Day-Storms Studio

In my younger years, I don’t remember such a big fuss being made about the gender reveal of a baby during pregnancy. Sure, happy parents would tell others and there would be many baby showers, but I don’t recall there being such elaborate parties where everyone’s families and friends would gather to shoot a cannon to show off pink or blue smoke announcing to everyone that the little one would be a girl or boy.

I even remember about 13 years ago or so whenever I received my first “gender reveal” party invitation—honestly, I just figured it was a ploy to get more presents and money since the couple had already also sent out a different set of invitations to their baby shower.

For our first two kids—Spider-Man* and Bonecrusher*—my wife and I didn’t make a big to-do about our gender reveal. As I mentioned in an earlier post on NIPT, we knew well ahead of the birth that we were having boys. If I recall correctly, the most we did was take a picture and post it on Facebook.

With the plethora of YouTube videos on gender reveal fails, I think the popularity of these parties/spectacles has increased dramatically with each set of parents trying to outdo other parents. Even our local Wal-Mart has a little section now with special party favors, cannons, stuffed balloons, and such specifically for gender-reveal parties.

Since this pregnancy is going to be our last, we decided we should do something. How should we announce Baby Groot’s** gender?

Oh, the possibilities…and possible mishaps!

Something about shooting off a cannon filled with pink or blue smoke sounds really exciting. Or within that ilk, we could try to find special fireworks to light while our friends and family say their oohs and ahs as being showered down upon by a brilliant glow of pink or blue lights.

Yeah, what could possibly go wrong with that scenario? I could see the sparks catching the avocado tree on fire, leading to a class 4 fire alarm during this drought. Before we’d know it, a news crew from Bay News 9 would be plastering our faces on the local newscast with a sensational headline like “Day-Storms Spawn Reigns Fire from the Heavens!”

If we use a smoke cannon to make the big announcement, I could see our neighborhood “Gladys Kravitz” (Bewitched reference for you young folk) calling the emergency hotline about how the weird neighbors (meaning us) were trying to smoke out the neighborhood and how it was flaring up her emphysema…meanwhile, she’s smoking a cigarette while pulling her oxygen tank. Don’t get me started.

We could always have Spider-Man or Bonecrusher use their teeball stand to hit a baseball filled with pink or blue powder. Note: Make sure to wear the appropriate athletic supporter and safety gear if you choose this method. Far too many “fails” have occurred when the little slugger hit a line drive right into dear ol’ Dad’s crotch.

We could fill a box full of pink or blue balloons, attach it up in the aforementioned avocado tree, and then tug on a rope to have the beautiful balloons cascade down upon us as the onlookers gasp. Possible downsides could include the box falling, unopened, on to our heads, resulting in a pregnant wife with a concussion.

So, what did we decide to do?

We opted for a low-key, family only event where we cut into a baby-themed cake filled with colored M&M candies that flowed out onto the serving platter once it was cut. Prior to the cake-cutting, we told Spider-Man and Bonecrusher that their prayers had been answered since they would be having a little sister or brother. They were ecstatic!

The result…

We’re happy to report that we did not have a “fail”, so we will not be the subject of a potentially embarrassing gender-reveal fail YouTube video compilation. Also, we can say that the results are in…

Please feel free to follow us on our pregnancy journey. In the meantime, check out our other pregnancy-related posts.

**Baby Groot is not going to be the baby’s name. [Vetoed! 🙂 ] Until the baby is old enough to choose their own nickname or at least until the gender is revealed, however, “Baby Groot” is sticking.