A gender reveal party is a creative, modern twist on the traditional baby shower. Whether you throw a ladies-only shower, or a family affair, great themes will help make everything -- from invitations to decorating -- much easier.
Prince or Princess
All parents think their little one is royalty, so consider having a royal affair for your little prince or princess.
Invitations
Invite guests to your castle with elegant invitations fit for a king (or prince or princess).
Personalized crown invitation - These grey, pink and blue invitations can be ordered one at a time or in a variety of quantities and can be personalized. The more you order, the larger the discount you will receive.
Royal scrolls - You can create your own royal scroll invitations by typing all the pertinent party information into a word processing program and printing out the number of copies you need. Glue the top and bottom of the papers onto gold painted dowel sticks (that are just slightly longer than the width of the paper). Then roll the paper from both the top and bottom until they meet in the middle. Then tie the scroll closed with a piece of gold ribbon.
Digital file or printed royal invitation - You can either buy the digital file and print your own copies of this invitation with a royal theme or you can buy printed copies.
Decorations
Turn your home or party venue into a majestic castle with a few props and decorations.
Thrones - Make or purchase both a King's and Queen's throne. Not only does this make for a nice decoration, but guests can sit on the throne of their choice and take a photo.
Castle favor boxes - Decorate your table with cute castle favor boxes which can be filled with small candies.
Medieval wall decorating kit - Use this wall decorating kit to create the look of a castle for little effort without spending much money.
Menu Ideas
Serve fancy finger foods or a full five-course meal but be sure to include some of these fun theme-specific items.
Royal scepters - Create royal scepters out of fruit. Use a bamboo skewer as the wand and stack fruits, such as grapes and strawberries, onto it. Then cut a star shape out of a melon, such as cantaloupe or watermelon, and put it on the end of the wand to create a royal scepter.
Edible glitter desserts - Create an elegant and royal look onto cookies, cupcakes even punch by sprinkling this edible glitter from the Sweet Treat Supply company onto them.
Cheese plate - Create a cheese platter and use these handmade glittery crown toothpicks to give it a royal look.
Activities
Keep the guests minds on royal things with these activities.
Kiss the Frog game -
Everyone loves the classic game Pin the Tail on the Donkey and Kiss the Frog is no different. Draw a picture of a frog on a piece of poster board. Provide a bright red lipstick and some cotton swabs. Blindfold guests and apply the lipstick onto the guest. Spin them around and have them attempt to kiss the frog. Maybe it will turn into a prince or princess.
Photo booth - Designate a blank wall as the backdrop for your photo area. Provide guests with prince and princess props and take photos of guests.
Question Marks
There is no doubt that one big question looms in the minds of all the guests, so consider using a question mark as your theme to celebrate the mystery.
Invitations
Use the question mark theme in your invitations to help guests understand the theme of the party.
Blue and pink - These pink and blue invitations include a blue section for a boy, a pink section for a girl, and the cute invitation to "...find out what's cookin'."
Question mark stickers - Create your own invitations by using this question mark sticker. While not as cost-effective as other options, it's a great option for those who want to create their own invite at home.
Decorations
Decorations turn your ordinary space into something festive. Use these items to create a curious space:
Banner - Add a banner with question marks onto the wall to help set the stage. Check out Etsy for good options that add a homemade touch and fun question mark graphics or sayings like "Lil Man or Lil Lady?"
Party pack -This question mark theme party pack includes tableware, balloons, streamers, a banner, and more for a reasonable price.
Cupcake picks - Packs of twelve cupcake picks makes decorating the food table easy and the question mark graphics fit right into the theme.
Menu Ideas
Any type of food could work with this type of party. You can serve a sit-down dinner or buffet. Serve the guest(s) of honor's favorite foods and some theme specific treats.
Cake or cupcakes - Order or make a cake in the shape of a question mark to match your theme. Use a white cake and tint it either pink or blue to indicate the gender of the baby. Then frost the cake in white or another neutral color. Or you can create cupcakes and use the picks or make a question mark in frosting.
Question mark candy - Pour melted chocolate into the question mark pop candy molds and make fun lollipops for everyone to take home.
Cookies - Use shaped cookie cutters to create cookies that are themed to match the party's graphics.
Activity
Continue the mystery theme with some fun activities.
Jelly bean guessing game - To continue the question mark theme, place a jar or baby bottle full of blue and pink jelly beans on a table. Have your guests guess the number of jelly beans in the jar and ask them to write down their guess and the prediction about whether the baby is male or female on a slip of paper. At the end of the party, read all the prediction and guesses. Award a prize to the person who guessed the closest to the correct number of beans and give that winner an extra prize if they correctly predicted the gender.
Pinata - Not only is a pinata a fun activity, but can also be a nice focal point for a party. Fill a handmade blue and pink pinata with either blue or pink candies and allow guests to take turns striking it to reveal the gender of the baby.
Football or Sports
Football is a wildly popular sport and can be used as a theme for a gender reveal party.
Invitations
Whether you make the invitation or purchase them, prepare your guests for a heated game of Team Pink vs. Team Blue.
Helmet invite - This invitation can be personalized and printed or ordered and shipped right to your door.
Any sporting team - If you want to go with a more generic sports theme, consider using these invitations which still have a Team Pink vs. Team Blue theme but without mentioning a particular sport.
Team pink /team blue - Novel Concept Designs offers a digital file of their invitation. It features baby and football-themed items strung along a clothesline.
Decorations
You can recycle some of your Super Bowl party decorations or buy some specifically for your party. Pick up tableware in pink and blue and use small novelty toys for the place settings. To this, add:
Football tablecloth- You could use a plain green table cloth from a dollar or party supply store or you could use this football field tablecover to decorate your tables.
Table decorations - Print football helmets on blue and pink paper and cut them out. Tape them to large dowels or picks. You can use these picks in a vase with flowers as a centerpiece or stick them directly into food.
Sports clothing - Hang onesies and baby t-shirts with football and sports graphics around the room.
Menu Ideas
Serve traditional football theme snacks and tailgating goodies. Serve pink and blue sports-themed cupcakes along with foods like the following.
Pigs in a blanket - Use mini-hot dogs to create a smaller, baby version of the traditional pigs in a blanket.
Ice cream footballs - Buy ice cream sandwiches and turn them into a cute football treat. Use white icing in a small tip bag to create the laces on the top of the chocolate sandwich. Stick a small wooden spoon into the end of the ice cream sandwich to make them easier to eat.
Chocolate dipped strawberries - Dip strawberries in chocolate to resemble the shape and color of a traditional football. Use white icing to create the laces.
Activities
Keep the party going with these fun activities.
Keep score - Set-up this tally board for guests to use. This poster will provide an easy way for guests to cast their vote for either a boy or girl baby.
Football throwing contest - Divide the guests into Team Pink and Team Blue and provide each team with a football. You can use a traditional football, or you can use pink and blue footballs. Ask each guest to throw the football and then mark where each ball lands. The team who throws their ball the farthest wins.
Futuristic Alien Theme
The future is on the minds of all expectant parents which is why it makes a great theme for a gender reveal party.
Invitations
A futuristic invitation might include images of space and aliens. Though many highlight birthday invitation wording, you can easily change it for a gender reveal party using phrases like "Boy or girl, this baby will be outta this world!"
Blast-off invitation - This invitation is for an outer space theme birthday party invitation, but since you can completely customize the wording, you can use it as a futuristic baby reveal invitation.
Do-it-yourself space invitation- If you want to create your own invitation using a graphic design program, consider buying these digital backgrounds that feature a space theme. You could also choose to use this scrapbook paper to create your own invitation.
Decorations
Decorate your party venue with outer-space images and out-of-this-world decorations.
Inflatable pink and blue aliens- Scatter pink and blue aliens throughout your party venue to give it a colorful and outer-space feel.
Dinner plates - Use gender neutral dinner plates to conceal the sex of the baby until the big reveal.
Star balloons - Inflate pink star and blue star balloons with helium to cluster around your party venue and as table centerpieces.
Moon pie - This chocolate treat has a name that fits perfectly with your theme and a taste that guests will enjoy. Whip up your favorite moon pie recipe and dress them up by poking pink, blue, and multi-colored party picks in them.
Alien theme cupcakes -
Consider creating cute alien cupcakes to serve at your party. You can choose to make some of your aliens blue and others pink to represent both sexes or just have alien cupcakes in a gender neutral color like orange or green. Use icing to create white eyes with a black pupil and gumdrops to create antennas. Or you can use a mini-marshmallow for the eyes and put a black dot with an edible marker on them for a pupil.
Moon Rocks - These colorful rocks will look great in a candy dish on your futuristic theme table. Serve half of the rocks in a pink bowl and the rest in a blue bowl on your food table.
Activities
Do these fun futuristic and alien-themed activities at the party.
Baby's future - Provide both pink and blue index cards for guests to write predictions about the baby's future. If the guest believes the gender is female, let them write their predictions on a pink card and if they believe that the baby is male, they can write their predictions on a blue card. Ask them to predict the baby's name, occupation, or favorite food. Then display the cards on a bulletin board.
Diaper an alien -A traditional shower game involves guests seeing who can diaper a doll the fastest. Put a spin on this game by asking guests to choose either a pink or blue diaper, depending on which sex they believe the baby is, and diaper an alien plush or doll. You can make your own diapers by cutting rectangles out of felt or fabric and adding Velcro tabs.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
The children's rhyming song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is a favorite lullaby song among new parents and is a sweet, gender neutral theme for a reveal party.
Invitations
Though you could easily make your own invitations using card stock, a computer graphic program, and gold star stickers, you also have a variety of other options.
Starry sky invitation - Customize this invitation with song wording from Zazzle. The background is dark blue and features white text and gold stars. You can even customize the size of this card.
Pink and blue chalkboard stars - Download the digital file and customize, then print them on your own. The invitation features a background that looks like a chalkboard with text and images that look as if they have been drawn or written with chalk.
Cream and gold - This minimalistic design features a cream colored background with gold stars and print. It's a digital file that can be customized and printed at home. This invitation is specifically worded for a baby shower, so if you are planning on joining both your baby shower and gender reveal party, this is a good choice.
Decorations
There are a lot of ways to decorate with a star theme. You can make many of the decorations yourself by simply cutting a star shape out of a variety of construction or scrapbook papers. Additional ideas include:
Moon and stars confetti - Use this delightful confetti as table scatter on your buffet or guest tables. You have several color options so you can choose either the gender neutral ivory and gold option or you could choose to purchase both the blue and pink packs.
Star garland - Pick up a gold star garland to hang around the party space and across the front of the food tables.
Star projector - For an evening event, pick up a couple pink and blue star night light projectors to add a starry sky to the walls and ceiling.
Menu Ideas
Fill your buffet table with fun, star-shaped foods for your party.
Star-shaped fruit plate -When cut, kiwis have a natural star shape and are the perfect start of your fruit platter. Fill in the rest of the plate with various melons cut into star shapes. You can use a star cutter set to cut watermelon and other fruits into star shapes.
Star sandwiches - Use the same cutters to cut out shaped finger or tea sandwiches for everyone to enjoy.
Star-shaped candies - Fill candy dishes with adorable star-shaped candies. The candies are candy coated tart shaped candies that will serve not only as a dessert but as a decoration when placed throughout the party area.
Activities
Engage guests in fun activities to keep the party rolling.
Wear your guess - Provide guests with pink and blue stars for them to wear to indicate whether they believe the baby will be a boy or girl. You can easily make these pins by cutting pink and blue stars from card stock and using a hot glue gun to attach a clothes pin or safety pin to the back.
Keepsake guest poster - Make a poster featuring stars and some of the song lyrics to create a keepsake guest poster. Simply print or make the image with construction paper and cutout wording and frame it with a white mat and no glass. Provide glittery pens in gold, silver, blue and pink for guests to sign their name and write messages for the baby. This activity will not only be fun for the guests, but will also provide a nice piece to hang in the baby's nursery.
Sing along - Divide guests by their by their gender choice and have them sing the song. Let the parents-to-be pick the team who does the best job singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Variations for Multiple Births
Twins or other multiple births with babies of both sexes can also be revealed a party. Use purple as your main theme color, since mixing both blue and pink together forms a light purple color. You could also use the above ideas for your party and then reveal that everyone, no matter which sex they chose, were correct in their prediction.
