20 Eco-Friendly, Unique Gender Reveal Ideas for 2021
Looking for ways to stay safe & eco-friendly with your big gender reveal? Good! Hopefully, we all are after some of the gender reveal disasters that have happened recently (hello, California fires). I know you came here to read my 20 unique gender reveal ideas for 2021, but first, an important note!
What NOT to do
Please remember that when it comes to gender reveals, if you’re doing it outside (anywhere outside), be mindful of your surroundings. Keep in mind that you are outside, where animals eat & sleep and where plants are living! Don’t do things that are going to harm the environment.
So unless you plan to sit there and pick up every single piece of confetti, don’t do it.
Don’t bring in flower petals to throw around if they aren’t flowers local to that area and are already growing there, as it can harm the existing plant life.
If you’re going to do smoke bombs, make sure they are permitted in the area & clean up all of your trash.
I could go on and on about what not to do when it comes to gender reveals.
But now, let’s get into some unique gender reveal ideas that DON’T harm the environment!
**Disclaimer: I do not have my own photos of all these ideas, so you’ll have to imagine them in your head! Get creative - you can do it!**
Balloons & food dye
First up, let’s go through all the ideas related to balloons & food dye - because there are a lot of them!
1. A balloon bouquet that you won’t let fly away
This is a simple one: have a friend buy a bouquet of balloons matching the color scheme of your baby’s gender!
We don’t want balloons or a bouquet that don’t have a weight on the bottom if you’re outside. They’ll fly away into the sky!
Close your eyes and have them gift the bouquet to you, or have them set it up in your house/driveway/etc. for when you get home. Easy peasy!
2. Set up a balloon arch to walk through
Hire a balloon artist (yes that’s a thing!!) in your area to create an intricate balloon arch to set up in your home or backyard! You can walk through the arch with your love, holding hands and closing your eyes, and counting down to open them at the same time.
The balloons will obviously be the appropriate color to reveal your gender, and you’ll have a gorgeous arch to decorate your home until the balloons deflate. Win-win!
3. Balloons filled with paint thrown at you
Have a friend fill a bunch of balloons with paint of your gender color, wear white, and have ‘em launch them at you! Make sure you stand on some sort of tarp so the paint doesn’t kill your grass.
They’ll burst open to show the color (and might give you a welt), and then you’ll have those white clothes you can keep to remember that moment.
Put your shirts in a cute frame or somewhere where the paint won’t come out!
4. Pop balloons filled with paint on a white canvas
Buy a white canvas and set it up on a tarp in your backyard, then have a friend fill balloons with colored paint (like the idea above). On the count of three, you and your partner throw balloons at the canvas and see the color when they explode!
Again - you can keep that canvas forever to have a memory of the moment now :) You can also use any sort of white board or piece of wood instead of a canvas if you want!
5. Pop balloons filled with Holi powder
Get a friend to buy some colored Holi powder, fill balloons with it, and tape the balloons up onto a canvas or piece of wood/board (like those games at the fair). Then you and your partner get to throw darts at the balloons to pop them!
6. Water guns filled with food dye
If you want to make a fun game out of it, fill water guns with water colored with food dye and have a good old-fashioned water gun fight in your backyard. Make sure you wear white so the color shows up on you when you get sprayed!
7. Water balloon fight with food dye
On the same note as that last one, wear white & have a water balloon fight with balloons filled with dyed water!
8. Ice bucket water challenge with food dye
Remember that ice bucket challenge from a while back? Or how coaches get coolers of Gatorade poured on them when they win games?? Do that same thing - just with dyed water! Wear white, have two friends pour the water on you and your partner at the same time, and open your eyes to see your clothes dyed!
Food-related
Now let’s get into a few fun food-related ideas!
9. Eat cake, cake pops, or cupcakes
Hire a baker to bake a cake, cake pops, or cupcakes!
For a cake, have them fill the middle with some sort of colored jelly or frosting that you have to dig into to find.
If you’d rather cake pops, have the cores of the pops be colored, or have white cake pops and one colored pop that stands out to reveal the gender!
Same for cupcakes - you could have something in the middle of the cupcakes to reveal the gender, or have all-white cupcakes with one colored cupcake that you’ll find. This is definitely an idea for the sweet tooths out there or any pregnant mama craving lots of yummy baked goods!
10. Smash cake in each other’s faces
Another cake idea - except this time, you’re going to smash it in each other’s faces! Think of it like cutting the cake at a wedding & you decide to smash your bites in each other’s mouths. Hire a baker to make a white cake with color in the middle, and do a cake smash with each other to reveal the gender!
11. Hit a piñata with colored candy
This is a super fun one: buy a piñata and fill it with colored candy! Get candy-like pink Starburst, blue Jolly Ranchers, lollipops, etc.
That way, you and your partner have to smash that thing open to reveal the gender. And make sure you pick up every piece of candy if you do this outside!
All the rest
And now for the remaining 8 ideas that aren’t balloon, food dye, or food-related!
12. Throw confetti INSIDE your house
This is a popular one - throw confetti or have a confetti cannon to reveal the gender. Except do it INSIDE your house, please!!
Confetti can be so much fun, but it’s extremely hard to pick up every single piece of confetti that falls on the ground. Especially in grass or rocks that aren’t flat surfaces. Leaving pieces of confetti outside can be harmful to the wildlife that lives there, so please do confetti inside if you’re going to do it at all.
And this makes it wayyy easier to clean up, anyway - all you gotta do is get out the vacuum!
13. Turn on lightsabers
If you’re Star Wars fans, have a friend buy you lightsabers of the gender reveal color - then have a fun little lightsaber war & turn them on!
14. Have a sack race
Have two friends be the only ones who know the gender, and dress them up in blue & pink sacks. They’ll do a sack race in your home or backyard, and whoever wins is the color of the gender!
15. Make a scratch-off game
Go on Etsy and buy a scratch-off game or product that you’ll scratch off to reveal the gender!
16. Go on a scavenger hunt
Have a friend set up a scavenger hunt for you with clues around town, your house, etc. that lead you to the gender of your baby!
17. Have your pet run out with balloons on them
If you want to involve your pet, have a friend tie colored balloons onto them & have them run outside to reveal the color to you!
18. Have your pet walk on a canvas with painted paws
Another pet one - set up a white canvas or board outside, have a friend paint your pet’s paws with safe paint, and have them walk onto the canvas. They’ll make the cutest little paw-print art that you can keep forever & that will reveal the gender!
19. Set up a waterslide/slip n’ slide with dyed water
If it’s hot out and you want to have a good time outside, have a friend set up a waterslide (if you have a pool) or a slip n’ slide with dyed water. Wear white clothes, and close your eyes before going down it - then once you get to the end, your clothes will be dyed to reveal the gender!
20. Have a silly string fight
Let’s end it off with another super fun one - have a good ol’ silly string fight with silly string the color of the gender! Do this indoors & clean it up, or do it outdoors on a tarp to make sure silly string isn’t left on the plants or grass (or anywhere for an animal to potentially eat).
Whew, I hope that list gave you at least some ideas of what you could do for your gender reveal!! I’m a huge advocate for having FUN gender reveals that you’ll remember forever, while still keeping it eco-friendly & not harming the environment just for a good photo op. Let me know which reveal you decide to go with - and reach out here if you need an awesome gender reveal photographer in Colorado!! ;)
