Deirdre O Meara 
A gender reveal gone wrong has left a mum-to-be laughing and almost hating her fiancé forever. Indya Jefferies and her partner had planned to use an exploding football to reveal the gender of their baby. However, things didn’t go as planned when the dad-to-be accidentally kicked the ball into their neighbour’s garden instead of releasing the coloured powder. The hilarious moment was shared on TikTok and has since gone viral with over 400,000 views.
In the video, Indya’s fiancé can be seen kicking the exploding football, but it doesn’t explode. Instead, it hits the side of his foot and flies into the neighbour’s garden where it finally explodes. Indya was left in shock, covering her mouth with her hands, while their family and friends were laughing and saying, “Oh my God” and “Oh no”.
The mum-to-be revealed in the comments that they had to do the gender reveal again because the football exploded next door. She also admitted that they didn’t realise they had to kick it down the middle to make it explode. Exploding footballs are one of the newer gender reveal methods and are loved by football fanatic parents. The kits tend to contain individual packets of blue and pink powder that are poured into the football shell. Once kicked, it produces a cloud of the coloured powder.
Indya’s fiancé’s dodgy kick almost put him in the dog house, according to Indya. She said, “I was annoyed! Luckily, I had a balloon to do after, otherwise I would have cried and hated my fiance forever.” Thanks to the back-up balloon, the parents-to-be found out they were having a girl. They had both wrongly predicted that Indya was pregnant with a boy.
Their gender reveal attracted mass response on social media as people gushed over how funny it was. One person said, “Can’t stop watching this, it gets funnier every time.” Another commented, “I’m dying at this… but I would be fuming.” Men in the comments joked that the dad-to-be’s football skills won’t see him signed for a professional club any time soon.
Gender reveal parties have become increasingly popular in recent years, with parents coming up with creative ways to announce the sex of their unborn child. However, some have criticised the trend for being potentially dangerous and causing harm to both people and the environment. In September 2020, a gender reveal party in California sparked a wildfire that burned over 22,000 acres of land.
Despite the risks, gender reveal parties continue to be a popular way for parents to celebrate the impending arrival of their child. And while Indya’s gender reveal didn’t go exactly as planned, it certainly provided some much-needed laughter during these challenging times.
