Gender reveal shows

[MontanaMike]

How does one put together a gender reveal show? How long do they tend to be? Do you put the reveal at the very end, the beginning or the middle? (I have a lady asking about one for her daughter but I've never even seen one.)

[BMoore]

Usually short. I did this for a neighbor. Started with some white fountains and some white strobe cakes to get everyone’s attention and then went into the gender reveal cakes supplemented with some blue shells. After a pause for people to acknowledge the reveal I hit a quick finale. Then a quick finale. Whole thing was probably 3 minutes. In my mind you are kind of limited to what you can do. The reveal should kind of be the climax of the show but it’s hard to build it up unless you can keep reds, pinks, blues, purples and oranges out of it. Otherwise as soon as someone sees something they interpret as blue or pink you have a problem.

[Birdman]

Here's a daytime gender reveal I did this summer for reference:

https://youtu.be/bfmB-qa_OxE?si=C4HpaGkkqe-8qDwy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfmB-qa_OxE

BMoore hit on all of the key points to consider.

[MontanaMike]

Well it turned out to be a non-starter. The person who asked me about the gender-reveal show had seen a tik-tok video featuring a reveal that had the mom and dad pushing a "plunger" like a cartoon TNT detonator (something like Wile E. Coyote might use in a Road Runner cartoon) and the reveal consisted of enormous pink clouds of what looked like chalk dust - it must have been fired by compressed air or something. She wanted that exact type of thing. It was nothing I know anything about or have access to, plus they wanted to do it in a town which is 200 miles from here, so I said thanks but I'm out.

[Birdman]

Frankly, probably for the best. I find them to be stressful shows. The audience is hanging on every cue and effect up until the actual gender reveal. Worse yet is if you are doing them for family or friends because you need to keep the gender a secret. Even setting up can be a pain because you have to make sure you remove or cover up anything that might indicate the gender. The two shows I did I even needed to keep the gender a secret from my wife. That said, if the show goes as planned it's very gratifying. I don't think you could get a more attentive and appreciative audience. That's what makes it worth the extra effort.

[RalphieJ]

Just don't hire any stunt planes.