Woman uses creative 'bun in the oven' prank to announce pregnancy to parents: 'A celebratory time'

Pregnancy announcements offer endless possibilities for creativity. Sarah Benibo seized the perfect opportunity to share the news of her and her husband's soon-to-arrive second offspring with her parents during a Thanksgiving trip, and she did so with a delightful touch of humor.

During an interview with Good Morning America, Benibo revealed how her sister, Sophia Stephens, came up with a clever plan to play a "bun in the oven" prank on their parents, Dorretta and Ron Stephens, during their family gathering at an Airbnb rental in California. She explained, "Initially, I was like, 'This is so cliche. This is so typical. They're gonna know immediately.' But my sister was like, 'No, we should just do it.'"

"We ordered the Instacart groceries and once my mom and dad arrived, I put my son to bed and then we started the whole prank at that point," Benibo recalled. Stephens recorded the prank, and Benibo later shared the video on Instagram where it went viral and gained more than 70 thousand likes. In the caption, she explained: "Last Thanksgiving we decided to get an Airbnb and spend the holiday in Cali. I thought this would be the perfect time to tell my parents about my 2nd pregnancy."

"I didn’t want to be too cliché but my sister, Bio, and I decided to do the old 'bun in the oven' trick and see what happened. I didn't think it would work because it’s SO common lol but my mom (and dad) were none the wiser! Thankfully, my sister talked them through the process and they eventually got there," she added.

In the video clip, the sisters cunningly draw their parents' attention to an unforeseen "issue" within their Airbnb rental: an isolated hamburger bun found inside the kitchen oven. As they proceed to elucidate the idiomatic expression to their unsuspecting parents, their mother, Dorretta, begins to comprehend the true nature of their conversation.

Benibo claimed that her parents fell prey to their maneuver because she rarely plays pranks on people. "I'm thinking nothing because as soon as she opened the oven, I'm thinking, 'Who does this? Who leaves a bun in the oven?' No clue whatsoever," Dorretta recalled.

Ron admitted that he was perplexed before learning the good news. "I was like, 'What is still going on?' I couldn't put the dots together and I felt a little bit embarrassed because everybody was like rejoicing," he recalled. "Later on, they said, 'It's a baby!' Then, 'Oh, I've got it!' So, the bun in the oven didn't work with me. I didn't know what was going on."

Benibo claimed that pranks are "not really our thing, but for babies, it's just such a celebratory time. It's just such a happy moment for everybody involved, especially considering I couldn't get pregnant for the first couple of years of my marriage."

Benibo and her family rejoiced when her secret was revealed. She didn't share the hilarious throwback video until her mother's birthday in May 2023. "I kind of just forgot about the video. We came back from California, it's Christmas now, you know, we just moved on. And then once my mom's birthday was coming up, I was like, 'Oh, I need to post something, to just show her personality,'" Benibo explained."I knew that she would get a kick out of it, and it was her birthday."

The expectant mother and her husband, Bio Dienye Benibo, are now preparing for the arrival of their second child, and the Stephenses are more than thrilled to meet their third grandchild. "Oh my goodness, yes. And it's a little girl. We're all going to spoil her," Dorretta exclaimed.