When local Baby Be Hip customer Elisabeth Iacovelli and her husband Vince found out they were expecting their first child, they both knew they couldn’t last the long nine months without knowing if they were having a little boy or a girl. Elisabeth, a licensed clinical social worker who works with families and children in Early Intervention, explained that when they told their decision of finding out the sex of their baby to family and friends, many were questioning why they chose to forego the element of surprise.

As Elisabeth was trying to figure out a way to keep some of the surprise factor, but still knowing she wanted to find out the sex of her baby, friends shared with her their own experience of having a cake made to reveal the gender of the baby – and as Elisabeth researched, she realized Gender Reveal parties were the newest trend to find out the sex of the baby, and still be surprised! So, she began to plan.

The basis of a Gender Reveal party is to slice into a cake, and if the inside color of the cake is pink, it means you’re having a girl, while if it’s blue it means you’re going to have a boy. After the 20-week ultrasound (when you typically learn the sex of the baby), Elisabeth had the technician write down the sex of the baby and put it in a sealed envelope, in which she took directly to Distlefink Bakery in Lansdale and explained to them the premise of the party.

The couple decided on picnic party in the first week of June, sending e-vites to family and friends with just a few details about coming to share the gender reveal of Baby Iacovelli. Since there aren’t many party store decorations for a Gender Reveal party, Elisabeth made most of them herself – a Baby Iacovelli banner with question marks and stars and framed pictures of the ultrasound, while she had guests write down their prediction and taped it onto the “boy” or “girl” board and received blue or pink beads to wear depending on their guess. She made up small cardboard baby bottles with candy and certificates as prizes for those who guessed correctly!

When it came time for dessert, Elisabeth and Vince decided to use the same knife they used to cut their wedding cake to cut into their gender reveal cake – a beautifully decorated white fondant cake with a yellow frosting question mark and baby bottles on the outside – with no crumb of cake to be seen. Once they cut the piece of cake out, the inside was pink! Elisabeth admits she was shocked – she even had to verify with the envelope from the ultrasound tech because she was convinced she was having a boy! For Elisabeth and her husband, the day was full of fun and excitement – and her favorite memory from the party came from her mom, who knowing Elisabeth’s love of shoes, bought one pair of blue baby shoes and one pink, and gave the pink pair as a special present after the cake cutting revealed she was having a girl.

Since Elisabeth’s party was such a success, she was eager for the opportunity to share some of her gender reveal party advice with Baby Be Hip:

– It’s a good idea to have someone else pick up the cake – just in case there is something written on the box or anything that could give away the surprise before hand!

– Try to keep the party simple and relaxed! You could even just do drinks and the cake. Again, because of the time of year, and my husband’s love of cooking, we decided to have a full picnic.

– In the end, everyone will have a great time no matter what! And it’s so awesome to find out such special news all together. After this, none of our friends gave us anymore “flack” about finding out the baby’s gender!

Have you hosted or attended a Gender Reveal party? We want to hear the all details of your special day!