The blogger who is credited with inventing the concept of gender-reveal parties over a decade ago lamented recently that they’ve become a “dangerous trend.” As the events have become increasingly more spectacular (largely because people are trying to create the next social media viral sensation), they’ve given rise to serious damage, injuries and at least one fatality.
In late October, a woman in Iowa was killed by a piece of metal from the homemade device that was essentially a pipe bomb intended to review her future grandchild’s gender. In September, a plane spraying pink water for a gender-reveal stunt crashed in Texas, leaving the pilot with minor injuries and the plane with “substantial damage.” A gender-reveal party that used explosives in 2017 resulted in a 47,000-acre fire in Arizona.
Americans aren’t the only ones with spectacular gender-reveal parties. In 2018 at an Australian gender-reveal event, a car burst into flames. Fortunately, no one was injured.
The gender-reveal party the blogger wrote about in 2008 seems quaint by comparison. She explained how they had a cake with pink icing inside to indicate that her unborn child was a girl. Her story later ran in a local magazine, and the trend seems to have taken off from there.
Many parents are still happy with cutting into a cake or popping balloons to reveal blue or pink confetti or glitter. However, when you start using explosive devices, things can get dicey.
The woman says that these elaborate events carry more than a potential for physical harm. She talks about their “social harm.” She says, “You might get a few people who get hurt from explosives, but you have a larger amount of people who are really hurt socially by the….manly-man and girly-girl dichotomy that it helps reinforce and contributes to….”
Bakeries, party stores and other businesses have jumped on the gender-reveal bandwagon. One party superstore manager says they have balloons, pinatas, confetti cannons, golf balls filled with pink or blue powder and smoke machines.
No one expects to suffer serious harm at a party that’s meant to be a celebration of a momentous event. However, if you suffer an injury on someone else’s property or due to their negligence or lack of safety precautions, it’s important to make sure that you get the compensation you need as you heal.
