Gender Reveal Parties What the Hell???

You put a deposit on a pram in a pram shop remember those? .
Nowadays young parents have more confidence than some of us did. They assume their baby will be born alive and well.
I never counted my chickens.
With my 4th I had an amniocentesis as I was quite old and with 3 boys already I preferred not to know the sex in advance incase I was a tiny bit disappointed. I knew when I met him or her there would be only joy.
There was and utter surprise as the midwife said "it's a girl, but we all knew that, it was written in your notes!"

JaneJudge

CraftyGranny

When I was expecting our first baby, my Mum bought the pram but wouldn't pick it up until baby was born. She said it was bad luck.
Has anybody else experienced this?

yup

I didn’t buy anything for Gdc1 until I heard that she’d arrived safely. I then zoomed down to John Lewis to find something!
Ditto for 2 and 3. I never like buying for babies until they’re here. I know it’s daft but it feels like tempting Fate.

VioletSky

I think we need to let people have their happiness.

Let them have their gender reveal parties, their Christmas decorations in October, their hobbies we don't understand.

Let people find all the happiness and joy they can in life

This^
Whatever floats your boat i say.....I didn't find out my 3 childrens sex until birth ( not even sure it was possible in the 90s??)...... my DD and youngest DS both found out the sex of their babies by private scan at 16 weeks....3 of my DNs have had gender reveal parties at 16 weeks.....all different...all personal choice....no right...no wrong ....I first went to a gender reveal party a few years ago....so they've been around in UK a good while

It just seems to me that it should be a private moment.
I would absolutely hate the thought of everyone knowing before I’d had time to take it all in.
Each to his own, but I’m not keen on the idea.

I don't think anyone has said that announcements or parties shouldn't happen - just that in some cases they are not something an individual poster would do herself.

All the 'live and let live' only extends so far, doesn't it?

CraftyGranny

When I was expecting our first baby, my Mum bought the pram but wouldn't pick it up until baby was born. She said it was bad luck.
Has anybody else experienced this?

Yes. My Mum and my Mum-in-la both refused to pick up the big items (cot and pram) till I was back home. The 2nd had carry cot was already there but evidently didn’t count.
I agree about plastic tat, but if people want to celebrate things that sound strange to me, why not let them do it.

Plastic tatt is everywhere.

Lots of sustainable ways to do everything

So probably better to fight the tatt rather than what others celebrate

JaneJudge

CraftyGranny

When I was expecting our first baby, my Mum bought the pram but wouldn't pick it up until baby was born. She said it was bad luck.
Has anybody else experienced this?

yup

Me too and it and the cot were delivered late so drawer was used for baby to sleep in. It was the shop that did not want to deliver it before the birth. Apparently, it was the store's policy

VioletSky

I think we need to let people have their happiness.

Let them have their gender reveal parties, their Christmas decorations in October, their hobbies we don't understand.

Let people find all the happiness and joy they can in life

I'm all for people doing what makes them happy, I just hate the exploitation and the plastic tatt (which ends up in landfill) that commercialises these events.

Galaxy

I think people can do what they like. I think it's fine to challenge some of the sterotypes that are associated with gender reveal parties in the same way we challenge stereotypes about other groups.

This is my take on it.

I don't care what people do about parties - it's absolutely harmless, although I do wish the 'gender' nonsense would stop, and think it would be less awkward if there were no expectation of presents. I've seen 'reveals' on Facebook, and that is just sharing the joy, I think.

It's a new person coming into the world and an addition to a family though - not a 'surprise' treat. Babies are babies - and as someone said upthread, they are very uncomplaining about the odd bit of lace or a print with yachts or something instead of pink roses.

My mum had two girls and then a boy, and told me that people thought she should get rid of little cardigans as they 'buttoned up the wrong way'. I remember that continuing through to school ones, too. Perfectly serviceable grey cardigans couldn't be passed down as the buttons were on the 'wrong' side - madness. That has died out now (I don't even know which is 'the girls' way' and which the boys') and AFAIK nobody even noticed. I was perfectly happy for my daughter to wear my son's clothes if they fitted her and were in good condition, whichever way they buttoned up.

There was no such thing as knowing the sex/gender (cross out the unacceptable) in advance, when my daughter was on the way, and I did not want to know what my grand and great children were before they arrived.

Grandmabatty

Callistemon if you look for naughty knits on twitter,you will find plenty of knitted penises. It's very funny. I bought one of their knitting pattern books for a relative.

?

I remember the cheeky piper too ?

I remember your cheeky piper, witzend

CraftyGranny

When I was expecting our first baby, my Mum bought the pram but wouldn't pick it up until baby was born. She said it was bad luck.
Has anybody else experienced this?

yup

Callistemon21

Witzend

Dickens

... so no baby showers, Penis Party etc. for me.

I thought this was satire - but Penis Parties are actually a 'thing'.

With cakes and other party-food constructed accordingly.

Still, Truss wants to grow the economy...

Someone please enlighten me - what is a Penis Party? Do strap-on dildos count, or is it bona fide willies only? And are they Out and Proud, or is the dress code strictly Budgie Smugglers?

And are there any knitting patterns for these items?

I had to improvise patterns for my Cheeky Bagpiper’s bits - if anyone remembers him - made to raise money for Prostate Cancer research.
One bit was easy enough and funnily enough I found that the sporran pattern adapted very easily for the other! I do hope Jean Greenhowe wouldn’t have a fit - the whole cheeky chap was taken - with very minor modifications - from her McScarecrow pattern book.

Crazy world yes I knew what this was as I work in childcare and parents often tell me there having one of these.?

Oh yes!
My mum was most emphatic that the pram wasn't to be bought in the house, so it was stored elsewhere.

When I was expecting our first baby, my Mum bought the pram but wouldn't pick it up until baby was born. She said it was bad luck.
Has anybody else experienced this?

That doesnt mean nobody must say it's a money spinning waste of time, though.

I think people can do what they like. I think it's fine to challenge some of the sterotypes that are associated with gender reveal parties in the same way we challenge stereotypes about other groups.

VioletSky

I think we need to let people have their happiness.

Let them have their gender reveal parties, their Christmas decorations in October, their hobbies we don't understand.

Let people find all the happiness and joy they can in life

This!

Violetsky
That’s a lovely sentiment, but I can’t help thinking there’s more than enough plastic rubbish around without adding to it.
And can someone please explain what a penis party is, and what happens at one?
Sounds a bit more interesting than a gender reveal party.

Just more American claptrap

Callistemon if you look for naughty knits on twitter,you will find plenty of knitted penises. It's very funny. I bought one of their knitting pattern books for a relative.