Mama Said Knock You Out: Pinata Party for Gender Reveal

At the end of last year, we found out that our family is growing again. Our newest addition is due in August!  We were all thrilled!!

So, after you find out you are expecting, then comes the big decision of whether or not to find out the baby's gender.  Finding out the gender before birth is still a relatively new idea, but most couples choose to do so.  And, lately, everyone is getting more and more creative than just letting the ultrasound technician share the information.

We chose not to find out the gender with our first two kiddos. We were surprised with a boy, and then we were surprised with a girl.  Our little guy wanted a brother so badly last time that we decided to find out the gender before delivery.  When he bit into the cupcake and found it was filled with pink icing, he proudly said "I'm going to have another sister!"  Maybe the sugar rush helped break the news.  Either way, he is an outstanding big brother and has been enamored with his littlest sister since her birth.

So, what to do this time??  Find out? Not find out?  From the beginning of the pregnancy, I was confident this baby was a boy.  No morning sickness just like with our son.  With the girls, I was nauseous a lot.  Since I was so confident, my mom encouraged me to find out just in case I was wrong, so we decided to find out.

How to find out?  Since it just isn't en vogue to have the ultrasound technician/doctor/midwife tell you anymore, we tried to think of an option with pizzazz that would fit our family.  Our sweet boy suggested cupcakes again or a pinata.  Pinata!  What a great idea!

We bought our pinata at Wal-Mart, picked up a few bags of Easter candy, pink and blue glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and "It's a Boy!/It's a Girl!" ribbon.  I sorted the candy into pink and blue bags and added the appropriate bits of ribbon and unopened glow bracelets.  Since the candy pieces were still a bit multicolored, we didn't want any confusion about the gender when the pinata was burst.  I had heard a story about a volcano used to reveal the gender and how the pink lava came out red, leaving the siblings confused as to whether they were getting a brother or sister.

During our ultrasound, we were careful to tell the ultrasound technician that we did not want to know the gender.  She placed the revealing pictures in a sealed envelope, which we took to the person stuffing our pinata.  Stuffing the pre-made pinata was pretty easy and we were able to wait while it was filled.  We asked the stuffer to keep the unused bag of candy/ribbon/light up bracelets.

That night we gathered our parents, munched on some Mexican food for dinner, and then let each of our kiddos take a swing at the pinata, from youngest to oldest.  We took lots of pictures and videos, and everyone had a great time.

In review, the steps for a gender reveal pinata party:

1. Buy your supplies - pinata, candy, small pink/blue toys, and pink and blue ribbon. Don't feel the need to over do it on the candy.  You just need enough that everyone gets some and knows what the gender is. Pinata options on Amazon: pinata
2. Separate your supplies into two distinctive bags to give your designated pinata stuffer.
3. At your ultrasound appointment, ask the technician to keep the good hidden and to place any revealing pictures in the envelope.  This means you will need to look away from the screen during some parts of the ultrasound.  Remind any medical professional you see during your appointment that you do not want to know the gender.  We had lots of practice with this prior to the delivery of our first two kiddos.
4. Take the pinata, two bags, and sealed envelope to your designated stuffer.  He/she may need some tape to seal the pinata.  Ours just happened to have gold duct tape - sweet!  Prior to stuffing, ask the stuffer to keep the unused bag out of sight.  Also, give him/her any instructions about items in the bags.  For us, we needed to specify what to do with those little connector pieces that go on the glow-in-the-dark bracelets.
5. Take your pinata and re-sealed envelope home, and don't peek!  
6. Plan a Mexican themed meal.  We had chicken enchiladas, salad, and strawberries with whipped cream over Angel food desert cups.
7. Find a place to hang your pinata.  We had the two grandfathers hold a piece of conduit pipe from each end.  We also used a piece of twine to get the pinata to the right length and give it a bit of swing.
8. One at a time, blindfold participants, spin them around three times, give them a a bat - we used a plastic Little Tikes bat, and let them swing three times each.  We went youngest to oldest and let our oldest finish it out. He was super duper excited to bust that pinata.
9. See what you have and celebrate a new life!!

And did you want to know what OUR pinata revealed??

So much for my morning sickness theory!!  Maybe, for me, it has more to do with the time of year I experience my first trimester.  With our firstborn and this one, both of the first trimesters were around November/December/January.  With the girls, it was more June/July/August, which are hot, hot, hot months where we live.

He's a great big brother, and he found out about his third little sister with candy - that never hurts.  :)


Find gender reveal party supplies on Amazon.com: gender party