The miracle of life is undoubtedly worth celebrating, but one gender reveal party has drawn the ire of the internet.
In a post on the subreddit r/mildlyinfuriating, one user expressed their frustration after a party left behind litter after the festivities.
"Someone had a gender reveal at the local park and left all their confetti and popped balloons in the area that is specifically designed for wildlife," they wrote.
The photo showed several pieces of blue regular paper confetti and shiny, metallic confetti in the shape of a pacifier all over the public space.
"It's not the biodegradable kind either. It's been here for a few days and we got a lot of rain last night/this morning," the original poster continued. "I tried cleaning some of it up, but I had my toddler with me who kept trying to eat it so we had to leave."
The volunteer work was much needed, as it prevented the metallic confetti from leeching toxic microplastics into the surrounding water and soil.
Gender reveal parties have sparked controversies in recent years after a few resulted in environmental hazards. One event left nearly 1,800 pieces of pink confetti in its wake, while another generated noxious fumes after a blue car did a burnout to produce blue smoke.
Some of the more extreme cases include a pyrotechnic-induced wildfire that burned 23,000 acres in California's San Bernardino Valley in 2020.
The original post unsurprisingly elicited responses of anger and disgust from the comment section.
"Nothing like welcoming a new child into the world like destroying the environment," one user wrote.
"I hate this gender reveal crap," a commenter succinctly stated.
"Isn't littering illegal? Maybe someone can find her and give her a fine. I'm sure the gender reveal video is on SM somewhere, the perfect evidence," another said.
Join our free newsletter for cool news and cool tips that make it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
