Don’t Know Whether the Baby Will Be a Boy or Girl?

There are things in life we know for sure like the sun comes up every morning and sets in the evening. We can also safely predict that freeway traffic on any given Friday will be at a crawl from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. But can we count on people who are expecting a baby to tell us the gender, so we can choose the appropriate shower gift?

The truth is, we shouldn’t make assumptions like this because sometimes afternoon traffic on Fridays is smooth sailing and expectant parents don’t always know the gender of their unborn baby. In this situation, it’s up to us to figure out what to buy this little guy or girl and hope that whatever gift we get will be used and enjoyed.

We often forget that ultrasounds have only been around for about 25 years, so we haven’t always had a way to determine the sex of unborn babies. Before this technology was routinely being used on expectant mothers, everyone buying shower gifts had to choose something that could be used by both genders or to make sure they included a store receipt, so the gift could be exchanged at a later date.

Interestingly, a lot of expectant parents these days choose not to find out the sex of their unborn baby. They are adamant when telling the doctor not to point this out on the ultrasound image. Others learn that the image doesn’t reveal the sex due to how the baby is positioned. This is why “unisex” baby gifts are commonly available for people who want to buy a shower gift that will work equally well for either a boy or girl.

Finding unisex baby gifts is much easier than you think. As a rule of thumb, you need to stay away from anything pink or blue. We all know that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. However, pale blues can work just fine for girls, yet very few parents would put any shade of pink on their baby boy. Society has just not progressed that far at this point.

As far as colors that work for both genders, you are safe choosing shades of red that include bright reds, crimsons, dark reds, and scarlet while avoiding anything in fuchsia. Whites, greens, and yellows also work well for both boys and girls. You can also choose gender-neutral layette sets that include white onesies and socks with no lace, as well as spit-up clothes and things like that.

On the other hand, if you find a spectacular gender-specific gift that you really want to buy, go ahead. But remember to include the receipt so the parents will have no trouble exchanging it once their baby is born.