A gender reveal is one of those super exciting moments which you dream amount for most of your pregnancy - if not before. There are lots of great ideas - Pinterest and Facebook will leave you spoilt for choice - however, how do you move those existing ideas and hopes online and still have the same excitement, emotion and togetherness that makes that gender reveal just as special as it would have been in person.
Although we are past the peak here in the UK, we don’t know how long it may be until we are able to gather with all of our friends and family. This surreal time of social distancing and isolation doesn’t mean that your visions of your lovely gender reveal are over.
We’ve solved the problem for you by coming up with some ways to keep the magical experience just as wonderful as it would be in person…
Although it may not be what you had it mind, virtual gender reveals aren’t something new and have been used by long distant families for many years all around the world.
Date, Time and location
You may already have your time and date set, in which case perfect – all you need to do is move it online. If you’re yet to set your date and time, then work out when works best for you and your guests.
Just because it’s not a face to face event doesn’t mean that you should forget about invites by any means. Make the event official by sending out some super cute invites to get your guest’s excited about the big event. You’ll want to include all the usual information on these including the platform that you’re going to be hosting the event on. Not everyone is tech savvy, so make sure that you include some instruction on how to download and log in to your chosen platform.
When it comes to choosing a platform to host your gender reveal, we recommend Zoom but be sure that, as a host, you have a paid subscription to avoid it cutting off after 40 minutes, ending your party early.
Decorate your space
Just because your family friends aren’t there with you in person doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t still go all out. Once you’re in front of the camera everyone can not only see you two, but also everything behind you. Still use that gender reveal backdrop that you had in mind! If anything, there is even more reason to use it than before as it’s likely to remain your backdrop for most of the event and all of your pictures. Try it out ahead of the big day and make sure you have it in the right place and the perfect angle.
Why not make it more fun and ask all of your guests to design their own gender reveal backdrop based on what gender they think the baby will be. You could make a game out of and decide on the most creative, ridiculous and professional looking.
Theming
You may think your ideal theme is out of the window as everyone will be sitting in front of the camera and there isn’t much opportunity to integrate this in, but you couldn’t be more wrong!
Rather than guests coming to you, you can bring the theme to them. Get creative and make packs for each guest to go in the post. Consider what you would have liked to have at a physical event in terms of theme and include these. A must to include is photo props – you can pick some beautiful packs of these on Etsy which you can distribute among the packs and will be perfect for screenshots of your perfect virtual gender reveal photo.
Why not add something a little bit silly to the mix and ask everyone to arrive to your virtual event wearing pink/blue or both! People will have a laugh deciding what to wear and putting together their outfits with what they have in their wardrobes.
Play games
It couldn’t be easier to adapt the games you were going to play in person to online. Chances are that you were going to include guess the gender of the baby. Nowadays, there are so many customised PDF’s that you can download that can be easily shared with your guests.
You could send out any games you plan to play in your packs ahead of the event or wait until everyone arrives at your virtual event and share these in a group conversation with them. Same rules apply as they would have at your physical gender reveal! These can still be keepsakes by asking everyone to take a photo or screenshot of any games played during the gender reveal and sharing them with you, or holding them up and taking a snapshot of the whole screen!
You’ll find that most other games can be played the same way as they would have done at a face to face gender reveal. The wonderful thing that has come out of this pandemic is the rise in online games for our gender reveal. Personalised websites such as https://genderrevealgame.com have created fun and exciting ways to integrate games easily into your party.
Games such as these have solved the ‘what do we do about our gift list?’ question as well. Each vote asks for a donation which goes towards you as parents to be! This means that you can go through and purchase all those little bits that you hoped for. Similarly, the majority of retail shops have worked out how to get around making home deliveries whilst observing social distancing, meaning that if there are special items that people wish to buy for you, they can get these delivered to your home ahead of your virtual gender reveal, so you can open them on camera!
Your reveal method
A virtual gender reveal isn’t a step down from a face-to-face reveal. The amazing thing that you wouldn’t have a face-to-face event is that you can screen record the whole thing. You’ll have the entire event on camera, and everyone’s faces on the screen for the perfect reactions!
Depending on what you had in mind, you may decide to keep your method of reveal the same or change it. For example, if you decided to do a reveal with a smoke cannon, then you can still do this on your camera to all of your guests! No matter what you had in mind, why not take this opportunity to do something really different and unique to right now. We’re put our heads together some come up with three exciting new ways to do the big reveal!
Papier Mache Volcano
This one requires trusting a crafting friend or family member with the top-secret gender information ahead of the day. We all remember making a paper mache volcano at one point, whether it was as children or with our children. If you don’t remember, then check out The Spruce Crafts who have all the details and steps to create your paper mache.
Get your crafty appointed person to add colouring to the volcano lava so that when you activate it, it will be pouring out your pink or blue!
Scratch off cards
We really love these scratch off cards that come so well designed, simple and budget friendly. They’re a really fun way for everyone to discover the gender at the same time on your virtual gender reveal. You can add these to your guests’ packs that you can post out or post them directly to their address.
There are lots of different styles and you can match your theme. Esty will give you lots of choice, but we love these.
'Crack me' quail eggs
We think this is such a cute idea that is perfect for a virtual gender reveal! A tiny golden egg arrives in its box at your guests’ homes with strict instructions to wait until the moment of the reveal. You can personalise your message so you can make it bespoke to each guest and upon cracking all at the same time the gender is revealed! You can find these on Etsy (here) and get them delivered directly to your guests doors!
Ultimately, you want to make this moment just as special and memorable as you hoped it would be, and there’s no reason why it can’t be even better. Use the situation to your advantage and have your gender reveal be different to any reveal you’ve been to before! If you’d like more ideas, then check out our virtual events page and we’ll be happy to chat through some ideas or ways we can move your gender reveal online!
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