I think they're cute and fun. If DH and I do a reveal it will be his family, maybe a few close friends, and then letting my family know (they're a few states away). Basically my IL family love any excuse to get together and eat so it'll just be low key with a cute reveal because everyone wants to know asap. I've never heard of a reveal requesting gifts and I would definitely never do that. I think we'll be finding out some time in September so maybe we'll do one last cookout at our house or something. But I'm not going to go crazy with anything.
I think they are pretty dumb unless they are VERY small with immediate family. When people start planning a big thing inviting friends and acquaintances and coworkers and what not, why do you feel like all those people actually care? I have only been invited to one and did not attend, it was an acquaintance. I personally would not have one even with family because I think a text or cute picture does the job just fine and I don't have to feed anyone.
I won't be doing one. I have a lot of friends who are genderqueer, and I feel like it would be strange to throw a party for finding out the sex. I probably won't announce until we find out the sex so I think we will just do a little photoshoot with my daughter and have her holding a sign that says I'm getting a little brother/sister.
We're not doing one but I don't completely hate the idea if they are just with close family (it's the kind of thing my family would probably love). I've never known anyone IRL that's done one though. We're likely not finding out the sex but if we were I might get a small cake or a cupcake with pink or blue inside for just DH and I so we could find out in a fun way.
Firmly in the noway I would do one camp. Also don't want to attend one. I just don't care what sex your baby is, sorry not sorry. My brother and sister in-law did one for baby #5. They hid the pregnancy until the party. So we were invited for a party at their house and walked in to a sex reveal party. Have had other family members who did a cake at a different get together and it was cute and not AWish.
I don't care for a party per say but I don't mind cute little reveals between immediate family or even close friends. While I can understand it can be exciting news, I find throwing a party just for the sake of the sex is absolutely tacky and AWish.
************* First BFP: 12/16/13 EDD: 08/23/14 Baby BOY born: 08/29/14
I might do something cute for my parents once we find out, but not a party. I've seen pictures of some that acquaintances (no close friends ever) have had, and it just seems unnecessary. I think it's cute when people with older kids do something to reveal it to them, but there is no reality in which I imagine having a cake baked with secret insides, and then making people come over to eat it. (plus, DH is colorblind. A reveal based on colors would be lost on him )
Married: 2011 TTC #1: 3/2016 Me 39 - DH 44 BFP 5/27/16 EDD 1/30/17 DD born 2/3/17
@vastra my husband is color blind too! It's fun for me because he's the kind of "big tough guy" so I think it's kind of funny when he mixes his colors up or asks me what color something is. He is almost always wrong when it comes to light pink and white or blue and purple.
We didn't do anything for baby #1 except text messages and phone calls ("gender reveal parties" weren't a thing in 2009!) so I might want to do something fun this time. And by "something" I mean have our immediate family and a BFF or two over for dinner with cake for dessert that tells all of us the sex at once (DH and I included). Idk, that would require more organization and planning than I probably feel like doing
I did one for my first, but it was super low key. BBQ and a cake we cut into. It was kind of fun finding out with our family. That said, I won't be doing one with this pregnancy.
I wouldn't do a party, but I am sure we will have a cute way to reveal to our older kids and the reaction will need to be on video for memories. It will probably go on FB and to our family members. My son is either going to be really excited or horrified at getting a third sister.
Married - 7/29/06 Ben and Maggie - 4/10/09 Mia - 6/16/11 Surprise! due 2/23/17
Well... I'm having one IF we can tell what it is on ultrasound. My fiance will be at basic training so he won't be here so I'm sending one envelope to him trying to time it so he finds out the same day we do. I'm not having gifts at all just a family get together because everyone wants to be involved in both families and this will allow his family to be there and be involved instead of it just being me with my family finding out while he's gone.
My H was in AFG while I was pregnant with DD. She was our mid tour leave baby. We were able to Face Time during our first US.
That's awesome! I wish he was allowed but no. He's not even guaranteed to be able to call for the five months he's gone depending on who his master drill sergeant is. He's doing OSUT training so that he will be back by the time I go into labor, but he could possibly only get to call to say he's there. Fingers crossed that's not the case.
I did one with my daughter and I loved it! We invited immediate family and close friends and provided dinner and then ended the get together with the news that it was a girl with pink poppers I ordered on etsy. We won't be doing one this time but we will do a photo announcement of some type to announce the sex. I think it's an exciting time especially if it's your first so if it's a small gathering with close friends and family that its a great idea
I might do something cute for my parents once we find out, but not a party. I've seen pictures of some that acquaintances (no close friends ever) have had, and it just seems unnecessary. I think it's cute when people with older kids do something to reveal it to them, but there is no reality in which I imagine having a cake baked with secret insides, and then making people come over to eat it. (plus, DH is colorblind. A reveal based on colors would be lost on him )
Ha! Same here, my H is colorblind as well. Not worth it.
I kind of want to keep our baby's bits to my husband and I until after the baby has arrived. We did a gender reveal with our second and loved it, but this is our rainbow and I want to be selfish this time around with keeping things secretive. I would love to do a meet and greet after he or she is here to have family and friends come over to celebrate baby and get to meet baby too. Plus we are only missing a high chair and that isn't needed till they can have baby food. so there really is no need for a party before hand.
We have two sleeping beauties in heaven. Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016. Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015. They will be forever missed.
I kind of want to keep our baby's bits to my husband and I until after the baby has arrived. We did a gender reveal with our second and loved it, but this is our rainbow and I want to be selfish this time around with keeping things secretive. I would love to do a meet and greet after he or she is here to have family and friends come over to celebrate baby and get to meet baby too. Plus we are only missing a high chair and that isn't needed till they can have baby food. so there really is no need for a party before hand.
Well, needing items isn't really the purpose of having a sex reveal party in the first place.
I kind of want to keep our baby's bits to my husband and I until after the baby has arrived. We did a gender reveal with our second and loved it, but this is our rainbow and I want to be selfish this time around with keeping things secretive. I would love to do a meet and greet after he or she is here to have family and friends come over to celebrate baby and get to meet baby too. Plus we are only missing a high chair and that isn't needed till they can have baby food. so there really is no need for a party before hand.
Well, needing items isn't really the purpose of having a sex reveal party in the first place.
Well, most of the pregnant women in my group of friends have been doing this instead of baby showers. It's also common to bring a gift to anything baby party related where I'm from. I don't want to make my friends feel obligated since we don't need anything, that was my only point. Thanks.
We have two sleeping beauties in heaven. Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016. Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015. They will be forever missed.
I kind of want to keep our baby's bits to my husband and I until after the baby has arrived. We did a gender reveal with our second and loved it, but this is our rainbow and I want to be selfish this time around with keeping things secretive. I would love to do a meet and greet after he or she is here to have family and friends come over to celebrate baby and get to meet baby too. Plus we are only missing a high chair and that isn't needed till they can have baby food. so there really is no need for a party before hand.
Well, needing items isn't really the purpose of having a sex reveal party in the first place.
Well, most of the pregnant women in my group of friends have been doing this instead of baby showers. It's also common to bring a gift to anything baby party related where I'm from. I don't want to make my friends feel obligated since we don't need anything, that was my only point. Thanks.
I think the bolded is actually part of what turns people off from sex reveal parties, the fact that random groups feel as if they should be treated as alternatives for baby showers and then confusion ensues.
Not trying to argue but just pointing out that examples above are what leads to misinformation about what's expected at these events.
I kind of want to keep our baby's bits to my husband and I until after the baby has arrived. We did a gender reveal with our second and loved it, but this is our rainbow and I want to be selfish this time around with keeping things secretive. I would love to do a meet and greet after he or she is here to have family and friends come over to celebrate baby and get to meet baby too. Plus we are only missing a high chair and that isn't needed till they can have baby food. so there really is no need for a party before hand.
Well, needing items isn't really the purpose of having a sex reveal party in the first place.
Well, most of the pregnant women in my group of friends have been doing this instead of baby showers. It's also common to bring a gift to anything baby party related where I'm from. I don't want to make my friends feel obligated since we don't need anything, that was my only point. Thanks.
I think the bolded is actually part of what turns people off from sex reveal parties, the fact that random groups feel as if they should be treated as alternatives for baby showers and then confusion ensues.
Not trying to argue but just pointing out that examples above are what leads to misinformation about what's expected at these events.
I agree, but if the mom to be only wants one party or doesn't have someone they are close with to host a shower - it's a good way for them to be able to host it themselves without it being looked as tacky. Since we aren't needing items for the baby, that's why we've opted for a meet and greet. It's tacky where I live to have showers after you already have one child.
We have two sleeping beauties in heaven. Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016. Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015. They will be forever missed.
I kind of want to keep our baby's bits to my husband and I until after the baby has arrived. We did a gender reveal with our second and loved it, but this is our rainbow and I want to be selfish this time around with keeping things secretive. I would love to do a meet and greet after he or she is here to have family and friends come over to celebrate baby and get to meet baby too. Plus we are only missing a high chair and that isn't needed till they can have baby food. so there really is no need for a party before hand.
I also think it would be fun to keep the sex a secret but my family and especially my mother -in-law would beat it out of me haha (not literally just to add, there are a lot of "literal" women on here, so I don't want to alarm anyone). Plus my husband can't keep secrets so that wouldn't work either. But IF I could, I think it would be a pretty cool secret to share with your DH. And a meet and greet is such a cute idea!
Typed a response 3 times and my phone screwed it up. (Kind of broken) I will get back to this later or I risk throwing my phone against a wall out of frustration.
I wouldn't mind keeping the sex to ourselves either....I would say if you go that route save yourself the heart ache and just tell everyone you don't know and aren't finding out until the baby arrives.
if you are throwing your own gift-giving party it's tacky tacky tacky, everyone knows, thinks and says so behind your back. call it what you want, it doesn't change anything.
When you've been married this long, you need a ticker to remind you.
I have spoiled my friends babies, it's now my turn! I may sound like a AW but I will be having a baby shower and inviting everyone i know, and I will expect a gift. I'm sorry but I have spent a small fortune of bridal gifts, bday gifts, baby shower gifts... It's my turn! If that sounds bad I'm sorry, I'm speaking the truth. It's okay to expect gifts at a baby shower right? That will be the only party I will be having
I have spoiled my friends babies, it's now my turn! I may sound like a AW but I will be having a baby shower and inviting everyone i know, and I will expect a gift. I'm sorry but I have spent a small fortune of bridal gifts, bday gifts, baby shower gifts... It's my turn! If that sounds bad I'm sorry, I'm speaking the truth. It's okay to expect gifts at a baby shower right? That will be the only party I will be having
I have spoiled my friends babies, it's now my turn! I may sound like a AW but I will be having a baby shower and inviting everyone i know, and I will expect a gift. I'm sorry but I have spent a small fortune of bridal gifts, bday gifts, baby shower gifts... It's my turn! If that sounds bad I'm sorry, I'm speaking the truth. It's okay to expect gifts at a baby shower right? That will be the only party I will be having
I'm stuck in gray. You really have some thoughts on this. Me too.
Baby showers are for your first pregnancy and aren't thrown by you. Walking around with your gift grabby attitude might not incline anyone to want to throw one for you.
Also, when you give a gift, you do it because you want to not to keep score.
I have spoiled my friends babies, it's now my turn! I may sound like a AW but I will be having a baby shower and inviting everyone i know, and I will expect a gift. I'm sorry but I have spent a small fortune of bridal gifts, bday gifts, baby shower gifts... It's my turn! If that sounds bad I'm sorry, I'm speaking the truth. It's okay to expect gifts at a baby shower right? That will be the only party I will be having
I'm inclined to think this isn't serious so I'm not clutching my pearls too tight.
You should never expect a gift, at any time or any point in your life. When you do good things for others, you do it free from obligation and out of the goodness of your heart, expecting nothing in return.
Your friends and family owe you nothing. If they want to give you a gift, they will, of their own accord and when/if they want to. It's not up to you to decide if they will do it.
Yes this is our first. No I want be throwing my own shower. Now can I have gifts?????
I hope you're joking. If not then your attitude just rubs me the wrong way.
Yes totally joking I'm sorry, that was not funny. But in all honesty is it bad to have your mom through the baby shower for you? I know that it's considered a no no for bridal showers to be thrown by the mother of the bride, is the same idea behind baby showers?
Yes this is our first. No I want be throwing my own shower. Now can I have gifts?????
I hope you're joking. If not then your attitude just rubs me the wrong way.
Yes totally joking I'm sorry, that was not funny. But in all honesty is it bad to have your mom through the baby shower for you? I know that it's considered a no no for bridal showers to be thrown by the mother of the bride, is the same idea behind baby showers?
My mom threw mine along with my cousin. I had never heard it was tacky so I truly don't know. But I hope not. I think nearly every baby shower I've been too has been hosted by a mom or a very close friend if family is far away.
@Howardbae2015 I think mothers are fine. In fact my mom and mil had a hard time Co-hosting parties so they each threw me one for my first. Maybe different regions look at it in different ways, but here it's almost always the mother or possibly a close friend
Yes this is our first. No I want be throwing my own shower. Now can I have gifts?????
I hope you're joking. If not then your attitude just rubs me the wrong way.
Yes totally joking I'm sorry, that was not funny. But in all honesty is it bad to have your mom through the baby shower for you? I know that it's considered a no no for bridal showers to be thrown by the mother of the bride, is the same idea behind baby showers?
technically, yes.
When you've been married this long, you need a ticker to remind you.
In my area moms are pretty standard, especially if there's no sister, even for bridal showers. My best friend hosted my bridal shower, but has since moved out of state and is dealing with her own wedding so I doubt she'll offer again. I offered to host her bridal shower but her mom was so enthusiastic about it that she wouldn't let me! I just ended up helping.
We don't have a party. I do plan for it to be a fun surprise for dh and ds for just us. I might have the tech write it down and I'll bring it somewhere to get balloons or a cake and just make it the 3 of us who find out that way!
Mom of one adorable little boy and excited to do this again.
I have spoiled my friends babies, it's now my turn! I may sound like a AW but I will be having a baby shower and inviting everyone i know, and I will expect a gift. I'm sorry but I have spent a small fortune of bridal gifts, bday gifts, baby shower gifts... It's my turn! If that sounds bad I'm sorry, I'm speaking the truth. It's okay to expect gifts at a baby shower right? That will be the only party I will be having
This was exactly my SIL's attitude and it showed through in everything she did during her pregnancy. There actually ended up being quite a few fights and hurt feelings all around because she expected everyone she had ever done anything for or ever given a gift to to show their appreciation by conforming to her every whim and matching every effort she had ever put forth. Apparently our appreciation at the time of whatever she did/gave and our efforts towards her for birthdays and holidays were completely insufficient and meant nothing.
I do think she's come to her senses a bit now that her LO has moved into toddlerhood because she's actually seeing firsthand what a toll having a kid takes on your availability to spend days at a time doing craft projects or even washing your hair on a regular basis. She's getting married this fall and is still being really hard on her mom as far her expectations of what she expects her mom to do to help and the standards she holds her to in what she gets done, but she has drastically cut back on all of her own projects and expectations compared to her first wedding.
Re: Gender reveal party
Married: 9/2013
Love my LEO!!
TTC #1: 9/2015
BFP: 2/1/16 MC 2/8/16 @ 5wks
BFP: 5/22/16 RAINBOW BABY
EDD: 1/30/2017 *IT'S A GIRL!!!!*
Kirsten Grace 1/20/17
First BFP: 12/16/13
EDD: 08/23/14
Baby BOY born: 08/29/14
TTC #1: 3/2016
Me 39 - DH 44
BFP 5/27/16 EDD 1/30/17
DD born 2/3/17
Ben and Maggie - 4/10/09
Mia - 6/16/11
Surprise! due 2/23/17
if you want to have your parents and siblings over and cut into a cake, that's cool. but no one else cares.
When you've been married this long, you need a ticker to remind you.
Baby Boy M - 08/01/2013
Expecting Baby Bean February 2017
BFP #1 8/4/2015, MMC 9/24/2015
BFP #3 8/24/2017, MC 9/20/2017
BFP #4 11/14/2017, CP
BFP #5 1/5/2018, MC/BO 2/17/2018
BFP #6 7/15/2018, CP
BFP #7 12/15/2018, EDD 8/28/2019
Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016.
Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015.
They will be forever missed.
Big Bro 7/14/13
Little Bro 2/6/17
Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016.
Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015.
They will be forever missed.
Not trying to argue but just pointing out that examples above are what leads to misinformation about what's expected at these events.
Big Bro 7/14/13
Little Bro 2/6/17
Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016.
Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015.
They will be forever missed.
if you are throwing your own gift-giving party it's tacky tacky tacky, everyone knows, thinks and says so behind your back. call it what you want, it doesn't change anything.
When you've been married this long, you need a ticker to remind you.
Baby Boy M - 08/01/2013
Expecting Baby Bean February 2017
Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016.
Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015.
They will be forever missed.
Trying to decipher if this is sarcasm or..
ETA:
don't have anyone to do it? no one offers? no shower. that's how it goes.
When you've been married this long, you need a ticker to remind you.
Baby Boy M - 08/01/2013
Expecting Baby Bean February 2017
You should never expect a gift, at any time or any point in your life. When you do good things for others, you do it free from obligation and out of the goodness of your heart, expecting nothing in return.
Your friends and family owe you nothing. If they want to give you a gift, they will, of their own accord and when/if they want to. It's not up to you to decide if they will do it.
Big Bro 7/14/13
Little Bro 2/6/17
Married: October, 19, 2015
EDD 2/22/17
EDD 3/8/20
EDD 11/24/23
(Formerly Marriedhamstermom Feb ‘17)
I think nearly every baby shower I've been too has been hosted by a mom or a very close friend if family is far away.
Edit: it ate half my words.
When you've been married this long, you need a ticker to remind you.
Baby Boy M - 08/01/2013
Expecting Baby Bean February 2017
I might have the tech write it down and I'll bring it somewhere to get balloons or a cake and just make it the 3 of us who find out that way!
I do think she's come to her senses a bit now that her LO has moved into toddlerhood because she's actually seeing firsthand what a toll having a kid takes on your availability to spend days at a time doing craft projects or even washing your hair on a regular basis. She's getting married this fall and is still being really hard on her mom as far her expectations of what she expects her mom to do to help and the standards she holds her to in what she gets done, but she has drastically cut back on all of her own projects and expectations compared to her first wedding.