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Another new baby occasion

(69 Posts)
annsixty Mon 02-Sep-19 16:10:23

Or Unnecessary fuss.
My GD is going to a "Gender Reveal" party this afternoon.
I have heard Americans go in for this sort of thing but not heard of it here before.
The couple (young) are going for a twenty week scan at which the person doing the scan will write the sex on a card and seal it in an envelope.
They then take it to the florist/ balloon shop who fills a balloon with pink or blue confetti.
Family and friends are then invited to the house for a party where the couple will pop the balloon and then everyone including them will find out the sex of the baby.
Whatever next?

sodapop Mon 02-Sep-19 16:17:38

I have heard of this but in America not UK. Another opportunity for commercial exploitation. I suppose things are different for parents now, there were no scans when I was pregnant. In fact I'm not sure if they were available when my eldest granddaughter was on the way, she is 29 now.

SirChenjin Mon 02-Sep-19 16:46:36

This is becoming quite the thing in the UK, it has been for a while now. Opinions are quite polarised, as they are for baby showers - some see them as an excuse to get together for a party, others see them as a crass marketing ploy to extract as much money out of people as possible for an event which isn't really that interesting to those outwith the immediate family.

I'm firmly in the latter camp.

M0nica Mon 02-Sep-19 16:57:37

sodapop scans started coming in, in the early 1970s. DD was born in May 1973 and we all knew we could get a scan if we asked or made a good case. In DDs case, I had due dates spanning over a month from different doctors. My GP sent me to the local Hospital and I had a scan and they gave me the date she actually appeared on. However, they would not tell parents what the gender was.

As for gender reveals, another way of conning parents - and their friends out of money.

MissAdventure Mon 02-Sep-19 16:59:29

I can think of few things I would be less interested in, except perhaps painting a wall and watching it dry.

MiniMoon Mon 02-Sep-19 17:06:46

My son was born in 1984. Nearing my due date the GP sent me for another scan as he thought he could feel another head! There was only the one baby, and on the monitor I had a lovely view between his legs. I said "ooh, it's a boy". The technician (a man), was dismissive, saying that scans can be quite indistinct. What rubbish, there was no mistaking his little boy bits.it
Back then, they wouldn't tell you the sex, even if you asked.
Going back to the OP, I don't like gender reveal parties, they are just another money making scheme.

SirChenjin Mon 02-Sep-19 17:11:13

If I'm going to be pedantic though (which I am grin) it should of course be a 'sex reveal' party, given that it's your sex which determines whether you're male or female whereas gender is a social construct. Sex reveal party sounds a bit dodgy though!

annsixty Mon 02-Sep-19 17:14:40

Please be as pedantic as you like, it is just that that is what it appears to be called.
I have no time for it at all.
Just more fuss,

MissAdventure Mon 02-Sep-19 17:18:00

It just seems very, well... self serving, attention seeking, and.. all sorts.

SirChenjin Mon 02-Sep-19 17:20:01

Oh no, I know it's what they're called - it's just that the name is simply another thing that irritates me about them!

KatyK Mon 02-Sep-19 18:02:41

I've seen them do this a few times on This Morning. They brought couples in to the studio and popped balloons to see what colour tic a tape came out.

SueDonim Mon 02-Sep-19 18:02:44

I'd hate for someone like a florist to know what sex the baby was before I did!

I went with one of my dils to her anomaly scan where the sex was also revealed, because my son wasn't available to go. I found it nerve-racking to witness the scan and very emotional when we were told the sex.

My own dd found out the old-fashioned way what she was having, which was also lovely. By the way, I had scans when I was expecting her, in 1987. They didn't tell you the sex then, though.

paddyann Mon 02-Sep-19 18:14:06

No scans when I had mine ,my daughter had a scan at 20 weeks and was told the sex of her baby,Grandpa didn't wantto know.He was the same with her other babies .New baby expected here this week ,a girl .At 20 weeks they had a 3d scan,you could clearly see babies face and she looks just like her sister .They brought the images home along with a balloon for big sister to pop .she was over the moon when she saw the pink confetti.This was the wee grl who was really worried it was a boy and that they would call him BOB ...we dont know what name they'll give her but we know what it wont be .

annsixty Mon 02-Sep-19 18:30:46

It's a girl.??

mcem Mon 02-Sep-19 18:41:48

DS and DiL attended one of these while DiL was pregnant but they were not tempted to hold one. They didn't want to know if they were having a boy or girl.
My sister decided to run a sweepstake within the family and I won!!
A boy - 7 lbs 7 oz.
The £25 was handed over to me and I kickstarted his savings account!

Happiyogi Mon 02-Sep-19 18:42:40

It seems like a polarising concept. Lots of parents these days want to go, if not exactly gender neutral then at least avoiding the relentless "colour coding" where you can tell from 20 paces which gender is being pushed in an approaching pram!

I feel uneasy about making a public song and dance about labelling the unborn...

Sara65 Mon 02-Sep-19 18:51:30

Baby showers annoy me enough, this is a step too far!

Doodle Mon 02-Sep-19 21:38:11

No one knew the sex of our 3 DGC before they were born. One family didn’t want to know but our other DIL did but my son didn’t. In the end my DIL decided not to ask as she wouldn’t have been able to keep it a secret. I think it made the births really special and exciting. Why does everyone need to know these days.

ElaineI Mon 02-Sep-19 22:06:56

These have been in UK for a few years. People seem very scathing here. They don't need to be big fancy affairs. Both DDs had only family and home made cakes with blue or pink centres and no money spent by others.

pinkprincess Tue 03-Sep-19 00:59:42

I overheard a conversation on a bus one day.A family group were all talking very loud about the pregnant member who was going for a scan to ''See what she was getting''
I felt like telling them she was getting a baby.
have also heard about some young mothers in floods of tears because the baby, otherwise perfectly healthy, was not the gender they were hoping for.

stella1949 Tue 03-Sep-19 01:53:21

I recently saw a gender reveal where they put something in their car's exhaust pipe, and when the man started his car it blew pink smoke to show he was going to have a daughter . Incredible. Who thought up this nonsense ?

BradfordLass72 Tue 03-Sep-19 06:40:02

What a load of crabby old bat faces!

It sounds delightful - except for the pink and blue bit. That needs to be knocked on the head.

So it's new and unusual and commercial?

And buying/eating chocolate eggs ?

And old men (in whose honour we spend a fortune and nearly die of stress every year) who fly though the air with reindeer are all perfectly normal?

Get a grip. If it makes people happy what's wrong with it?

NannyJan53 Tue 03-Sep-19 06:43:54

My DD's friend (11 years ago), didn't want to know the sex of her baby, but her husband did.

So they wrote it down for him, and he didn't tell his wife. But when they were discussing names he didn't seem interested in girls names, so she suspected he was told it was a boy.

The day of delivery, the midwife said 'it's a girl', apparently he kept saying, 'it can't be, we are having a boy'! smile

Marmight Tue 03-Sep-19 07:56:15

Each to her/his own.
Knowing the sex of a baby before it’s born is a rather like knowing what you’re getting for Christmas having had a sneaky peek before the day. It takes the fun and surprise out of the occasion. I’ll always remember the excitement of asking ‘what is it’ after each of my babies popped out. I wasn’t bothered about decorating the room pink or blue!

Minniemoo Tue 03-Sep-19 08:00:34

I didn't want to know the gender of my children. My eldest daughter opted to find out but no gender reveal party.

Never really understood why anyone wants to know but to each their own.