5 Elements for a Memorable Gender Reveal Party
When it came time to plan our gender reveal, we wanted it to be special and memorable, but I wasn’t finding anything online that matched what I was looking for.
There were a few key elements we needed to keep in mind, for our memorable gender reveal party, since this is New York City. We weren’t looking to create a mess with powders, confetti, exploding balloons, or anything on wheels.
Instead, we kept it unique, elegant, simple, and memorable by using lights and a majestic location. It was wonderful to hear how much people enjoyed our party, even from our friends without kids. We focused on a safari theme concept and little by little, everything came together perfectly.
Here are 5 elements to help you plan your memorable gender reveal party:
1) The Location: Make it multifunctional ↓
We opted for a suite with an emphasis on its living/entertaining room area where you can host friends and family, rather than booking an event space or restaurant. We wanted an epic Central Park view so we chose Parker New York Hotel – formerly known as Le Parker Meridien.
This way we weren’t restricted with time, and had a beautiful location with Central Park views in an iconic New York building.
Booking a diplomatic suite presented so many advantages and I’m really shocked that this piece of advice wasn’t all over my Pinterest party idea searches. Some perks included less time restrictions since you’re booking it for at least a day. And because it was a large suite, there was plenty of room for some out-of-town family to spend the night.
The iconic Parker is a NYC staple, located on Billionaires’ Row on 57th street with an entrance on 56th street as well. Back when it opened in the 1980s, it was the tallest building in midtown Manhattan.
Our gender reveal was very intimate, knowing that we would extend the list when it came time for the baby shower. So our total invites were just about 30 people.
We reached out to the hotel directly, because too often (sadly) there’s not enough information online about what the actual rooms look like. Also, a big travel tip is to deal and book through the hotels directly because it makes it more likely you’ll qualify for extra perks or upgrades. When the hotel has to work through a third party, and pay that fee, the flexibility of what they can offer their guests is more limited.
2) The Reveal: Utilize the new with the old ↓
We found it interesting that none of the gender reveals we were seeing used lights, especially being the rave it has been in events. Like I mentioned above, keeping things clean and elegant was a factor for us and when it came time to find the perfect setting, we wanted something New York classic.
The Parker New York has these grand Tuscan style columns that are just stunning! They make the perfect backdrop in photos and recently the hotel installed lights that can be programmed different colors… including pink and blue!
After an hour of entertaining in our suite, giving everyone enough time to get in and settled, we took our guests downstairs to reveal the gender and make a toast. We thought it would be more enjoyable to reveal the great news on the earlier side of the party – giving us all enough time to be happy together during the party and talk about the gender. Why keep them in suspense, they’ve already been waiting so long to find out!
As a twist on many other gender reveals, we already knew. We just wanted to see the reactions of our friends and families while we were well aware of what our future would hold.
3) The Decorations: Focus on one thing ↓
Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many decorations, because with a beautiful location not much more is required. The more you pile on your plate, the more time and stress follows along.
My advice is to stick to a corner or backdrop that you’ll enjoy looking at in your photos for years to come. For me, that was a delicious and picturesque dessert table. Our theme was safari with colors of white, gold, marble black, and jungle green.
This isn’t a wedding so I focused on balloons rather than bouquets of expensive flowers. I ordered them off Amazon in different colors and sizes along with a blow up tank. A few detail decorations and it all cost me less than $60 and I still have plenty of balloons left over from it that I’ll use at my baby shower.
4) The Food: Spread the platters like you spread the love ↓
It really wasn’t necessary to splurge on a 3 course meal with seated assignments that confines you to mostly just socialize with the 4 people closest to you. We love introducing good people to one another – especially our friends and family.
Having an open floor setting with platers of finger foods spread out throughout the space, forces people into a moving flow. We also set up a self-service bar.
5) The People: Empowering your friends ↓
When you surround yourself with the people you love, hopefully they will show some of the love back by helping make things run smoothly. I’m so blessed to have some amazing friends that go above and beyond for me when I need them.
It’s important to communicate with your friends who are helping so that they’re clear with what you need them to do, and make sure not to give anyone more than they’re comfortable with. I found it helpful to use a spreadsheet and share it with a few close friends who helped elevate the good into great.
I hope these tips help you as you plan your for a memorable gender reveal party. While there are a lot of details to take care of, it’s important to remember that the most important thing is being together to celebrate and to trust your instinct when making your choices.
