GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — From balloons with confetti to cutting into colored cakes, it seems families are always coming up with new ways to reveal the gender of their baby. One West Michigan Grandma-to-be took it a step further on Saturday, hosting a gender reveal party at Amped VR in Grand Rapids.
Tina Gerding was excited when her son, Jake Dushane, and his girlfriend, Sadie Wisenbaugh, announced their pregnancy, and immediately started researching unique ideas for gender reveal parties.
Gerding said her family has always been into gaming, so when she heard about Amped Reality VR, she knew it was the perfect plan. She emailed the business, asking if they could create a simulation for a gender reveal announcement, and from there, ideas started taking off.
Trevor Wander, Operations Manager at Amped Reality VR, worked closely with his team to create a personalized VR game for Dushane and Wisenbaugh. He said this is the first virtual reality gender reveal he's heard of.
"We kind of built a room and then in the room we have a crib with the gender of the baby in it. Then we hid the key to get into that room somewhere in the map, so the couple will be in the world together, and they'll have to kind of explore and find the key to reveal the gender of their baby," he explained.
The entire process from Gerding's initial email took around two to three weeks. During that time, the only people who knew the baby's gender was the family's doctor and three of Amped Reality VR's staff members.
"It was definitely a weird feeling opening the envelope knowing that I was the first person to know before any of the family, crazy feeling because I never got to experience anything like that before," Wander said.
When the family arrived, they loosened up with some games for fun, then got down to business with the gender reveal.
After finding a hidden hotel key, and entering into a home inside the game, the couple looked into a crib that announced they were having a boy.
"[It was] kind of relief because I don't know how to [be a] girl, so I don't know how to raise one. I feel like a boy will be easier," Wisenbaugh said.
The baby boy is expected to arrive in January.
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