Gender Reveal Parties: Here's Why You Need to Stop Having Them

By Dana Cruz First Posted: Sep 09, 2020 02:48 AM EDT

Gender reveal parties have been around for about 12 years already, but sometimes these supposed happy events end up in disaster.

Image by Marc Leos from Pixabay

Blogger and mom Jenna Karvunidis started the trend in 2008, reported the Insider. She decided to hold a gender reveal party announcing the birth of her daughter with a cake with pink icing inside.

From simple ones that just involved cakes, gender reveal parties started evolving into more extravagant ones. The concept of it has had a mixed reception among many people. People found it harmful for trans youth who may want to come out.

Gender reveals don't really point to a baby's gender, but rather their biological sex. These two things are different, and people pointed out that it can only reinforce stereotypes.

Recently, the trend has fallen out of favor. Not only has it been psychologically harmful but also physically, as accidents coming from these parties started harming and taking lives.

Here are some accidents from gender reveal parties that some people may not know about:

Firework Display Gone Wrong (2017)

In 2017, the CNN reported on a gender reveal party that sparked a 47,000 acre wildfire. The fire cause over $8 million in damage.

A video of the incident shows a makeshift target with the words "Boy" and "Girl" written on it. A gunshot was heard, and the target explodes, revealing a blue cloud.

The surrounding brush in the Arizona field ignited immediately, and someone shouted, "Start packing up!"

The flames from this gender reveal party spread to the Coronado National Forest and later became the Sawmill Fire. The blaze had to be fought by at least 20 agencies for about a week.

Border Patrol agent Dennis Dickey, who shot the gun, will be on probation for five years and has to pay $100,000 plus $500 a month for the next 20 years.

Grandmother Dies in Party (2019)

In a 2019 gender reveal, a 56-year-old Iowa woman died with stunt gone wrong, another Insider report said. Officials said the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

A confetti canister that was going to be used in the party malfunctioned and turned into a pipebomb. An investigation on the incident found that the woman was struck by debris from the canister's explosion.

No further details were given to the public.

Pyrotechnic Sparks El Dorado Fire (2020)

In another incident reported by Latin Post, what was supposed to be a gender reveal party also turned into a disaster.

Amid the scorching California heat is the growing number of wildfires across the state, most of which are hard to contain. One fire started the El Dorado Fire in San Bernardino County.

Cal Fire said the incident was sparked through a "smoke-generating pyrotechnic device." The fire grew to an 8,600-acre blaze on Monday and was only seven percent contained, said the Forest Service.

Cal Fire investigator Capt. Bennet Milloy told ABC7 that the family tried to stop the fire. They used water bottles which in four-foot-high grass aren't going to capture the flames, Milloy said.

Jenna Karvunidis, who was responsible for making the trend, took to Facebook to express how regretful she was for starting it, the New York Post reported. For her, upping the ante on the trend just went out of hand.

She asked people to stop burning things down to tell people about their baby's sex. "No one cares but you," she wrote.

In a sarcastic note, she said: "Excuse me for having a cake for my family in 2008. Just because I'm the gEnDeR rEvEaL iNVeNtoR doesn't mean I think people should burn down their communities."