We see it almost anytime someone we know is expecting… the extravagant reveal of the baby-to-be’s gender showcased by the pop of a balloon or the bite into a cupcake. The reveal is signaled by the color pink or blue—a girl or a boy.
You can hear the cheers that erupt from surrounding family and friends and the laughter spilling over as cupcake frosting is all over the parents' faces. It’s a simple moment of joy.
Somehow, though, we’ve learned to roll our eyes at gender reveals. They’ve become dismissed as “over-the-top,” performative acts of frivol.
But maybe, behind the spectacle of a reveal, is the celebration it touches on: specific truths—that of joy for new life and recognition of objective truth.
The Joy of Shared Celebration
At their best, gender reveals are an exercise in goodness. They invite joy and create space for gratitude. For what, you may ask? For life.
In an increasingly atomized society, such an exercise offers us a chance to pause, celebrate, and participate in life’s fullness. An expecting couple will invite surrounding family and friends to witness the gender reveal. But why?
When a community gathers to mark a new life, that act—simple, human, and shared—reflects the goodness of our one true God. It’s not all about the extravagance, instead it’s about the acknowledgement of a new life unfolding right before us.
A Chance to Affirm Reality
When the expecting parents take a bite out of those scrumptious, delicatessen cupcakes, they will be met with a cake color of either pink or blue. And what does this signal? It’s quite simple: the gender of the child. (There’s no such thing as purple or green or even clear in a gender reveal.)
The gender reveal practice recognizes this simple reality: a new life is entering, the baby’s presence is tangible and undeniable, and there is a distinct understanding of the two possibilities for the baby’s gender.
You don’t hear of the couple revealing the baby’s gender as any other color other than pink or blue. You can’t affirm the baby as genderfluid or nonbinary in this context. The tradition, in its simplicity, acknowledges the objective reality of two sexes. It affirms what is—the natural unfolding of a biologically sound human life, made in the image of God.
Some may dislike the practice, calling it “too much” or “overly extravagant," and others despise the practice because it fails to be inclusive.
In a society where even the most basic truths about human nature are often redefined and questioned, a gender reveal (as simple as it is) has become almost countercultural.
A gender reveal quietly asserts that reality exists in greater terms than personal preferences—that early life already possesses meaning, form, and identity. For some, this affirmation of truth feels uncomfortable because it resists the fluidity and personal identification choice that some embrace.
Yet that is precisely why it matters.
Let’s Reclaim the Tradition
We shouldn’t be so quick to judge those who participate in gender reveals. While some may be extremely over-the-top and extravagant, they’re still promoting the reality that truth prevails. It sheds light on the simplicity of two distinct and complementary realities—male and female—that together form the foundation of human life as God intended it.
Some of us can do without the confetti and cake (or fly-by mini planes) that reveal the gender of our child, but we can’t do without the reminder of what actually is... truth.
And in a world that is quick to blur or deny such distinctions, perhaps the act of celebrating them, however small or simple, is its own form of courage.
(So if your husband is concerned with the extreme lengths of your gender reveal, remind him that it’s for a good cause).
Sierra Ozolins is a West Michigan native, currently a student at Hope College. As an athlete, she is passionate about fitness—from running to weightlifting. With a interest for politics and lifestyle, she is intrigued how local culture, community, and everyday events shape the world around her—often with an iced coffee in hand and her dog by her side.
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