It would be a big risk, in my opinion.

Even in private I've been a mess finding out the gender, both for my ig opposite (we took our 2 boys to the scan so i fell apart at home) and this time when i found out via email that harmony blood results said my "healthy girl" was finally a reality i broke my heart crying and sobbing with shock and disbelief. It wasn't pretty, and that was me getting the news I'd always dreamed of! I think any mum with gender preference needs to process this in private, even if it works out in your favour the emotions can be too overwhelming for an audience. Xx

This is a highly individual decision, but I could never, and I think if you have ANY GD whatsoever, it's probably a bad idea.

Agree with all the other posters, I have also seen a gender reveal party go south! I unfortunately was the party planner and felt horrible about the entire thing. I went with the couple to their U/S and got a picture from the tech saying "It's a girl!" (they already had a girl). They both wanted a boy so badly. After the scan they were worried that the picture I got wasn't a good enough potty shot and what if it was wrong. I told them "no, from this picture there is no doubt, the baby is what it is". Well they took my comment as "it's a boy!" and got super excited for the gender party and were devestated that it was a girl. The dad in particular was really upset and cussed and moaned the entire party and ended up pouting and leaving early. NIGHTMARE. Don't do it!!

If i ever get pregnant I do plan on doing a gender reveal for my immediate family only in which only I & DH know beforehand. Something simple like a cupcake with the color inside for DS to smash open and see. He will be too little to understand (2 years old), but would love to involve him somehow.