Ready to involve your local and long-distance friends and family in your baby’s virtual gender reveal? The world has changed and all of us - and even the grannies - have done our fair share of virtual parties. So why not throw a virtual gender reveal for your baby on the way? This virtual gender reveal guide has it all. We’ve got you covered so you can start your pregnancy celebrations. Let’s get to it!
The most important part of a gender reveal — no matter how you plan the reveal — is to find out the sex of the baby. Are you having a girl or a boy? Get that ultrasound or blood test scheduled then let the planning begin!
Part of this step is planning the virtual location. Facebook? Zoom? Google Hangouts? Group Facetime? There are options, but keep in mind not everyone is tech savvy. If possible, arrange to have a younger family member hang out with the greats so they have no problem being part of the reveal. You wouldn’t want them to feel left out simply because they don’t have a smartphone to tune into Zoom.
Our favorite options are Facebook and Zoom.
Facebook has the simple option to go LIVE. When you do this, all of your “friends” will get the notification to join to watch your video. Want something more exclusive? Create a group on Facebook for your event, invite the people you want to join and only those members will be able to see when you go LIVE in there!
Tip: Add the group link to your invitation and let your people know what to expect.
Since we have social distancing down, most people know of and have a zoom account. Simply log into zoom, schedule the time and date as a “meeting” for your party and share the link with your invitees! Remember if you’re using a free account there is a time limit. Ask around, maybe someone in your village has an account through work or school.
Make your list and check it thrice! Run your guests by your mom, your partner’s mom and any other maternal influencers in your life. You would hate to forget anyone. We often are asked how many people you should invite - this is totally up to you. Just make sure you adjust your virtual activities to the number of attendees. We’ve seen Zoom breakout rooms work real well for games!
We love it when hosts send out a reminder email will all the instructions 30 minutes before the event starts. It also helps to be ‘on’ during this time so people can get all set up and then come back when the party starts.
Once you have the date set and have chosen the medium you’re using to host the reveal, it’s time to order or make the stuff. Think supplies, decorations, games, thank you cards, and party favors.
Another trend we love is to send a gift to your attendees. This is easier for small groups, but the idea is you send a box ahead of the shower with goodies, instructions and activities they will need during your shower. This helps the group feel all together - even virtually.
Do you have little ones in your network? Don’t forget to include something for the cousins — kids love reveal parties.
For virtual gender reveals, you want to keep your program under an hour. Build in lots of buffer time, especially if your crew isn’t technically advanced. Pick someone to be the MC of the event and prepare for them a schedule. A sample schedule looks like this:
10:45 - Your MC, and you open the room and get settled
11:00 - Guest start arriving
11:10 - The MC introduces the plan and herself
11:15 - A game
11:30 - A toast
11:35 - Let everyone show off their guess
11:40 - The big reveal
11:50 - Mingle time
Provide instructions for how your guests can ‘decorate’ their background to be pink or blue. Use that to create your poll.
Mail out bracelets that say Team Boy or Team Girl for each person in the family receiving the care package. Not only will the kids have a cute little gift, whoever guesses right will have bragging rights and maybe a little gift in the box to celebrate being right.
This is another great option, especially if you want to raise some extra cash in addition to playing a game with your village! Your friends and family virtually guess before and during your virtual gender reveal party. You can show off the graph and watch votes come in live. After you do your true reveal, you can even end the game and announce the winner. Ville helps you randomly pick the winner, so it’s drama free!
Start your Villie Gender Reveal Game. It’s quick and easy!
Use polls for guests to guess questions like ‘Who is more likely to be nervous at the delivery, mom or dad’.
Give everyone a minute to hop off the mic and say something to you or the baby (this works best if there is a time limit and people can plan ahead!)
You would hate to have your computer go down or your iPad battery refusing to charge the day of the big reveal. You know how computer equipment can be…if it’s going to act up, it will be the day it has to work! Some tips to help here:
Do you want to be featured and/or have tips to share with other Villie families? Tag us on Instagram or Tiktok.