Let me guess: you’re right around the beginning of your second trimester, and you’re getting pumped to find out whether you’re having a boy or a girl. You want the moment to be a special surprise for everyone – maybe even including yourself. So you need a gender reveal checklist to keep track of all your party planning!
Gender reveal parties aren’t too different from a baby shower or birthday party in terms of planning. It’s the execution that’s different since there usually aren’t any gifts and there’s one very specific moment of the party everyone will be anticipating. But I’ll go over the main points of this gender reveal planning checklist in detail.
For your convenience, I’ve condensed the points into a simple PDF you can download and print. Just check each item off as you go, and you won’t forget anything you need for planning a gender reveal party! The checklist would also work as a baby shower checklist if you take away the preparations for the big reveal (unless you’re combining the two occasions!).
Schedule the Gender Reveal Ultrasound
You can’t even begin using a gender reveal party checklist until you’re ready to find out the sex of your baby! I always waited for my regular OB’s anatomy ultrasound (usually around 20 weeks) to find out the sex of my kids. But sometimes that ultrasound can be inconclusive if your baby isn’t cooperative. Or maybe you’re just too impatient to wait till 20 weeks!
Another option for determining your baby’s gender sooner is paying for a special blood test (which can be done as early as 7 weeks).
Decide Who Gets to Know!
How do you do a gender reveal without knowing the gender? Well, someone does have to know! Personally, I think both parents should be surprised at their gender reveal. It’s more fun that way! But this means someone else you trust 100% needs to be in charge of the big reveal (though not necessarily the whole gender reveal party).
Prior to your ultrasound, make sure the technician knows not to say or type the baby’s sex throughout the process. Have her write “boy” or “girl” on a slip of paper and put it inside an envelope for you. Then you just have to resist the temptation until you can give the envelope to the designated Knower (or better yet, take them with you to the ultrasound so you never hold the envelope!). This person will need to arrange the reveal, whether it’s ordering a filled cake, setting up a balloon pop, or something else.
Pick a Theme
There are TONS of gender reveal themes floating out there nowadays. Many of them juxtapose two traditionally masculine and feminine traits against each other, like Buck or Doe, Tutus or Touchdowns, and Pirates or Mermaids. But times, they are a-changin’. These types of themes do offend some people (as do gender reveals in general), so be understanding and aware of this possibility.
Personally, I believe it’s entirely possible to be excited at the idea of having a baby boy or girl while being open to the possibility that they won’t turn out to fit in traditionally male or female roles and personalities. Celebrating a baby being born a boy or a girl biologically doesn’t mean they’re not allowed to express themselves beyond gender as they get older.
You can always look into your own personal interests to come up with a unique gender reveal party theme centered around the parents’ hobbies! For my husband and me, a good theme would’ve been “Legos or Dolls.”
Some themes put less emphasis on gender roles and more on just the general discovery of what to expect when the baby is born. What will it Bee? or Waddle it be? are two good ones themed around bees and penguins or ducks.
Set the Date and Choose a Venue
Once you know when your ultrasound will be, you can choose a date for your party and a venue that can accommodate it. Venues often need to be booked well in advance, such as restaurants and community centers. If all the ‘good’ places are taken, you can always have your gender reveal right inside your own home! Or if the weather is nice, you can set everything up in your backyard.
If your home just doesn’t have enough room to accommodate all of your expected guests and you can’t afford to pay for a place, consider having it outside at the lake, beach, or park! Outdoor parties can be tricky though, so try to hold off on sending your invitations as long as possible until you know the weather will be good on your chosen day.
Consider Hiring a Photographer
I would argue that having a professional photographer present at your gender reveal is just as important as having one at your wedding… Maybe even more so! After all, your whole wedding is a big event. But the moment of the gender reveal is so precise, and so brief, that it’s easy for your friends and family to miss it – especially with the less-than-professional cameras on their phones.
When you approach a photographer, they may not even have a pricing package for gender reveals available. But when getting quotes, keep in mind that they really only need to be there for 30-60 minutes. That’s plenty of time to get pictures of all the decor, food, and guests before taking pictures of the moment of reveal. So pricing shouldn’t be much more than a standard hour-long portrait session!
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Design and Send the Invitations
This part, of course, means deciding who to invite to the gender reveal. All of your aunts, uncles, and cousins might want to be included in this type of party. After all, giving gifts isn’t usually involved, there’s free food to eat, and they’ll be the first to know if the new relative is a boy or a girl!
But you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew just to avoid hurt feelings. Invite as many people as you can handle at your party and no more. They’ll find out the results of the reveal on Facebook soon enough.
Your invitation can be a simple, cute invitation you print at home or email to your friends and family. Or you can order custom invitations that match your chosen theme! Etsy has just about every invitation theme you can imagine.
The details of your invitation should include the date, time, and location of your event, as well as RSVP information if you need a headcount. But in addition to the usual details, I strongly recommend you mention that no gifts are expected on the invitation (because many people still don’t know how gender reveal parties are supposed to work).
Conversely, if you DO hope to receive gifts – like if you’re combining your baby shower and gender reveal – you need to state this on your invitation, too. You can always add a small bit that says something like “We will also be showering the mom-to-be with gifts!”, or just say “Registered at Amazon” to get the point across.
Create a Food and Dessert Menu
I have a simple rule when it comes to what kind of food to serve at a party. If the guests are expected to bring gifts, I feed them a meal (or enough finger foods to fill them up) and dessert. If a gift is not expected, I feed them fruit and desserts. In the end, it’s up to you to decide how much you want to feed your guests! But if you’re not feeding them a meal, don’t schedule your party around standard meal times.
Many guests will be happy just to see a dessert table! You can fill it with cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, and various candy bowls. The dessert colors are often blue and pink to reflect the point of the party. You can also include trail mix and chips for those who want something salty instead of sweet.
Punch is a party staple that I always make in various flavors. A sophisticated gender reveal party might also include cocktails (in pink and blue colors, of course) – as well as mocktails for the mom-to-be and those who don’t drink alcohol!
Buy (or Make!) Gender Reveal Decorations
If you’re crafty, you’ll probably enjoy using a Cricut to make everything from cardstock decor to custom t-shirts to commemorate the reveal. But don’t worry – there are plenty of simple ways to decorate for a gender reveal without spending a lot of time (OR money).
You can hang bunting on the walls, run streamers across the ceiling, blow up pink and blue balloons, and even arrange the dessert table to be elegant and festive. Etsy has gender reveal decorations for any theme you choose, too! Other simple gender reveal party supplies include table covers and ceiling spirals. Don’t forget the pink and blue plates, cups, napkins, and cutlery.
Choose Gender Reveal Games to Play
Since there usually isn’t a gift opening or formal cake-eating at a gender reveal, games are a must to keep guests entertained until it’s time for the surprise. You can always do some of the usual baby shower games, like bingo or word scramble, but you can try some new ones for the gender reveal as well.
The guessing game is a given, but it can be played in many ways. You can instruct guests to wear pink or blue to indicate what they think the baby will be. Or you can have them write their names on slips of paper and drop them into pink and blue shoeboxes, then draw one from the correct box after the reveal to get a prize. Or you can just have the partygoers split into two sides right before the reveal based on what their guess is!
You can also print up a chart of the old wives’ tales on what can help you determine whether it’s a boy or a girl. Everyone can go down the list and argue whether they think each clue applies or not to see which column gets the most marks right.
Another game would be to ask the guests to dress for the theme of the party (like if the theme is Pirates or Mermaids). The best-dressed person could get a prize.
After the reveal, you could ask guests to write down bits of information for the baby on cardstock to keep in a time capsule. It could be trivia, life tips, well-wishes, or current events. Then your child can open up the box in the future (like their 18th birthday) to see what everyone wrote!
Plan the Moment of the Gender Reveal
This is the most important part of the party! And while you can choose the method of the reveal, your trusted friend is the one who will have to execute it properly. Before you choose a method, though, you should decide on what tone you want the gender reveal to have. Should it be loud and exciting, or sweet and simple?
You’re probably going to need the most time for planning this part of the party, whether it’s arranging for a bakery to create colorfully cream-filled cupcakes or covering up cans of silly string in black tape so no one knows what will come out before they’re sprayed. I’ve brainstormed a whole bunch of gender reveal ideas, from the traditional methods to unique new ideas and reveals to match your theme!
Send Guests Home with Party Favors
My favorite kind of party favor is always edible. Adults don’t really care for plastic trinkets from the dollar store. Instead, fill small Ziploc bags with pink and blue candies such as jellybeans, candy eggs, or sixlets. Just put a simple “Thank you for coming!” on the tag.
Planning a Virtual Gender Reveal Party
Big in-person parties have taken a nosedive since 2020, and as it turns out, a lot of people enjoy attending virtual parties! Hosts don’t have to serve food, and guests don’t have to make awkward conversation with each other. So I’ve also created a virtual gender reveal checklist, which is much simpler than the usual party plan:
- Schedule the gender reveal ultrasound
- Designate a person to “know”
- Set the date
- Send virtual invitations to everyone (a week in advance should be enough)
- Practice having a group Google Meet or Zoom Call with some family members, including screen recording at the same time!
- Decorate the background where you’ll be doing the reveal
- Have the person in the “know” plan the big reveal
- Call older friends and family members to walk them through logging onto the video chat
- At the designated time, give everyone about 15 minutes to log on
- Set your device to record the screen and have your person in the “know” record you and your partner during the reveal
- Do the reveal! Keep it short and sweet. If enough people are logged on, no one will be able to understand anything anyone is saying. Just wave, say thank you and goodbye, and log off so you can start texting everyone!
I want it, and I need it.