Will and I found out the gender of our baby early on via blood test. We decided we wanted to know the gender ahead of time, so I called to ask for the gender since my doctor (smartly) refused to leave it on my answering machine. I had told Will all day that I’d been going back and forth on whether I wanted to know or not, so by the end of day he didn’t think I had called.
Well I had called and then at lunch called my hair dresser (who I had an appointment with that evening) to ask them if they had any gender stereotypical hair extensions in stock. I’ve been putting colored hair extensions in for the last year so I figured this was as good a way as any. If you read my blog, and you saw my hair around that time – surprise! You know the gender! Please don’t tell anyone else (since it is not your surprise to share) but feel free to send me an email or tell me in person next time you see me that you know. I’ll give you kudos for reading my blog! For everyone else, you’ll have to wonder for just a bit longer until our extended families find out and we decide to make it public.
Anyway, my hair dresser thought it was hilarious that this was how I was revealing to my husband the gender of our baby. So I went home, pretty excited with my hair as always (my hair dresser is awesome), and strolled into the house. Will complimented my hair immediately (he’s a smooth one) but he didn’t mention the hair color. So I puttered around him a bit and then I couldn’t contain myself and just stood next to him with a goofy grin on my face. The rest went as follows. “What? Why are you smiling? Wait, do you know the gender? Is it a girl?” (Fumbles around my hair because my extensions had apparently been obscured, which is why he didn’t ask about them.) “Oooohhhh.”
Well for our grandparents we weren’t sure they’d pick up on the hair thing without a serious hint, but we wanted to give them a surprise as well. So we sent them little scratch off tickets that I had made to reveal the gender! You could use them for any loved ones who are far away! I found several instructions on how to create scratch off tickets on pinterest that suggest you use nail polish. I tried several brands of nail polish and found this method did not work at all. Follow my instructions below to see how I did it.
Gender Reveal Scratch Offs
- 110lb white cardstock
- White candle wax or a white crayon
- Acrylic paint in your desired color (I used white)
- Paint brush
- First print out the word document for a girl or boy on cardstock.
Girl gender reveal card
Boy gender reveal card
- Color over the white boxes containing the gender with your candle wax or crayon. Press down firmly and be sure to cover the whole area thoroughly. You won’t be able to see the wax on other parts of the design so don’t worry about coloring outside the lines.
Color over scratch off section with candle wax or crayon.
- Paint a layer of acrylic paint over each of the boxes you just covered with wax. Let dry.
Paint over each square with acrylic paint.
- Repeat step 3 until you can no longer see the symbols and lettering beneath the paint. Let dry completely.
- Cut out each scratch off.
Scratch off to reveal the gender!
