Many retirees look forward to being grandparents and even great-grandparents. Those already with grandkids are excited about having more free time to spend with them, while those waiting on their children to become parents of their own are eager to spoil them rotten right out of the gate.
If your daughter, daughter-in-law, or grandaughter is currently expecting, chances are you’re counting down the months, weeks, and days along with her. If so, you might want to consider helping plan a shower or gender reveal party as a way to focus your excitement and anticipation. Just because you may live at a retirement community is no reason not to host. Make use of your beautiful community & the common areas & party rooms available to you.
But how do you put together a special gender reveal for your pregnant daughter? Simply follow the suggested steps below:
Ask Your Son or Daughter
Before you start getting ahead of yourself with gender reveal ideas, ask your son or daughter if it’s alright for you to host such an event. Some couples do not want to know the gender of their child until the baby is born. They may also have planned something on their own and you don’t want those events to clash. You can always consider a small shower instead.
If they agree, talk with them about their personal wants, needs, and ideas. Find out if they have any special people they’d like to invite, destinations they’d prefer, and type of cuisine. These days it is less about the surprise and more about hosting a party your expectant child will enjoy.
Find Out the Gender
The next thing you want to do is find out the gender of the baby. Your pregnant daughter may already be aware of the baby’s gender. If not, they can certainly provide permission for the doctor’s office to provide you with the information so you can plan and keep the gender a surprise. If they aren’t aware of the gender, just do your best to hold that secret in.
Choose a Place to Host
Where are you going to host the gender reveal party? If you have a nice size home or yard, you may prefer to do it at your place to save money. If you live in a senior home that has a community or recreational room, talk with the staff about reserving the room for the party well in advance as you never know what other events could be going on. What about your local senior center? You might also consider options like restaurants or reception halls for larger crowds or more lavish events.
Decide on Decor/Theme
Now that you’ve nailed down a place to host the gender reveal party, consider the theme or decor of the event. Are you going to keep it basic with pink and blue decor or do you want to try something different like a prince and princess, bowties and hair ribbons, or an athlete and cheerleader theme? There are a ton of gender reveal ideas you can draw inspiration from online and through social media platforms.
Menu
Next up is the menu. Decide whether you’ll be making the food yourself or having it catered. If you’re going to cook yourself, you may want to stick to things that can be cooked in large quantities easily like spaghetti and meat sauce with a side of salad. If it’s being catered, then start looking for catering companies in the area to get an idea of how much it will cost. While deciding on what will be served, don’t forget to consider any dietary, religious, or medical requests when it comes to the guest list. You don’t want anyone getting sick or unable to eat at the event. It’s always good to have at the very least, a vegetarian dish or plenty of fruits and veggies in case someone doesn’t eat meat.
Reveal and Other Activities
Last, on the list of things to do for the gender reveal party is to decide how you’ll make the reveal and what other activities will take place to keep the guests entertained. You could hand out a Chinese gender predictor to each guest and provide them with a few facts to see if they can determine whether there will be a boy or a girl. Then, for the grand reveal you might have a cake with pink or blue interior. You could host a raffle where guests are allowed to guess whether it’s a boy or a girl and the winning guesses receive a gift.
Hosting a gender reveal party can be a fun and memorable way for retirees to share in the joys of pregnancy and the arrival of a grandchild. If you follow the suggested steps provided above, you should have no problem putting together a special event no one will soon forget.