Congratulations! Someone knows the sex of the new baby (or is about to), and now it’s time to plan the big gender reveal. Maybe the parents are really into cars, or they love those videos of big clouds of colored car smoke revealing the gender of the baby. So you know you want to do a burnout gender reveal. But you might still be wondering how to use gender reveal burnout powder.
No problem! I’ll walk you through step-by-step how to do a gender reveal burnout. I’ll also discuss how many powder packs you need to get, what the best kind of powder is, and, well, how to do burnouts in general. This is one of my favorite methods of revealing a baby’s gender! It’s relatively safe and has a huge impact for a big onlooking crowd of friends and family.
The Type of Powder Used
Most gender reveal powders are made with cornstarch – and those are the only kinds I recommend you use. They are safer for the environment and safer for your guests (though again, no one should be directly in the clouds and inhaling the burnout gender reveal smoke!). Colored cornstarch also won’t damage your car and should wash off easily.
Burnout gender reveal powder is usually just cornstarch mixed with concentrated food coloring. This may leave you wondering… why don’t I just make it myself? A DIY powder is bound to be cheaper, right?
You could, and I even have a tutorial on how to DIY gender reveal powder at home. But it takes a chunk of your time, it’s pretty messy, and it has the potential to go wrong. It’s also really difficult to get the cornstarch back to as fine a powder as it once was (you have to add water to color it). But the hardest part is getting the powder into the right kind of pack that will burst properly under your tires. Professional companies are the best at that part!
For these reasons, I recommend you just buy premade colored powder packs. These companies have been making this stuff for years (even before gender reveals were popular) and you’ll know it’s properly colored, dried, and sifted to create the perfect cloud effect.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking one, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you.
Where to Buy Gender Reveal Burnout Powder
Multiple brands offer brightly colored powder in one-pound blackout bags (so no one can see what color is inside!). They typically come in sets of two one-pound bags per order so you can use one for each wheel. Most of these bags will come with double-sided tape on them so they are easy to stick to tires for a standing burnout. You just peel the sticker covering the tape off and slap it on the tires.
Even if you’re doing a rolling burnout, you should remove the sticker so that once the tire does land on the bag, it will stay with the tire and not get flung away before it busts. If your bags do not have sticker tape on them for some reason, the best tape for attaching it to your vehicle would be something strong but not too strong, like Duck Brand packing tape.
Whether you plan on doing a standing burnout, a rolling burnout, or stuffing the powder in your exhaust, I recommend buying at least four bags of powder, and 6-8 if you can afford it. A test run is always advisable because this is a big moment for the parents-to-be and their families! Below are the sellers on Amazon I recommend for getting your burnout powder.
How to Use Gender Reveal Burnout Powder
I’m going to walk you through a couple of scenarios of how to do a gender reveal burnout depending on your vehicle. These are the three methods for using them, and you’ll need to figure out which one applies to your car:
- Attach two bags directly to each tire (four bags total) and initiate a standing burnout.
- Place one bag about three inches in front of each tire and initiate a rolling burnout. You may need to practice the burnout to see just how far the car will jump before catching.
- Place two bags in the road (one several inches in front of each tire), initiate a burnout, then accelerate over the bags. If done correctly, this method will provide the best effect.
Beginning the Burnout
- Make sure you have the right kind of car. It needs to be rear-wheel drive, without question. It doesn’t have to be a manual, but that makes it a lot easier. You’ll also need a lot of horsepower. 4-cylinders won’t cut it. Smoother/balder tires will work the best.
For RWD Manual Transmission
- Lock the handbrake.
- Press in the clutch.
- Put the vehicle in first gear.
- Rev the engine up to a mid-to-high RPM.
- Release the clutch quickly, then pound the gas and brake at the same time.
- Keep a careful eye on your gauges and surroundings until you’re done. If you smell anything other than rubber, stop immediately.
For RWD Automatic Transmission
- Lock the handbrake.
- Hold the pedal brake down.
- Put the transmission in the lowest gear possible (for example, my Civic had a D3 option).
- Keep holding down your brake, but not too hard.
- Hit the gas pedal till the tires start to spin.
No matter what car you’re using and what kind of burnout you’re going for, the key is to practice it first. Nothing’s more disappointing than a failed gender reveal where the bag just pops but the powder doesn’t get thrown back in a big, beautiful blue or pink cloud.
This video is a great example of where you should place your powder bags in front of the tire ahead of a rolling burnout in order to get the best effect.
Using a Motorcycle or Dirt Bike
If the parents-to-be are more into motorcycles than fast cars, you may be wondering if you can do a motorcycle burnout gender reveal. The answer is yes – but safety is even more important if you’re going to attempt it.
A motorcycle burnout should only be attempted by a professional/someone who has experience doing them on the chosen motorcycle. Otherwise, you run the risk of an accidental wheelie and your motorcycle possibly falling on top of you. Your brakes could even catch on fire.
How to Do a Motorcycle Gender Reveal
You’ll treat a motorcycle burnout similarly to a standing burnout in a vehicle. You’ll want to have two one-pound bags of gender reveal powder that can adhere directly to the back tire of the motorcycle. This is how to do the motorcycle burnout:
- Make sure you have the right kind of motorcycle. It needs to have a fairly fat back tire and very strong front brakes (to avoid a wheelie).
- Stand straddling the bike – do not sit on it.
- Start the motorcycle and keep it in neutral for about five minutes, allowing it to warm up. A cold engine can cause it to sputter and move forward.
- Pull the clutch all the way in with all four fingers.
- Hold the front brake with your middle finger and rev the throttle at the same time.
- Put the motorcycle into first gear while keeping the clutch engaged.
- Slowly start revving the throttle (to ensure the bike won’t move), then rev it up to the red part of the RPM gauge – about 75% of the way to the very end of the red.
- While keeping your feet flat on either side of the motorcycle, lean all of your weight forward onto the handlebars as much as possible. Putting weight on the seat will cause the rear tire to gain traction instead of spinning out.
- Immediately let go of the clutch all at once, and the tire should begin spinning. Only spin long enough to bust the gender reveal powder bags and create a dust cloud!
- Reengage the clutch and release the throttle to end the burnout. Do not release the brake until the back tire has completely stopped spinning.
Using Gender Reveal Powder in the Exhaust
This is actually the easiest and safest method of all for using gender reveal powder. The reason people tend to prefer doing burnouts is that the dust cloud is usually bigger and shoots up into the air instead of straight behind the vehicle. If you’re going to have a smaller crowd, using the exhaust is a great choice.
Putting gender reveal powder in your exhaust pipe means you can do this type of reveal with any vehicle – as long as it has an exhaust pipe. It won’t matter if your car, truck, or motorcycle is automatic or manual, front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive. The powder will still shoot out of the exhaust pipe!
Preparing the Exhaust Pipe
To put the powder in the exhaust pipe, someone who already knows the gender will need to open the packages of powder and funnel it into the exhaust. It doesn’t have to go in very far, and you can put a tissue or lightweight paper towel in the pipe afterward to help conceal the powder until it’s time for the reveal.
Keep in mind that the car will need to already be in place wherever you want to do the reveal because once the car starts, the powder will come out. This method also tends to cause some powder to fall on the ground during insertion, so you’ll want to be able to easily clean up or conceal any colored powder that’s in eyesight to the partygoers.
The angle of your exhaust pipe can make it difficult to put the powder inside, but as long as the pipe is long enough, it’s never impossible. This video shows one method for inserting powder into an exhaust pipe that points down to the ground:
Performing the Exhaust Reveal
Once the powder is in the exhaust and you’re ready to do your gender reveal, all you have to do is leave your vehicle in park (I’d lock the parking brake just for good measure), then mash the gas pedal right as you’re starting the car. Voila!
Be sure to use plenty of powder, because the dust cloud from this method doesn’t seem to last as long as the burnout method. Put at least two pounds of powder in the exhaust – three or four if it will safely fit. Cornstarch powder should not hurt your muffler at all, and can be fully blown out with a drive around the block after the reveal.
Once all of the colored powder has blown out, the exhaust smoke may just be white or black (if you can see it at all), and you don’t want anyone to miss the important part!
Cautions Before Doing a Burnout Reveal
A tire burnout gender reveal is quite simple, but can be done in a number of ways. You could get special tires that have specifically colored rubber compounds that are then spray-painted black to conceal the surprise until the burnout. However, this method is very expensive (because tires in general are expensive). The burnout also takes longer to reveal the color. This is because you have to burn through the spray paint and enough of the tire to release a bright hue.
A cheaper and more commonly used method is to use colored powder concealed in special bags. Some are designed to stick to your tire. These bags burst during the burnout, spraying the powder out behind the car in a dramatic cloud. This method produces brighter colors and usually a bigger cloud of “smoke” (dust) as well.
Some people even put the colored powder directly into their exhaust pipes, either by itself or in addition to the packs under the tires.
The Legality of Burnouts
Burnouts are illegal pretty much everywhere on public property. On private property, however (like your driveway), it isn’t specifically illegal… But you could still be charged with disturbing the peace or endangerment if a neighbor or police officer wanted to press the issue.
For this reason, it’s recommended that you do a gender reveal burnout on private property set far back from the main road. You should also do it during normal daytime hours, and not late at night when people are sleeping.
How Burnouts Wear On Your Car
If you’re using the right kind of car (we’ll talk about that later) and you’re only planning on doing the one burnout, your car will likely be fine. This is not a guarantee, though. A burnout puts a ton of pressure on a car’s transmission, axles, and driveshaft. Enough strain can cause these things to break down.
A burnout should be done by someone with the right kind of car, with experience doing burnouts, and only long enough to throw the powdered dust out behind the car (which will only be a couple of seconds). But know that you are always taking the risk of doing damage to your vehicle when doing a burnout. Also, burnouts tend to be bad for your tires – so if possible, use a pair of old tires to make this kind of magic happen.
Toxicity of Tire Smoke
Tires are made of rubber, and rubber is a Group 1 carcinogen. Burning rubber releases airborne latex along with bits of carbon black, oil, sulfur, steel, and other metallic elements. Does this mean using a gender reveal burnout kit is going to give all your guests cancer?!
Well, not really. One of the factors in how dangerous the “smoke” can be lies in the concentration of the vapors being inhaled. Doing the burnout in a large, open, outdoor area will quickly dilute the cloud of smoke.
Also, when using colored burnout powder, you’re not going to be burning that much rubber; the powder will be creating most of the smoke before the tires even really have a chance to get hot. The powder is usually made of cornstarch – you know, the stuff you eat! Still, inhaling cornstarch has been proven to cause inflammation and even scarring in the lungs.
All of this information just means your guests – and particularly the expectant mother – should stand far away from the car while it’s performing the gender reveal burnout. Don’t worry, they’ll still see that brightly colored cloud of dust.
