To think this new wave of Gender Reveal a bit crap?

[PoppyH56]

It just seems so impersonal. I think it should be a special moment between just you and your partner if you do find out. The whole popping a balloon in front of your family to screams of delight really makes me cringe. AIBU and a total spoil sport here? 😱

Loathe the idea of them and completely agree it's all for instagram/Facebook etc.

Also loathe the idea of baby showers and thankfully have not had to go to many!

Tacky and awful and grabby and, as someone upthread says, makes it all the harder for parents if something does then go wrong.

Save the celebrating until the baby's safely here. And save finding out the sex until the delivery room, too, unless there is a medical reason why you need to find out in advance. For me, it kind of strips away some of the excitement of a baby's arrival if the sex is common knowledge months in advance.

There was a thread a while ago where the OP said her scan was "ruined" and I think worse terms than that because the sonographer couldn't tell the sex of the baby and she had already planned a big gender reveal.

The replies to the OP's trauma were choice, to say the least.

I disagree that no-one is interested in knowing the sex. Extended family, friends and colleagues all show an interest and it has nothing to do with wanting one sex over the other.
Whenever or however you find out the sex, will still be a surprise, so I don't feel it ruins the surprise by not waiting till the birth.
Also it doesn't have to be a big tacky event. My daughter is a keen basket and has latched on to the idea of a reveal cake, so for is it will just be a bit of added fun at a family get together that was already planned. No presents our money being spent.

Not announcing the name is fair enough. You inevitably get some some tit slagging it off or saying it's the name of their aunt's dog. They tend not to do that once it's permanently attached to an actual child.

"Gender" reveal parties are unbelievably naff, everyone having to pretend they give a shit. When I find out the sex of someone's baby I think the that's nice, certainly not an emotion strong enough to justify a party.

Keen baker

It's the idea that anyone gives a shit, perhaps beyond your immediate family, that baffles me. I love my friends, I am very fond of their children, I couldn't have given even a mouse sized shit about finding what sex those children were in utero. I don't particularly care when they arrive either TBH, a healthy baby is always grand news, not fussed what flavour.

I am fascinated by the overweening ego of these people though. Why do they think other people are so interested in their lives? Why no humility, or even just sense of perspective? Is it the obvious suspect, that of life as performance rather than experience, due to rising social media use?

Honestly I'm shocked we don't celebrate 4th July now to copy the Americans.

It's like the whole baby shower bollocks and then they still expect a present afterwards - grabby and crass.

Good Lord what I sheltered life I lead! Is this really a thing?
Pink and blue?
Is it 1950 again?
Come on young people, snap out of it.

Jesus, sometimes the surprise in the delivery room is that the baby is healthy and survives. See my first post on here. It's ridiculous to say that all people (except those with a medical reason) must save the magical surprise for the birth. Some births are terrifying. The whole "what happened to finding out after they're born?" sounds like conservatism. "What happened to no medical interventions and high t rates of infant mortality"?

Some people would do well to keep their beaks out of other parents' choices or at least display some empathy or stick to the actual subject of the threads.

Each to their own but a gender reveal party would not be my cup of tea personally. As usual it all comes down to attention seeking.

outwithoutcrowd tbh I wasn't 'champing at the bit' to know the sex of my unborn grandchildren. They told me and I said the right things of course but I would have been just as happy to be told at the birth.
I don't really understand the need to know the sex of an unborn baby, though it's up to the parents if they want to.
As for throwing a party about it. No just don't get it.

I remember that thread I think. Or a similar one.

Posters came on expecting the have to talk to a distraught parent who had been told her baby was seriously ill or worse.

Not a scan where they couldn't tell the gender.

Ameliablue I think people ask just to make conversation really. Can't imagine colleagues really caring.

YANBU! They are up there with baby showers, the ultimate in tackiness.

Yes at their bday gathering when they were 4. They were just as excited as everyone else to find out what their sibling was. The reveal took all of 2 minutes out of the day. I don't think there was any worry about the limelight being taken off them, for a few minutes.

I found out on the day as sonographer wrote it in an envelope. I can only talk from experience as have found out both ways, alone in scan room with just DH, and together with all our friends and family and the latter was really special.

Never even knew this was a thing. Mind you we were considered really weird when we didn't find out what either of ours were at the scan.

I'm always happy when friends and family are having a baby but not so excited that I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to know if it's a boy or a girl. Reaction either way is the same.

I preferred the days when I had DC1 and 2, the hospital charged £70 to do a sex scan. Given the NHS is overstretched I don't know why they don't go back to that. A pleasing by product was that there was a lot less pink/blue stuff in the shops too.

Does anyone remember this poem, which someone on MN had in an invitation? (Warning: contains pink and blue)

Ten tiny fingers!
Ten tiny toes!
Prince or princess?
Nobody knows!

We're having a party
for you to join in our fun,
so wear pink for a daughter
and blue for a son.

I think it's ridiculous.

There's something a bit childish about it all which I can't quite put my finger on. I don't think you're being unreasonable, OP.

It's utter bloody nonsense.

And @ "gender stereotype reveal party"

I get wanting to know the sex of your baby (and yes the word is SEX - sorry for shouting but words are important).

I get wanting to share the news with your family and close friends.

I even get wanting to have a party about it and yes, where's the harm? Although presumably you scream in delight whichever it is so (unless you're family or very close friends) it's really just faux excitement. That's when it starts to feel a bit off.

But It's when you tell me about the pink and blue that I really start backing away. I was born in the 50s and I have no desire to go back to them.

That's just awful, wanderings!

It entrenches the whole pink/blue thing. It makes a massive deal out of sex difference. Having a baby -boy or girl - is great - why the need for these stupid games?

For people who are struggling with their pregnancy emotionally - attachment, bonding, conflicting feelings... finding out the sex of the baby can really help with this. My personal experience anyway. People seem to be very horrified by the idea of finding the sex out, but maybe can't fathom that people's experiences are different to their own.

This is different to a 'gender reveal party' which I agree is a bit silly and cringe. However, if someone I loved was throwing one I'd roll my eyes and go and do my best to enjoy it, because that's what the decent thing to do is. Or just don't go. I roll my eyes at hen dos, but I still go and do my best not to be a spoilsport! Each to their own.