Week 17: Countdown to doughnuts

The gender reveal party craze has totally taken off since I had my first. I blame Pinterest. And other social media. But mainly Pinterest. Every pregnancy, I’ve gone to my 20-week-ish ultrasound, found out the gender, and then let family and close friends know in the most boring way possible—over the phone. But lately I’ve had cute friends around the country doing the gender reveal thing in creative ways: boxes of helium balloons, mini confetti cannons, colored cakes they slice and serve wedding-style. It looks like fun! I do have a few questions …

1. Is it cool to do a big gender reveal for a fourth baby, or is it more of a first baby thing?

2. Does the gender reveal party take the place of a baby shower, or are they one and the same, or are folks inviting the same friends and family to both parties? (Hey, nothing wrong with a bonus party. Why not?)

3. Are the parents supposed to be in on it beforehand or not?

Question No. 3 is the one that keeps me up at night. (Kidding. I’m up at night already, rolling from side to side and using the bathroom.) It would be really fun to make the reveal a surprise to everyone, including myself. So that would mean not looking at the ultrasound, asking the technician/nurse to put the evidence in an envelope, and giving the envelope to a friend to orchestrate the surprise? I’m leaning toward a slightly less fun version: I participate in the ultrasound, meaning that I will know the sex of my baby first. Then I make it a surprise for everyone else. I haven’t decided if my husband Shawn should be in the know with me. I guess I could ask him what he prefers!
Why the doughnuts? Back when I first found out I was pregnant, we made a trip to Krispy Kreme. My 9-year-old daughter saw a poster for gender reveal donuts, and she’s been talking about them ever since. Honestly, she might be more excited about the doughnuts than about the baby. She has inherited my love for baked goods. A mouthful of frosting may also soften the blow of finding out she’s getting yet another little brother rather than the sister she’s been hoping for (just my hunch).
Since all of the great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles live out of state, our “party” will probably be the five Butlers at home. Hopefully we can turn it into a Skype or FaceTime situation to include interested parties or at least have a video camera running.