Nine months is a long time to wait, there is so much that needs to be done. The to-go bag needs to be packed, the room decorations need to be bought, classes need to be taken, the family has to be ready, and appointments need to be set. Another thing piled on is the gender. Are we to buy pink bows or blue bow ties? Dresses or suits? Skirts or slacks? A fad going around is a gender reveal party, a chance to learn and share the gender of your little bundle with family and friends. Learning gender early isn’t a new idea but the hype for these parties has grown recently with help from the internet. As a sophomore in high school, I haven’t found the need to plan a gender reveal party. Though I don’t have the need to plan one anytime soon, I find the idea a fantastic suggestion for mothers’ to be.

No matter what activity is planned, everyone is excited to find out if the confetti, cake, or even smoke, is blue or pink. Unfortunately in all the excitement some people cut corners. Throughout the years several wildfires, including the most recent California wildfire, have started because of gender reveal smoke bombs. Though gender reveal parties can be fun, safety needs to remain the number one priority. We must remember that even though this is a very exciting time, we must not cut corners or make risky decisions. There are so many ways to have a safe party: buy a cake, fill a balloon with confetti, a confetti popper, fill some object with colorful powder and break them.  

As an adolescent growing up in the time of the internet, I have access to hundreds of videos and pictures of gender reveal parties with a simple click of a few keys. Small or big, boys and girls with the happy couple jumping from excitement. Lindsay Ray is a resident of Noblesville and a first time mother. At first she thought the idea of a party for something as simple as gender was silly, but when the opportunity came to share the news with her family she could not wait. Ray and her husband decided to use the simple plan of pulling a string on a box and let pink balloons fall, while family members used confetti cannons.  

I’ve only attended one in-person gender reveal party in my life but due to COVID-19, I’ve attended countless parties online. Though these people were strangers that simply posted one video, I found the celebration as incredible as an in-person party would have been. With many many many years to plan my own party, watching others celebrate brings joy to my face. Many of the videos I had the joy in watching were all safe. They followed appropriate measures to make sure the people, animals, and environment remained safe. Then there were a few that were not safe, displaying many aspects of hazards. 

Over these past few years we have made a big thing of these parties, that usually only last a couple hours. The custom of waiting until the baby is born still has its use, but the love for these parties isn’t going away any time soon. As life goes on we can only sit and hope that people are smart enough in their decisions and simply be happy as the confetti falls down among us.