I think this is just an excuse to have a party, although I do think it's cute to have guests write name suggestions.

I think it's a cute party idea.

I think this is a good idea to just to add to the baby shower

A gender party? It seems really narcissistic to think that revealing the sex of your baby is party worthy. What an awful trend.

I think its suppose to be the baby shower in which the couple reveals the sex of the baby and made it into a theme. I think its cute! lets be honest, our close friends and relatives are THAT interested in what you are having, and to them, its party worthy, especially if its the baby shower as well!

This is silly.

I'm always surprised by a negative reaction to gender parties. For us, we felt it was inapropriate to host another shower, but still wanted to celebrate the new baby...our second child deserves to be celebrated too! We invited all of the special people in our lives and had a blast!

I'm sorry for people who don't have people in their lives that want to celebrate them...

i think it's a cute change from the standard baby shower... i don't think those outside of family really spend too much time thinking about the gender of anyone else's child- but i like it as a shower theme!

I just hosted my friend's baby shower and one of the "games" was to guess what the sex would be (the parents were waiting until the birth to find out) and to suggest a name. Throwing a whole party around your fetus'
gender....yeah, over the top. So now we've seen first birthdays, baby showers, "gender parties" and big old productions to tell your family you are expecting. What's next, "we're trying to conceive" soirees?

"we're trying to conceive" soirees...Hahahaha! Ewwwww.

I'm with those who think this is more than a little silly. I'm always excited to celebrate a baby and to find out the sex (gender is the wrong word) and name but to focus a whole party around whether the fetus has a penis or a vagina is frankly ridiculous.

If you want to have a party to celebrate the baby have a "sip and see" open house after the baby is born. Then people get to actually meet the baby that they are celebrating.

i think it's great to have friends and family over for dinner as often as i can. as made clear in the invitation, there was dinner at this "gender party". it may have just been a dinner party with a fun theme. it's always fun for family and close friends to hear about the new baby in someone's life, so i think this is a fun spin on a nice little gathering for friends and family. no harm done, they didn't go that overboard, just some fun decorations/games.

I think this is a cute idea! Who cares if it's another excuse to have a party?! I like to have "it's-Friday-and-I-want-a-margarita parties", what's the difference? With all the unavoidable negative and awful things that are happening in the world right now I think it's great to throw a just-for-the-hell-of-it party! Good on you and congratulations!

okay, so...if you go to the blog and read about the party, they had a great reason to turn it into a full-on party. her hubby was injured early in her pregnancy and they didn't get to share the pregnancy with friends and family in a special way. this was well-deserved and a great idea for this couple in particular.

@lyndsea, that may be true but the author of the article asked what people thought of the trend, not what we thought of this specific party and the reasons behind it.

Know what's funny? The actual correct term is "sex" instead of gender. So this would really be a Sex Party. :)

It's true, it would be a Sex Party :).

On the one hand, it is just an excuse to have a party. On the other hand...it's an excuse to have a party! If you socialize frequently anyway, it's kind of fun to have some theme parties thrown in.

I think this is fun as a baby shower. I posted about my favorite reveal party here:

http://www.modernparentsmessykids.com/2001/01/gender-reveal-baby-shower.html

Seems like fun! What's wrong with a throwing a party for every little thing you can think of? Parties are awesome! It doesn't sound like this is the sort of party that obliges guests to bring gifts.

When I saw "gender reveal party" I admit I did a little eye roll, but reading the story behind it and the fact that even Mom and Dad didn't know the gender til it was revealed at the party melted my heart a little.

It's a shame that Julia didn't share little snippets of the story, as I think it's really sweet and provides a bit of context to take this party away from "niche trend".

Perhaps I am just cranky and pregnant, but I think rather than host a party, we will just let the news spread by word of mouth (or word of blog). We live in Korea right now and it can be difficult for a doctor to even tell you the sex of the baby for fear that you'll get an abortion if you don't like the truth. We might not even find out until the baby is born, which is fine by us.

What's wrong with having a great creative party to celebrate a baby on the way? Babies are blessings and parties are great so the two together are perfect, muah!

I think these reveal the gender parties are ridiculous. The gender reveal is exciting to mom and dad and probably grandparents, but to build it up to a party-worthy event is just overkill.

Lindsey, there is nothing wrong with having a "great creative party to celebrate a baby on the way." It's called a baby shower.

You guys are pretty lame 'round these parts. I'm having one of these (BBQ style) and I'll throw a party every month of the year if it means getting together with my closest friends and family to have a ball!

I think that party sounds like an awful lot of fun - especially since in this case even mama-to-be didn't know the sex. Cleverly done. So many little details designed to delight the guests, I would have felt lucky to be in attendance. I don't see anything wrong with celebrating any milestone during your pregnancy (or anything else, for that matter) - as long as gifts aren't expected.

as someone who is planning my own shower, i found this idea endearing. as a shower idea, it is very cute. not sure why the negative reaction...people will have baby showers regardless...why not put a fun spin on it?

I'm really not sure why people have a problem with this. Since this is strictly a sex reveal party, not a baby shower, no one is expected to bring gifts or anything other then just themselves and a willingness to have fun. So your friend wants to feed and entertain you for an evening, oh and announce the sex of their unborn child, what an inconvenience! I hate it when my friends have random parties too. It's so narcissistic and silly of them to think that I would want to spend my evening hanging out with them and my other friends and eating free food. Seriously people...

A friend said she went to a babyshower that was also a gender party! The parents were having twins and for fun asked the doctor not to tell them, but to write down the sexes of the babies. They sealed the paper in an envelope and gave it to the bakery with the instructions to make a plain vanilla sheet cake with each half dyed to represent the sex of the babies (pink cake or blue cake) and cover it with thick white frosting. At the end of the party everyone (including mom and dad) found out the sexes of the babies when the cake was cut! I thought that was a great idea and made the event lots of fun for everyone!

I think they're fun! I mean, I'm with Elizabeth:

"I hate it when my friends have random parties too. It's so narcissistic and silly of them to think that I would want to spend my evening hanging out with them and my other friends and eating free food."

We're considering having one ourselves with this pregnancy, because we have three boys and seriously, EVERYONE is placing bets and talking about what they think we'll have.

I think we are lucky to be able to have parties like this in the United States. In contrast to this "gender party" theme: in India, the parents aren't even supposed to be told the child's gender anymore (skewing of the male:female ratio based on gender selection). In reality, the parents-to-be are sometimes "told" by getting pink or blue desserts in the waiting room. I will be even more thankful when female children around the world are celebrated and treated with pride.

I must be abnormal, I love when people find out their baby's sex. I love babies! I don't mind going to every baby's shower!

If it is a shower/reveal party at the same time hosted by someone other than the parents to be I think it is fine, but when the parents host it and expect you to bring a present, that is tacky.

I've attended one of these for a friend. It was so moving. To be honest they're not even our closest friends, but it was such a treat to gather together just to CELEBRATE LIFE! Many of us in the room were crying & we couldn't even explain it. We were just so happy for the parents to be. I absolutely love the idea. (Especially for those that tend to be a bit more melancholy & want to have a place to cheer about the news.) It's tough to know how to properly respond when you find out while your belly's covered in goo in a sterile hospital environment. "Well... how about that..." Instead of a good hearty cheer while surrounded by friends and loved ones.