How to plan a gender reveal party, step by step

1. Decide who gets to know.

Someone has to open the envelope and set up the reveal. That person is your keeper. Hand the job to a baker or a party shop, and nobody in your circle knows, you included. Or pick one friend or relative. Choose someone who can keep a secret and a straight face. That’s not always the same person.

If you’d rather know first and surprise your guests, you’re the keepers. Skip the envelope. If you think you might have mixed feelings, knowing first also lets you take in the news privately (gender disappointment, and what helps).

2. Get the answer sealed.

Book a gender scan at our studio in Glendale. It’s an elective keepsake ultrasound, not a medical exam, and it costs $100. We do them from 13 weeks, and we’re surest from 15 (why the week matters).

Tell the sonographer it’s a secret before you lie down. The big screens stay off, and the answer goes into a thick, opaque, double-sealed envelope. The envelope is $15 and subject to availability, so ask for it when you book. If we’re not certain, we say so, and you come back for a free re-check. Here’s how finding out works.

If you’re not near Glendale, try the same thing wherever you’re scanned: say it’s a secret before you start, and ask for the answer in writing, sealed.

3. Hand the envelope to your keeper.

Go straight from the studio to your keeper: the baker, the best friend, whoever is running the confetti. Hand it over in person. No photos, no texts.

4. Pick the reveal.

You want one moment everyone can see at once. These all work:

• Cake or cupcakes with colored filling. One cut, or one bite, and everyone knows.
• A balloon box. Open the lid and the color floats out. Indoors, or keep them on strings.
• Confetti poppers. One for each guest, and a countdown.
• A piñata. A good job for older kids.
• Scratch-off cards. Easy to mail to family who can’t be there.

Tell your keeper which one. They get it in the right color and keep it hidden until the party.

Skip anything that burns, smokes or explodes. California has had a wildfire started by a reveal device. Paper and frosting do the job.

5. Set the date, guest list and invitations.

Leave room between the scan and the party. Your baker needs notice, and a re-check, if you need one, means a second visit. Keep the guest list to people you’d want in the video. On the invitation, put the date, the time, the place and one request: come dressed in pink or blue, to match your guess.

6. Plan the food and a guessing game.

Serve food people can eat with one hand. The other will be holding a phone. Then turn the guessing into a game: team pink against team blue. Keep a tally on a board as guests arrive, and settle it at the reveal.

7. Decide who films it.

Give one person the job and nothing else to hold. Ask them to film your faces, not the cake. Charge the phone, clear some storage, and count down out loud from five.

8. Have a plan B.

Poppers go off early. Wind takes confetti sideways. Rain moves everyone indoors. Keep a spare popper or a scratch-off card with your keeper, and choose an indoor spot ahead of time. If the secret slips before the countdown, you still have the party, the cake and the answer.