Are Gender Reveal Parties Getting Too Extreme?

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Gender reveal parties have become increasingly popular.

But CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reports that some "parents-to-be" are going to potentially dangerous extremes with their big reveal.

It started with something simple, like a cake, that when sliced into revealed the color blue or pink.

Then prospective parents upped the ante with gender reveal confetti poppers.

Now, the stunts have gotten even more extreme than ever before, some with potentially dangerous consequences.

"Everybody's got to… try something crazier than the next," former NYPD Detective Joe Giacalone said.

At a gender reveal party in Philadelphia, the expectant couple accidentally shot pink fireworks at their own party goers.

"We've had a scene with alligators, fireworks, what next? It gets to a point where you're… going to cause injury to the parents or grandparents. I think they need to tone this down a bit," Giacalone warned.

An Arizona wildfire was caused by a father shooting at a target with a high powered rifle so that it would explode in pink or blue powder, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

"$220,000 in fines, wouldn't that have made a nice college fund," the former police officer added.

Giacalone says if a person or property is harmed during one of these reveal parties, law enforcement won't let you off the hook because it was an accident.

"It's going to be considered reckless conduct, where you were aware of the risk and you ignored it… a criminal offense."

"Social media has changed the landscape of intimacy," Family therapist Jane Greer said.

Dr. Greer says it's become a big game of one-upmanship.

"What used to be exclusively between two people, will you marry me, we're having a baby, suddenly it's everybody's business and as a result, the way that information is getting communicated has grown to these extraordinary proportions," Greer explains.

So much so, she says, that we're losing sight of what's really important.

"It's just wonderful to know that you're pregnant. Let your friends know that when it's time without feeling that you have to do something more or turn it in to some huge celebratory event beyond the fact that you're having a baby."