Shannon & Joe reached out to me to capture this celebration and it was SO much fun! Folks can pay to have the Capital Wheel at National Harbor in Maryland turn any color they like -- such as pink or blue, for a gender reveal. I was meant to have boys, and I am so lucky to have them. By PETULA DVORAK | The Washington Post | Published: May 17, 2018 The woman who works for Capital Wheel, who had helped program the wheel’s colors and knew the secret, was a little worried. "After the reveal, Edward and Brittany along with all of their family and friends got to take a ride on The Capital Wheel.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Gender Reveal: Seattle Great Wheel. “It’s not like we live in Oklahoma or something.” So they decided on a nice dinner at one of the restaurants at National Harbor in suburban Maryland.

He wants a healthy baby. “There was this one guy who nearly killed the whole family when he lost control of the car.” “It’s a boy!” the tech announced. But gender-reveal bashes are irresistible.

Brittany was rooting for a boy while Edward was hoping for a girl. “I thought my mother would be the one, that I could count on her support,” he said. Fine view, unlimited food, and they’d just do the cake thing, pink or blue. Gender-reveal parties are the public unveiling of the sex of an expecting couple’s baby, done in increasingly spectacular ways. As they were calling around, pricing it out, someone told them that for a lot less than a nice family dinner, they could pay to turn the giant Ferris wheel at the harbor any color they wanted. Just last month, Bill Murray cracked open a teed-up golf ball filled with colored powder for a couple at a Murray Bros. Caddyshack Charity Golf Tournament in Florida. For about 20 years, the ultrasounds that were part of prenatal care showed a scratchy black-and-white image that looked like an old TV when the rabbit ears fell over and the poltergeist was trying to talk to you. But they can’t be too close,” Johnna explained. The St. Louis Wheel hosted its first gender reveal event on Wednesday night.

“The burnout, it’s pink or blue!” he explained to his wife, Johnna French, 35, a couple of months into their pregnancy. He wanted a motorcade for the wedding. “I believe, if I have a daughter, she can watch car races with me and sports with me, that women can do anything,” he said. Not long after the happy news that the Washington, D.C., power couple (he’s a former campaign guy, Obama administration communications official and currently a director at PR giant Burson-Marsteller; she’s a senior lawyer at U.S. Customs and Border Protection as well as a food blogger who is often on TV and has tested recipes for The Washington Post) was pregnant, Cameron brought out the old bookmarked video to begin his latest campaign -- the gender-reveal burnout. There are compilations of the most outrageous spectacles -- shattering open a plastic baseball full of blue powder or unsealing a cardboard box unleashing a cloud of pink balloons. They had done some of these before, and once, when the woman found out she was having a boy, she just walked away from the whole party, down the pier, in tears. A SkyView video of a recent gender reveal event shows the ride’s lights alternate between pink and blue for about two minutes before going completely white. I badly wanted a girl. Cameron picked up the sealed envelope and -- quickly, before he had a weak moment -- turned it over to a trusted colleague. As guests arrived, they picked blue or pink stickers to wear, signaling their hopes for the couple. Then pink! I will have a little partner in crime, so as long as he is ready for the lifelong expenses that come with girls. ""One more girl in the house - I'll take it," said Edward. Robin Coward-Knight, a first-time grandma-to-be who raised a boy, was raised with boys and unabashedly wants a girl, described her reaction. And also when the stereotypes of blue and pink -- let alone gender-reveal party themes like “Tractors or Tutus?” or “Touchdowns or Tiaras?” -- are at long last being challenged.
(Remember last year’s Michigan homecoming queen who was also a football player?) Here, Johnna and Cameron French find out the gender of their soon-to-arrive baby.MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST "After finding out that she will be a mother to a girl, Brittany said, "I have switched teams. I know, I know. The wheel flashed blue! And before those started showing up in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the gender reveal happened, well, at birth. Folks can pay to have the Capital Wheel at National Harbor in Maryland turn any color they like -- such as pink or blue, for a gender reveal. "I'd like the keep the crown in the household as the only lady so I'm Team Boy," Brittany said.One specific friend was informed of the baby's gender from the doctor in the morning and she put the call in to the employees at National Harbor to let them know what color the wheel should be lit up in.Just after sunset, the expecting couple found out they would be having a girl after the wheel turned pink during the surprise.After a teary embrace, Brittany jokingly told her husband, "It's going to cost you a lot of money!


Social media archaeology shows us that a couple uploaded a video from a gender-reveal party in 2008, where friends and family gathered as they cut into a white cake that was pink on the inside. Surprise!

... "It's going to cost you a lot of money!" Screams, cheers, lots of screams from grandma (shrieks, even), hugs and kisses as Cameron’s white pants reflected the pink glow and the couple embraced. But, well, just being honest. And to be completely honest, nerve wracking!