She popularized gender reveal parties — but wants them gone after California wildfire

The woman credited for popularizing gender reveal parties in 2008 is calling for the trend to stop after one led to a massive California wildfire last weekend.

A “smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used during a gender reveal party” sparked a fire in El Dorado, McClatchy News reported. The fire has now grown to nearly 10,000 acres as of Tuesday morning, CNN reported.

Jenna Karvunidis, a blogger who says she invented the popular trend, on Monday urged people to “stop having these stupid parties.”

“Excuse me for having a cake for my family in 2008,” she said, recalling the gender reveal for one of her children. “Just because I’m the gender reveal inventor doesn’t mean I think people should burn down their communities.”

She told The Guardian earlier this year she regrets starting the trend because they “overemphasize one aspect of a person.”

”There’s such an obsession with gender that it becomes limiting in many ways and exploitative in others,” she said. “You don’t want what’s between your legs to guide your path in life. I want my kids to grow up in a world where gender doesn’t matter.”

Karvunidis, who called the trend a “bit of a nightmare,” said her children have inspired her to look at gender reveal parties differently. “Plot twist! The baby from the original gender reveal party is a girl who wears suits,” Karvunidis wrote on Facebook.

The mom of three said in an interview with NPR: “(My daughter is) telling me ‘Mom, there are many genders. Mom, there’s many different sexualities and all different types,’ and I take her lead on that.”

Gender reveal parties have also caused other disasters, including in 2017 when an Arizona man burned nearly 47,000 acres with his explosive reveal, McClatchy News previously reported.

The trend has also led to a car being ignited, a plane crash and a death, The New York Times reported.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reminded people that it does not take much to start a wildfire in dry conditions, McClatchy reported.

At least three laws were violated in the El Dorado incident, but charges have not been filed, according to CNN.

This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 9:06 AM with the headline "She popularized gender reveal parties — but wants them gone after California wildfire."