Gender reveal invitation wording

Fifteen blocks of wording you can take as they are, sorted by the tone you are after. Swap the bracketed parts for your own names and details. Below them is the short list of things an invitation has to say whatever tone you pick, which is the part people forget.

Short and plain

The one to use if you are sending it as a message and want it read in one glance.

[Name] and [name] are finding out.
Come and find out with us.
[Day date], [time], [place]
Reply by [date] — and tell us your guess.

Baby [surname]: pink or blue?
We find out on [day date] at [time], at [place].
Bring a guess. Reply by [date].

It is time to find out.
Join [name] and [name] for a gender reveal.
[Day date] · [time] · [place]
Let us know if you can make it by [date].

Playful

Warm and a bit silly, for friends and family who will read the whole thing.

He or she? Come and see.
[Name] and [name] are cutting the cake and finding out,
and we would love you there when we do.
[Day date] from [time] at [place]
Wear your guess. Reply by [date].

Guns or glitter. Ribbons or racers.
Whatever it turns out to be, we want you there to see it.
[Name] and [name]'s gender reveal
[Day date], [time] — [place]
RSVP by [date] with your guess.

We know something you do not.
Well — nearly. We find out with you.
Gender reveal for baby [surname]
[Day date] at [time], [place]
Say yes by [date] and pick a side.

Rhyming

The traditional shape. Keep it to four lines — longer rhymes stop scanning and start sounding like hard work.

Ten little fingers, ten little toes,
is it a he or a she? Nobody knows.
Come to [place] on [day date] at [time],
and guess before the answer is out.

A bump, a guess, a cake to cut,
pink or blue — we are finding out.
[Day date], [time], [place].
Reply by [date] and bring your guess.

Rattles or ribbons, trucks or bows,
come and find out how this one goes.
[Name] and [name] · [day date] · [time]
[Place] — reply by [date].

Formal

For a printed card, or a family where the invitation is expected to read like one.

[Full name] and [full name]
request the pleasure of your company
at the gender reveal of their first child
on [day], the [date] of [month], at [time]
[Venue name], [address]
Kindly reply by [date]

With great happiness,
[full name] and [full name] invite you
to share the moment they learn
whether they are expecting a daughter or a son.
[Day], [date] of [month] · [time]
[Venue name], [address]
RSVP by [date]

You are warmly invited
to the gender reveal of baby [surname].
[Day date] at [time]
[Venue name], [address]
Refreshments from [time]. Kindly respond by [date].

For a link rather than a card

Short enough to send as a text or a message, with the page carrying the details.

We are finding out on [day date] — come and find out with us.
Everything is here, and you can guess pink or blue when you reply:
[your link]

Baby [surname] arrives in [month], and we find out which one it is on [day date].
Tap here for the when and where, and to place your bet:
[your link]

Pink or blue? Pick a side.
[Name] and [name]'s gender reveal, [day date] at [time].
Reply and guess here: [your link]

What it has to say, whichever you pick

Who is askingBoth of your names, near the top. It sounds obvious, and it is the thing most often left off a message sent from one person's phone — the recipient sees a number they half recognise and a party.
What kind of day it isSay the words "gender reveal" somewhere. Guests who have not been to one do not know whether to expect an hour of cake or an afternoon.
When, including roughly how longThe date, the start time, and an end time if you have one. People bringing small children plan their afternoon around it, and an end time is the difference between planning and guessing.
Where, as a link and not only a nameThe name of the place is not an address. Somebody will be driving there for the first time with a phone in a cradle.
How to reply, and by whenOne way to answer and one date. Two ways to answer means two lists to reconcile, and no date means the last five replies arrive the morning of.

Questions

Do I have to say "gender reveal" on the invitation?

It helps. Guests who have not been to one cannot tell from the rest of the wording whether they are coming to a half-hour of cake or a full afternoon, and that changes whether they bring the children.

Should I ask guests to wear pink or blue?

Only if you want the photographs. It is a lovely picture and it is also one more instruction to follow, so put it at the bottom as an invitation rather than at the top as a rule.

How far ahead should the invitation go out?

Three to four weeks for a weekend afternoon. Less than two and you are competing with plans people have already made; much more and it drops out of everybody's memory and has to be sent again.

What if some guests cannot be there?

Send them the same link. If the reveal is on a page, the people who could not come still get to guess, and they see the moment when it plays rather than hearing about it afterwards.

Is it rude to ask people to guess?

The opposite — it is the thing that makes a gender reveal better than an announcement. A room that has committed to an answer reacts; a room that has not, claps.

Somewhere to put it

Once you have your wording it needs an address. You can build the whole page free — one of fourteen designs, your photographs, your words — and the same link carries you from the gender reveal to the birth announcement and on to the first birthday, keeping the messages and the guest list.

Make the page to put it on See the designs