Been challenged: baby gender release help

[He who is Alway]

At this time we are expecting our 2nd child (October due date) and are looking for a creative way to share the gender. We are looking for something simple, but unique (not balloons or cake frosting). Our family has claimed that my creativity and background (interest in fantasy such as D&D) wouldn't be able to come up with anything fun.

So i stop by the playground to see what we "ncan come up with as a creative, unique idea to release the gender of our child.

P.S. we don't know what the gender is yet but should know soon.

[T-Mick]

Colored bonfire. Soak your logs in Cupric chloride for a nice blue, or Potassium chloride for pinkish-purple. Be very careful, don't poison yourself, and don't burn anything other than the wood.

On second thought, this is a bad idea, logistically, economically, and any other -ally you can think of.

[Jaycemonde]

Generally speaking, gender doesn't begin to show up in quantifiable ways until around three and a half years. As for telling everybody what sex the kid is, though, I think a cool idea would be to make a "mosaic" of different shades of the "traditional" color of whatever they turn out to be, then put it on the envelopes or whatever. It's artsy (but not too much) and unique.

[Themrys]

Is that a thing one has to do where you live?

Because I would just, you know, not place so much importance on something that should not matter.

Of course, it would be creative to make an announcment that your child's sex will only be revealed when the child chooses to do so. And send them all a postcard with Vaarsuvius on it.
At least that would certainly surprise everyone.

[The_Admiral]

Colored bonfire. Soak your logs in Cupric chloride for a nice blue, or Potassium chloride for pinkish-purple. Be very careful, don't poison yourself, and don't burn anything other than the wood.

On second thought, this is a bad idea, logistically, economically, and any other -ally you can think of.

Or a variation of this, use coloured smoke bombs to create coloured smoke. Blue for boy, pink/redish for girl.

Hmm, this Wikihow (http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Colored-Smoke-Bomb) looks about right. Take what I say with a pinch of salt.

[Hyena]

Or white and black. You know, like the Pope.

[Callin]

Get a few friends together and go searching for unique and dungeon/fantasy like locations. Place people there and go on an EPIC QUEST to find out what gender you are going to have. At the end of the quest gaze deep into the pool/mirror/yougetthejist with a God/ess like being (does not have to be even human, maybe elven or even sylvan in nature depending on your beliefs) and have the pool tell every one. At the end have a big party.

Edit- Videotape this btw haha since I didnt mention this. Im sure someone you know or ask can edit it all together for ya.

Further Edit- I know you said simple. But honestly a few second of you both walking in the woods in garb, few seconds of fighting a bandit, ect ect all adding up to a min or so short video. It would be well worth it. If the misses is not up to walking then find locations that you can drive to easily (I suggest this normally for any location)

[warty goblin]

I always thought the Icelanders were on to something with last names as matro- or patronymics. Bring that back; that way the announcement of the name serves as announcement of sex for anybody savvy enough to figure it out.

[valadil]

Obviously you need a series of riddles. Truncate the first letter of all the answers and line those up to get the message. Sure, someone clever could look at the last three/four letters of "It's a boy"/"It's a girl" and an even more clever person could count the number of riddles to figure out the length of the variable word, but until they figure out the letter thing and that the message starts with "It's a.." why would they bother?

[Karoht]

Is that a thing one has to do where you live?

Because I would just, you know, not place so much importance on something that should not matter.It shouldn't, but as far as small children/babies are concerned there are many things we place importance on that won't matter for long, or at all. I like your suggestion though.

Personally, I'm all for announcing your child's gender at an official party once the child has been born. An introduction to the community, like the days of old. You don't even tell the name of the child until the announcement at the party. It's much more fun, and has a bit more meaning.

I'm all for keeping it secret until the birth. Waaay more fun to watch people guess.

[Knaight]

Is that a thing one has to do where you live?

Because I would just, you know, not place so much importance on something that should not matter.

I'd agree with this - a gender release party seems excessive to me. I get that there are a lot of parties regarding baby-information at this point (though I can't say I see the point of them), but this seems like a pretty straightforward ask and answer thing.

Also, it's technically releasing the information about their sex and not their gender.

[erikun]

How about a blanket, hat, or some other easily visible item for someone to wear to show off the sex of the child.

Actually, what is the idea and the point behind this? Are you trying to inform people of what sex the child is without having them ask? Or are you trying to prepare the "Congratulations, it's a boy!" party with the "Congratulations, it's a girl!" party? Because if the first, something simply stating such for the parents to wear would probably be enough. For the second, you'd want items in two colors that you could easily roll out for whichever turns out to be correct. You might want to talk to a store about the second one, and see if they'd be interested in a sort of return policy for whichever it doesn't happen to be. (or if they have ideas as well)

Be sure to consider other possibilities, such as twins.

[Aedilred]

I'm a firm believer that children shouldn't be colour-coded by sex. I wear pink probably more than any other non-neutral colour, and would encourage any son of mine to do the same.

[TheCountAlucard]

That just means you wore the manliest color a man could wear a century ago. Pink was the "it's a boy" color code back in the time of the Roosevelts.

[T-Mick]

That just means you wore the manliest color a man could wear a century ago. Pink was the "it's a boy" color code back in the time of the Roosevelts.

Likewise, blue, being associated with the Virgin Mary, was once the standard "it's a girl" color.

I've tried reading into this shift, but, boringly enough, there is no symbolism behind it. :smallfrown:

[Aedilred]

That just means you wore the manliest color a man could wear a century ago. Pink was the "it's a boy" color code back in the time of the Roosevelts.
I know :smallwink: It is a contributory factor to my dislike of the present colour-coding system.

[valadil]

I know :smallwink: It is a contributory factor to my dislike of the present colour-coding system.

We know a few other parents who decided not to announce a sex, not because they wanted to keep a secret but because they didn't want to be gifted a tiny wardrobe in pink or blue.

[Starwulf]

Ya know, instead of criticizing the guy for celebrating what gender his child is going to be, how about we instead just offer suggestions for what he wanted? Leave your political correctness out of it, there is absolutely zero need for it here in this thread. Not only is inappropriate to advance your agenda in a thread about someone elses newborn child, but it's also putting off an air of extreme unfriendliness. It's the guys first post in 3 years and judging from some of the responses, If he's gotten anything similar in his previous posts, it's understandable why.

Personally, I actually really liked that idea of the color-coded smoke, though I have no idea how dangerous that would be with the chemicals mentioned.

Maybe find a place that has specialized fireworks that you can launch in the air that will spell out "It's a Boy" or "It's a Girl"? I think that would be appropriately awesome :)

[SiuiS]

Oops, forgot my own suggestion. :smallredface:


Send out invitations to the first party (probably the baby shower) saying "it's a boy!" To half the guests and "it's a girl!" To the rest. Have them arrive at a house divided; a (small) cake in pink on one side, a small cake in blue on the other, same with party favors, plates, and cutlery. One of you should be wearing the ITS A BOY shirt and the other, ITS A GIRL. Be passive aggressive towards each other, building in tension as the guests arrive, until finally you start to shout and then fight about the sex of the child. When the guests get really uncomfortable, break out laughing, invite them in and say you figured that would be an interesting way to break the ice, and now it's time to break the news.


Get a few friends together and go searching for unique and dungeon/fantasy like locations. Place people there and go on an EPIC QUEST to find out what gender you are going to have. At the end of the quest gaze deep into the pool/mirror/yougetthejist with a God/ess like being (does not have to be even human, maybe elven or even sylvan in nature depending on your beliefs) and have the pool tell every one. At the end have a big party.

Edit- Videotape this btw haha since I didnt mention this. Im sure someone you know or ask can edit it all together for ya.

Further Edit- I know you said simple. But honestly a few second of you both walking in the woods in garb, few seconds of fighting a bandit, ect ect all adding up to a min or so short video. It would be well worth it. If the misses is not up to walking then find locations that you can drive to easily (I suggest this normally for any location)

Oh, wow.

Okay, see, at first I thought you meant to send invitations to all the party guests that said, like, "North Hampton park. 4:00. Bring a toy hammer." And the guests would go on a quest to find out the sex of the infant like some weird scavenger hunt, with each scavenged item being a clue, and on the way you pay folks to ambush them with riddles, "spells" or foam weapons.

Which sounds fantastic but your sudden turn into actually gettig a message from a goddess got really uncomfortable out of nowhere XD


It shouldn't, but as far as small children/babies are concerned there are many things we place importance on that won't matter for long, or at all. I like your suggestion though.

Personally, I'm all for announcing your child's gender at an official party once the child has been born. An introduction to the community, like the days of old. You don't even tell the name of the child until the announcement at the party. It's much more fun, and has a bit more meaning.

I'm all for keeping it secret until the birth. Waaay more fun to watch people guess.

This is good.


That just means you wore the manliest color a man could wear a century ago. Pink was the "it's a boy" color code back in the time of the Roosevelts.

Yup! And light blue was supposed to induce a 'feminine weakness', anxiety and love of bickering in males raised around it. Which does sort of sound accurate, doesn't it~?

The idea that blue becoming the boy color made generations of boys neurotic is so funny to me for no reason.


Ya know, instead of criticizing the guy for celebrating what gender his child is going to be, how about we instead just offer suggestions for what he wanted?

It's not political correctness, it's scientific accuracy. Gender != sex. The OP asked for suggestions on how to explain their unborn child's psychological profile even though it doesn't exist yet, and won't for years. Other people have said "you mean, how do you explain which set of gonads was it formed with, not which psych profile". They just did a bad job of being clear and informative.

[Starwulf]

It's not political correctness, it's scientific accuracy. Gender != sex. The OP asked for suggestions on how to explain their unborn child's psychological profile even though it doesn't exist yet, and won't for years. Other people have said "you mean, how do you explain which set of gonads was it formed with, not which psych profile". They just did a bad job of being clear and informative.

It's still 100% unnecessary in a thread like this. The guy asks for help, not a sermon about how he is telling people something that could turn out to be wrong. There was zero reason to bring it up.

[SiuiS]

It's still 100% unnecessary in a thread like this. The guy asks for help, not a sermon about how he is telling people something that could turn out to be wrong. There was zero reason to bring it up.

If you walk into a book store, and ask which section the fantasy catalogues are in, you won't get directled to the fantasy cataloques. You will be told that you probably mean genre, not category, or else they can't help you.

What gender means, and why they should say sex instead of gender in some contexts, is directly relevant to any question which uses the word gender. The problem isn't that people said this, it was how they said it and the incomplete information given. It is an important distinction, as important as distinguishing between a crackhead and someone who needs anxiety medication – both drug users, very different intention behind the words and their colloquial expressions.

[Starwulf]

If you walk into a book store, and ask which section the fantasy catalogues are in, you won't get directled to the fantasy cataloques. You will be told that you probably mean genre, not category, or else they can't help you.

What gender means, and why they should say sex instead of gender in some contexts, is directly relevant to any question which uses the word gender. The problem isn't that people said this, it was how they said it and the incomplete information given. It is an important distinction, as important as distinguishing between a crackhead and someone who needs anxiety medication – both drug users, very different intention behind the words and their colloquial expressions.

Because I respect you, and don't want to get into a serious argument, I'm just going to drop the whole thing. But I will disagree with your analogy. He didn't come in here asking "What's the difference between what my unborn childs gender is, and what their sex is", he asked "How can I make a totally awesome release party for what the baby is going to be once we find out". That is why I said it's wholly inappropriate some of the comments directed towards him. He wanted suggestions on an awesome way to tell everyone, not what the difference between gender and sex is.

[SiuiS]

Because I respect you, and don't want to get into a serious argument, I'm just going to drop the whole thing. But I will disagree with your analogy. He didn't come in here asking "What's the difference between what my unborn childs gender is, and what their sex is", he asked "How can I make a totally awesome release party for what the baby is going to be once we find out". That is why I said it's wholly inappropriate some of the comments directed towards him. He wanted suggestions on an awesome way to tell everyone, not what the difference between gender and sex is.

Yeah. I understand what you're getting at, I'm just explaining why people are (or should have been) saying 'here's a better way to say that in the future'. I do not support the actual lack of answering the question that came along with it, because that's rude regardless of context.

And... Simple. I missed simple in the description. I cannot think of a simple way to convey baby gonads without just elaborating on the existing tradition, which is "take party favors, color for sex". It's a classic for a reason.

October birth... Maybe a Halloween theme? But no, that gets needlessly complex again. Maybe code? Go grecoroman. If it's a female, send out Aphrodite-esque clamshells with invitations. If it's a male, send out identical shield-shaped invitations. Now where should you actually mention the child's sex, but you should say "you will be responsible for bringing appropriate supplies based on baby's sex". That way the people who pick up on the hunter bonus points, just like in D&D?

[Coidzor]

I suppose you could have some kind of tableau, either on the cake or as some kind of centrepiece with little doors that open up and reveal a male or female figure?

Not sure what sort of fantasy scenes would lend themselves to communicating that sort of thing though.


Is that a thing one has to do where you live?

Because I would just, you know, not place so much importance on something that should not matter.

Of course, it would be creative to make an announcment that your child's sex will only be revealed when the child chooses to do so. And send them all a postcard with Vaarsuvius on it.
At least that would certainly surprise everyone.

Of course not, this is Pomp and Circumstance we're talking here. Making a Spectacle.

Oh 12 gods, no. Don't be those parents. I mean, it's slightly better than those parents who were trying to keep their child's gender a secret even from the child itself, but it's still ridiculously pretentious.


We know a few other parents who decided not to announce a sex, not because they wanted to keep a secret but because they didn't want to be gifted a tiny wardrobe in pink or blue.

Ahh, but that's why you tell some of them it'll be a boy, some of them it'll be a girl, and then some of 'em that it'll be both, that way the wardrobe contains multiple colors. :smallamused:

[Zrak]

I think He who is Alway's meaning could be readily discerned from the information provided in the opening post. The corrections struck me as unnecessary and pedantic. If he asked for a font to use on the envelopes, would it really be necessary to say he meant typeface? If someone correcting the OP used the word "quantifiable" to describe something that is not expressed as a quantity, would it really be necessarily to add a snide rhetorical question pointing out the error in a post otherwise decrying pedantry?

EDIT:
I would pick a language which genders nouns and release a list of clues made up of English words that would be the appropriate gender if translated to that language. For example, the clues for a girl could be words like page, image, table, beach, and leg, since each is a feminine noun in French.
Alternatively, buy everyone Dos Equis for a female and xylophones for a male.

[SiuiS]

I suppose you could have some kind of tableau, either on the cake or as some kind of centrepiece with little doors that open up and reveal a male or female figure?

Not sure what sort of fantasy scenes would lend themselves to communicating that sort of thing though.


Ooh! Ooh! Princess in a tower! Dragon cake! You can tell by whether the cake features the Knight or the Princess!



Oh 12 gods, no. Don't be those parents. I mean, it's slightly better than those parents who were trying to keep their child's gender a secret even from the child itself, but it's still ridiculously pretentious.

Yeah.



Ahh, but that's why you tell some of them it'll be a boy, some of them it'll be a girl, and then some of 'em that it'll be both, that way the wardrobe contains multiple colors. :smallamused:

I'm glad I'm not the only one who would do this...

Zrak: you're asking questions. That's an opening to continue discussion. Do you feel this needs to be continued? Because I can. There are solid points to be made that I'm not making because, until they are asked about, the points are not thread-relevant.

Even the people (ie me) saying that distinguishing gender and sex is important have said the posts about it were rude. There's not much value in any one person saying "I, too, find this unnecessary".

[valadil]

Ahh, but that's why you tell some of them it'll be a boy, some of them it'll be a girl, and then some of 'em that it'll be both, that way the wardrobe contains multiple colors. :smallamused:

I like the idea, but in the cases I'm thinking of it was done specifically to avoid pink. It actually would have been a good move on our first born because pink's his favorite.

[SiuiS]

Oh! I have another one!

Dungeon/fantasy themes murder mystery party! Only instead of "who killed the bloke" it's "which sex is the baby"! I mean, it's still not low complexity, but a lot of the legwork has been done for you! Just search internets for murder mystery parties!

[Rain Dragon]

Oh! I have another one!

Dungeon/fantasy themes murder mystery party! Only instead of "who killed the bloke" it's "which sex is the baby"! I mean, it's still not low complexity, but a lot of the legwork has been done for you! Just search internets for murder mystery parties!

That one sounds really fun.

It could also include things like hair colour, name, height, weight, etc.

[SiuiS]

That one sounds really fun.

It could also include things like hair colour, name, height, weight, etc.

It could, but I assumed this was a baby's sex
Found out by ultrasound, not at birth. Maybe that's a predominantly American thing?

[Rain Dragon]

It could, but I assumed this was a baby's sex
Found out by ultrasound, not at birth. Maybe that's a predominantly American thing?

I got the impression it was some sort of birth celebration.
Like a christening or naming ceremony or something.

PerhapsCertainly my mistake.

EDIT - I reread the OP. :smallredface: I've never heard of anyone announcing a child's sex in a special way pre-birth before.

Sorry.

[Aedilred]

Yeah, like RD I'm a bit puzzled by the premise. Discovering the sex in advance is fairly standard anywhere with an ultrasound (unless you opt not to) but in my experience the news disseminates in the normal way through conversation etc: there's no special event or announcement. But then there seem to be more baby-focussed events across the pond, baby showers and so forth. Here in my experience the tendency is just to have the sprog, maybe send out a card or email (or phone calls, Facebook updates or the like) to let people know it arrived in one piece, and maybe a christening or naming ceremony at some point a short while later if that's your thing.

[He who is Alway]

Hey everyone!!!

1) Thank you for the quick replies!!!

I totally agree that the idea of a grand event or party to release the gender of an upcoming child is total overkill. The reason this came up was based around the idea that when the wife and in-laws where talking about different ways to reveal something like this they couldn't come up with anything beyond the standard balloons and cake line of thought. As a result they didn't think that, as they put it "a bunch of nerds", could come up with anything better. This was more of a brainstorm exercise.

2) BTW we totally won and they are ashamed that they were not able to come up with half of the above thoughts. **Well done**

3) The only people that we planned on actually doing anything special for with this would be the Godparents and our parents if they wanted to be part of it. What I think was agreed on to be simple yet fun was the following:

Start with a few simple riddles. the answers to each riddle would be a clue towards gender and a location. When you get to this location there is a small box or chest with 2 keys. 1 blue, 1 pink. obviously only the correct gender will be able to open said box, where inside would be the new babies name.

**Shrug**

will see how it goes, but thank you all!!!!!

[The_Admiral]

Aww, no smokebombs. :smallfrown:

[SiuiS]

I got the impression it was some sort of birth celebration.
Like a christening or naming ceremony or something.

PerhapsCertainly my mistake.

EDIT - I reread the OP. :smallredface: I've never heard of anyone announcing a child's sex in a special way pre-birth before.

Sorry.

I just assumed that the traditional proud papa running around stuffing cigars in everyone's mouths going "it's a [sex]! ITS A [sex]!" Got rolled back to when ultrasound showed genitals instead of when baby got borned.



I have to confess to some disappointment that nothing's gonna come of this.

[Fragenstein]

"it's a [sex]! ITS A [sex]!"

I like your enthusiasm.

[Synar]

I liked the icelandic (viking) surname idea.
Short, simple, elegant, classy.
Everything it should be.

(Well maybe a bit difficult to figure out -I've got swedish family so I would have understood right away, but I'm curious about if others find it evident or if they believe they would not have figured it out in this situation. Yes, this is actually a question.:smalltongue:)

By the way: congratulation!

To the bickering crowd: the simplest way to drop an argument is to stop answering, not to ask the other to stop first. Even if you're sure you are right. And spoilering is cool too. No offense meant:smallsmile: