Ice Cream-Themed Gender Reveal Party Ideas

Now that you’re expecting a baby, it’s time to prove you’re a cool parent by throwing your first parent-style party. Gender reveal parties are already one of the hottest trends among expectant parents and they continue to grow in creativity and popularity all the time.

We know a zillion details are pinging around your mind like bouncy balls, but planning a celebration doesn’t happen overnight. That’s why we’ve pulled together sweet ideas for an ice cream-themed gender reveal party.

Why not give your family and friends the scoop on whether you’re expecting a Jack or Jill while sharing a scoop (or two!) of ice cream?

Spread the News

Print Invites

The invitations you choose will be the first glimpse of the theme your guests see. Are you the kind of party planner who goes all out with themed invitations? If so, check out a website like Zazzle, where you can customize your invitations. Try an ice cream joke like “Here’s the scoop — we’re about to be parents.”

Digital Invites

If you’re all about that digital life, you can send free invitations straight to your crew’s inbox with help from websites like evite.com. One design even features cones with scoops of ice cream stacking themselves onto the cone one by one.

Social Invites

Your life is busy, and you have a million errands to run before the baby comes, so if picking perfectly personalized invitations doesn’t fit into your schedule, don’t worry. You can simply create an event and share it digitally. Shared calendars, Facebook, and many other apps you already use can alert your potential guests and provide them with reminders. Isn’t technology great?

Set the Scene

You don’t have to get dressed and go to the store anymore, or even leave the couch, to find the perfect decorations for your gender reveal party. You can shop online through the major retailers and find packages full of photo props, balloons, and streamers.

Even if you’re into keeping things simple, it doesn’t mean you can’t hand-pick your decorations. With a quick search on Amazon, we found a fun backdrop, some specialty balloons spelling out “boy” and “girl,” golden balloons spelling “oh baby,” and engaging game boards with center pieces that look like hand-drawn chalkboards. 

As you set up the décor, reinforce your theme with some ice cream cone balloons or hang some paper lanterns printed with ice cream cones. Of course, the fun won’t stop there because your snack table will be full of ice cream cone-themed treats, which never fails to bring added Joy to the scene.

Dish Up Something Delicious

A crucial part of any gender reveal party is deciding how you’ll get the whole gang involved in guessing the gender before you do the big reveal. Use your snacks as part of the guessing game, with blue and pink options. No one will be disappointed, even if they choose the wrong side!

With an ice cream cone party, you’ve got all kinds of fun (and picture perfect) options for your guests to choose from to highlight their membership on team blue or team pink. Start by creating an ice cream cone and sundae bar on one table or countertop area. Then select the ingredients for the bar with both pink and blue options. As people create their snacks, they’ll showcase their best guess.

Some of our favorite ideas include:

• Display Joy Cone Color Cups in both blue and pink. People can easily showcase their guesses with their cone selection. You can save the purple cones (the third color included in the box) for leftovers or let your undecided guests show their indecision.
• For added flair, roll the rim of any Joy Cone in melted candy melts and then roll the rim in sprinkles or other fun pink and blue candies.
• Choose any kind of Joy Cone — waffle cone, sugar cone, cake cups, color cups, or even gluten-free cake cups — but use pink or blue ice cream to highlight your guests’ choices. Some popular flavor choices include strawberry, blue moon, blue raspberry, and cotton candy.
• Choose the toppings wisely. Have options for toppings, which can include blue and pink sprinkles, candy-coated chocolates, homemade colored whipped cream, or berries like blueberries and raspberries.

Try some of these ideas and your ice cream bar is sure to be a hit. Fill in the rest of your snack table with sweet and savory options, decorations in both blue and pink (like “team blue” and “team pink” print-out badges or stickers), and whimsical and useful tools. Make sure you have serving utensils, silverware, napkins, and dishes all easily accessible to everyone in attendance.

Keep Everybody Guessing

There’s no shortage of games and activities to keep everyone choosing sides and engaging in the fun. One of the most popular ways is to set up a photo booth area with a backdrop and props. Websites like Etsy and Amazon have ready-made props, while chat groups and Pinterest have suggestions for props you can make at home.

Poster boards and chalkboards provide a fun way to capture every guess in the same place. Some of these boards come completely party-ready, including this ice cream-themed poster.

You could also take a new spin on the traditional pin the tail on the donkey game and transform it into pin the scoop on the ice cream. Create your own paper cutout cone and pink and blue ice cream scoops, grab a bandana to use as a blindfold, and have some dizzying fun watching your guests spin around and try to pin their pink or blue scoop onto the cutout ice cream cone taped to your wall.

Keepsakes from gender reveal parties are fun to create and showcase the love your family and friends have for your child. One idea is to frame a party invite or ultrasound picture and have it matted in white. Get pink and blue markers or gel pens, then have everyone in attendance sign (with the appropriate color) their name and gender guess onto the white matte. Afterward, you’ll have a colorful reminder of your party and the excitement everyone shared before your big reveal.

Share Your Gender Surprise

The single most important moment of your party is when you (finally) get to reveal whether you’re having a boy or a girl. There are two types of gender reveal parties though, and you must choose from the start which type you’ll have.

At one type of gender reveal party, the parents-to-be are just as in the dark as the guests, and a bakery or trusted friend has handled putting the revelation together. If you’re more hands-on and want to be in charge (or just don’t want to wait to find out with everyone else), you can put the reveal together yourself and simply surprise everyone else.

Of course, you can have boxes filled with balloons, or a piñata filled with confetti, but why not keep the ice cream theme and have a truly sweet reveal? Below we’ve shared a couple of our favorite cone-themed reveal ideas and any of them can be adapted to ensure you don’t know what’s inside before the reveal, if you choose.

Cupcake Cones

Cupcake cones aren’t only adorable, they’re delicious. For a fun group revelation, have the cones (try our Joy Cake Cups) filled with blue or pink cake batter, depending on the gender of your baby. After they’re baked, use blue and pink frosting to hide the true color of the cake inside the cones.

Everyone at the party will choose a cone matching their gender guess to the frosting color. Have everyone gather in a circle and bite into the cones at the same time, revealing the truth. If you don’t want to know the gender before the big reveal, simply get a local bakery or trusted friend to help with the preparation.

Two-Scoop Surprise

One more idea is to simply use your colored ice cream to reveal your news. Have a trusted loved one make your cone with two scoops of ice cream. Use a waffle cone so the bottom scoop is hidden and use blue or pink for the surprise. The top scoop should be a flavor with a neutral color like chocolate or vanilla. As you finish the top scoop, the second scoop will come into view and the surprise is revealed.

Adding Joy to Any Event

We hope you agree that the sweetness of an ice cream party pairs extremely well with the cuteness of a gender reveal party. Are you full of your own creative ideas for how to reveal your baby’s gender? We’d love to see how you incorporate ice cream and Joy Cones into your special party. Find us on Facebook or tag us on Instagram to share your photos from your gender reveal party!