this may be an UO, but i blame pinterest for a majority of this over the top bullsh!t. i had never even heard of a "gender reveal" party until i saw it on pinterest, then saw the same bullsh!t ideas from pinterest reproduced 10,000 times in my facebook news feed (box of blue/pink balloons, cake or cupcake colored pink or blue, etc)... then people try to out-do their friends with stuff like a sonogram party. ("karen did the balloons in a box, so i have to do something better... i know! i'll have all my friends watch my sonogram! that'll blow karen's party away!") it's the same ol crap. you go to these parties, learn the sex, then what? does everyone just go home? seriously, nobody cares that much. to me, it's parental AW-ing at it's finest.
end rant.