Gender reveal celebrations are on thin ice these days, and for good reason.
First of all, it's a pandemic. No parties, people.
Beyond that, there are all the shocking catastrophes that gender reveals have wrought in recent years.
In 2017, a sawmill in Arizona went up in flames when people tried to rig up a blue powder explosion. In 2019, a plane crashed in Turkey when the crop-duster flew too low attempting to drop 350 gallons of blue water. Later that same year, a woman in Iowa was killed when a homemade explosive device went off by accident.
And of course, the 2020 El Dorado Fire in California, which ripped through thousands of acres of forest, ripped through homes, and killed one firefighter, was sparked by a pyrotechnic device used to reveal a gender.
That's a very high rate of destruction when we consider that gender reveals are modern phenomena, dating back to the early 2000s.
Finally, even the term "gender reveal" is suspect. Really, it's a "genitals visible on an ultrasound" reveal.
The child's gender while be revealed when they determine that on their own as they grow and develop an identity.
But as a recent BuzzFeed News report showed, it is apparently still possible to do a responsible—and extremely heartwarming—gender reveal.
Charlette and Dan Fontaine, of Manitoba, Canada recently adopted 12-year-old Bianca. To have a little fun while celebrating the big news, the Fontaines decided to throw a tongue-in-cheek gender reveal and post it to TikTok.
In the video, the Fontaine's, standing behind a black balloon, feigned suspense about the gender of their new daughter.
Then, like gangbusters, in flew Bianca to pop the black balloon.
Pink confetti rained down and Bianca proudly revealed the big secret: "It's a 12-year-old girl!"
BuzzFeed News caught up with the Fontaine's to ask about the long road that brought them to adopting Bianca, who was still only 8 when they all first met.
"When we first started this [adoption process], I thought I wanted a baby."
"We had to take adoption classes, and what really stuck with me in the adoption class was that sometimes kids over the age of 2 are classified as 'unadoptable' because nobody really wants a child that's not a baby."
"And that statement there has stuck with me and it broke my heart."
That same year, while visiting the Niagara Falls, the Fontaine's tossed a coin into the water and made a wish.
"If there's a kid that needs us, we'll get a call."
And according to BuzzFeed News, they received the call to adopt Bianca 24 hours later.
In the TikTok comments, response to the Fonataine's innovative gender reveal has been overwhelmingly positive.
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amy.wrather/TikTok
Alexandra Almanza/TikTok
Kat NICU RN/TikTok
Some simply delighted in how wholesome the whole thing was.
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Jordan/TikTok
brie/TikTok
Lena May/TikTok
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Others drew particular attention to the Fontaine's decision to adopt Bianca despite her not being a baby.
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A/TikTok
bubblegumchampion/TikTok
Anna Baker/TikTok
Moxie Dee Garnet/TikTok
Maybe more families will embrace gender reveals as something their children determine, not an ultrasound.
