Gender reveal parties are a piece of cake

For some expectant parents, the news of their baby’s gender is too delicious to keep to themselves.

Unwilling to wait and uninspired by the idea of finding out the old-fashioned way — in the sonogram room — they’re throwing sometimes-elaborate “gender reveal” parties that are a piece of cake. Literally.

Cut into a specially made cake, and the pink or blue middle says it all. Or bash open a piñata, and find your answer by the color of the candy contents. Or, like TV couple Bill and Giuliana Rancic did in June, open a giant box of heliumfilled balloons, and watch your clue float skyward in pink or blue brilliance.

The theme, and the creativity

around it, varies widely, especially as these celebrations continue to swell in popularity and new adherents add their own personal twists. But the basic premise is the same: The ultrasound tech provides the news in a sealed envelope, and the expectant parents take it to their bakery or give it to a party hosting friend to work out the colorful details.

At Celebrity Cakes in Margate, co-owner Janet Tucker was both the baker and the party-hosting friend, throwing aNov.17 gender-reveal bash with pink-filled cupcakes for her part-time employee, Analia Galvez.

After finding out the sex of her two older children in the sonogram room, “I just wanted to do something different this time,” said Galvez, who learned — along with 25 friends and family members — that she and her husband, Jaime, are having a girl on or around Feb. 23. “It was memorable. It’s a family thing.”

Beth Beattie, of Jupiter, loves the concept so much that she’s thrown three gender reveal parties over the past couple of years, for her sister and two friends.

“Our friends love to find any reason to get together and have a good time,” Beattie said, “and this is another great way to celebrate with them throughout their pregnancy.”

Fort Lauderdale OB-GYN Dr. Lanalee Sam said the idea of throwing a party to spread the news about a baby’s gender makes sense in an era of instant gratification.

“We’re in a society where we have no patience. No one wants to wait for anything,” said Sam, who estimates that nine out of 10 patients in her office want to know the baby’s sex as early as possible. “I think in general, everyone likes to plan. We’re a consumer society, so you want to know whether to buy pink or blue things for the baby.”

The concept has been around since at least 2008, when The New York Times noted the first YouTube video of a gender reveal party appeared. The video website offers one barometer for howthe theme has spiked in popularity since then: Only a handful of self-made “gender reveal party” videos popped up in 2009 and 2010, but more than 2,700 were uploaded in all of 2012.

And the craze is becoming a hit not just with expectant parents but with retailers anxious to meet their every need. Bakeries throughout Florida are advertising their “gender reveal” cake decorating finesse; blogs and magazines are offering party tips; and party supply websites are peddling “gender reveal” invitations, balloons, place settings and other products. But not everyone is thrilled with the idea. “wow. these parties sound super-annoying,” one reader commented on a 2010 Lil Sugar.comblog on gender reveal parties.

“It seems pretty stupid to me, but I’m not for themed parties with theatrics,” said another reader, this one of an April 2012 Etsy.comblog.

And then there are those who fear celebrating too early. At IVF Florida Reproductive Associates, which has offices throughout South Florida, the majority of patients have been struggling with infertility and don’t want to jinx themselves once they finally get pregnant, said Dr. Marcelo Barrionuevo.

“They’re a little more hesitant to celebrate,” Barrionuevo said, adding that a baby’s gender is detectable only after the most risky first-trimester part of the pregnancy. “Once you get to that step, you shouldn’t be holding anything back, but some do.”

For many of those who do want to find out, and share it with their loved ones, simply slicing up a piece of cake isn’t quite special enough.

At a celebration with a “What Will It Bee?” theme, expectant mom Ashleigh Rury pulled the string on a beehive piñata and learned, along with her guests, that shewas having a boy by the blue-colored candy that spilled out. Those who guessed right got Burt’s Bees lip balm.

In another variation on the theme, Brittany and Matt Sapyta wanted to document their own special moment before sharing it with loved ones. So they invited photographer Stephanie Sonju to Sloan’s Ice Cream in West Palm Beach, armed with two cupcakes baked by a friend who had been given the sonogram tech’s secret note.

As Sonju snapped away, the Sapytas bit into their treats, and could barely swallow the news.

“The pictures — I have that moment when I found out I was having a girl,” Brittany Sapyta said. “You could see in the one picture, I didn’t even chew. Iwas just staring at the pink. I didn’t even bother swallowing.”

Before posting the photos on Pinterest, the Sapytas shared the sweet news at a party by handing out brown paper bags tied up with string (an ode to “Sound of Music”). Inside the bags: Hershey chocolate bars, the “she” highlighted in pink.

“I’m so excited to have those pictures for her,” Brittany Sapyta said of baby Kennedy Grace, born Nov. 30. “Itwas amazing.”

BETH BEATTIE/COURTESY Parties include owl, bee and other themes, as people add their own personal twists.

STEPHANIE SONJU/COURTESY Matt and Brittany Sapyta wanted to document their own special moment before sharing it with loved ones, by biting into cupcakes as a photographer captured the moment.