So you’ve decided to host a baby shower and are now wondering – how can I make this an entertaining event for all my guests? When you think baby shower, you naturally assume games will be on the agenda as it has become an integral part of the celebration.
You’ll need to consider which type of games you want to include on the itinerary. There are many types to choose from such as traditional, trivia, diaper related, creative, active and so on.
The idea is for the parents to be to indulge in some fun and laughter with all their loved ones – a true sign the baby shower has been a success! Don’t forget, the hard part is the planning – once you have that covered, everything else will be smooth sailing!
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Other Arrangements To Consider Before Deciding The Games
Besides the baby shower games and the gift giving segment (which will be one of the highlights of the baby shower!) there are also other things that will need to be organized. Such as the decorations, the theme for the baby shower, the food catering and the baby shower favors to show appreciation to all your guests.
However, the most important step in planning the baby shower is to first consider the venue of the occasion. Where you hold your baby shower will impact your subsequent decisions, such as which games you’ll be able to play.
For example, it could be that you decide to hold the baby shower outdoors in a country park or a restaurant – the setting of which could make it difficult for guests to indulge in certain types of games. Therefore, which games you decide to incorporate into your day depends entirely on which location you pick for the venue and how practical they are for the surroundings.
Ideas for Games
Games can be used for the guests to socialize with each other, to get to know the parents to be a little better, or simply as an opportunity for everyone to become children themselves! But most importantly, everyone is there to celebrate the arrival of the baby!
Read on to explore the various different types of popular baby shower games out there.
Guest Icebreakers
Baby Guess Who
This is a fairly convenient game to get together, whereby all you’d need to do is ask each guest in your baby shower invite to bring along a baby photo of themselves. For the actual game you’d number each picture, hand out a pencil and a piece of paper asking your guests to write the names of guests next to the number they think the photo matches.
For example:
Photo No 1 is……
Photo No. 2 is……
Photo No 3 is…..
Mystery Guest
This is an ideal ice breaker and a fun way for all your guests to get to know one another. It’s also a game you can play outdoors or indoors as you don’t need any equipment to play.
In your baby shower invite, you can ask each guest to send you a unique fun fact about themselves. Don’t forget to let them know this information will become public!
You can then make a note of these facts on the ‘notes’ app on your phone or on a piece of paper – whichever is most convenient. Read out each fact to your guests and let them decide who it belongs to and whichever guest gets the most facts right wins!
What Baby Item Am I?
As your guests enter the venue, secure a card onto their backs either with a safety pin or a DIY necklace. The guest shouldn’t see what is written on the card.
The aim of the game is for the guest to ask closed ended questions which can only be answered with either a yes or no by the other guests. For example imagine a card says ‘baby bottle’ and the guest asks “is it a toy” – the response would be “no.”
Ultimately, they would go around the room asking each other questions that might help them figure out what item they are. To make it more fun you can make it a timed game or give each guest 3 chances to guess which item they are.
Famous Parents
This has a similar concept to What Baby Item Am I. As your guests enter the venue, stick a post it note on their heads with names of famous movie/book/TV character parents.
In order to figure out which character they are they have to go around the room and ask Yes/No questions. Whoever figures their name out first wins!
Children Of Famous People
Come up with 10 famous parents and list them on a piece of paper. Next to their names write the name of their eldest child.
Call out a famous parent’s name and whichever guest puts up their hand up first gets to answer. Whoever gets the most of them correct wins.
I know Best!
Anyone who has children will know all about unsolicited advice. Ask your guests to write down an inappropriate parenting advice they were given as parents.
Those who do not have children, can just write down a nonsensical piece of advice they’ve heard being given to someone else. Then the slips are put into a large bowl, picked out at random and laughed at collectively!
Free The Lantern
This game or activity rather will be a beautiful opportunity for the parents to be and the guests to create meaningful memories together. Ask the guests to write wishes for the baby on a lantern, go outside together, light their lanterns and watch them take off into the sky.
If you want to turn it into a game, then make it a race amongst the guests – whoever can get their lantern to a certain point first like the top of the tree – wins. This game will also prove to be a great photo opportunity!
How Old Was Mum And Dad?
Get some old childhood pics out of both the parents to be and ask guests to write down how old they think the parents were at the time. Needless to say, whoever has the most correct answers or near correct guesses wins!
Mum Dad Trivia
Another game related to the parents! This time you can prepare a list of trivia questions, such as ‘Which city was mum born in’ or ‘How old was dad when he first drove’ – and ask the guests to answer the questions on a piece of paper.
Whoever gets the most answers right wins! To make it easier you could split the guests up into teams.
Games Which Will Bring Out The Inner Child
Pacifier Bobbers
A game guaranteed some laughs! Here your task would be to line up some bowls filled with water and floating pacifiers. You’d then ask volunteers to place their hands behind their backs, kneel down in front of a coffee table and using only their mouth – pick out the pacifier from the bowl.
Whoever gets theirs out first wins! To make it more competitive you can keep larger bowls with multiple pacifiers in each one and make it a timed activity!
Don’t You Drop The Baby!
In this practical game, you’ll be asking guests to paint a baby on an egg. Each guest will then place their egg baby on a spoon and line up ready to race with the spoon in between their mouths.
Whoever reaches the finish line first without breaking their egg baby wins! Be careful not to play this game indoors without a waterproof covering on the floor as it will get messy!
Who’s Water Broke?
Place mini plastic babies into your ice cube mold, pour water in and freeze the tray overnight. When your guests arrive to the baby shower, pop each cube into their drink.
Your guest will need to shout out “my water broke’ when their ice cube has completely melted and once they see the baby floating up in their drink. Whoever breaks their water first wins a prize and you can hand out a treat every subsequent time a guest shouts it out.
Match The Socks
Mix up a pile of socks (either baby or adult) on the table. You can hide some socks in different parts of the venue.
Divide the guests into 2 teams and once you start the timer, each team has to match and pair up the correct socks and put them into their team basket. Once the timer has ended, whichever team basket has the most socks wins!
Pop My Baby
Divide your guests into groups of 5, line them up giving each guest a deflated balloon. The first player in the team has to blow up their balloon, place it under their shirt and tap on the next player to do the same.
Once all 5 members have taken in turn to blown up their balloons, the first player takes a pin, pops their balloon through their clothes and passes the pin on to the next player.
This continues until each player has passed on the pin to the next and eventually whichever team pops all their balloons first wins!
Pregnancy Pilates
Get each of your players to put an inflated balloon under their clothes and get ready for some rigorous exercise routine! Either following a YouTube exercise video or someone leading from the front, the guests need to follow the exercise routine whilst making sure their balloon doesn’t pop or come out of their shirt.
If the balloon pops or escapes, the player has to sit out and the game continues until the last 3 or 5 guests have their bellies intact!
Issue, Action, Result
Write a list of all the possible things that can be challenging in the first 3 months after the baby is born, this could include reflux, explosive poop, trapped wind, etc.
Ask your guests to make columns on their paper headed: Issue, Action, Result. As you read out each post-natal challenge, the guests need to write down what action/actions need to be undertaken in that given situation and what the ideal result should be.
Everyone’s given 10 seconds to complete their row. After each challenge, everyone reads out their answer and has a laugh!
Memory Game
Fill a tray with unusual baby items and show them around to the guests. Ask them to remember the items.
A while later, on pieces of paper, ask your guests to list all the 10 items down. Whoever remembers the most number of items correctly wins!
Super Training
Give each guest a turn to complete multiple tasks simultaneously under timed conditions. Time each guest and whoever finishes the tasks the fastest wins!
For example you can ask them to change a dolls nappy, whilst holding their phone between their ear and shoulder. Once they’re done with the nappy, they can move to feeding the doll and folding the laundry whilst still being on the phone!
Diaper Games
Dirty Diaper
Just before you’re about to begin playing this game, melt some different flavored candies in the microwave, then smudge each one inside a different numbered diaper. Invite your guests to sniff the diaper and guess the correct name of the candy.
They must write it down on the piece of paper. Whoever gets the most correct wins.
Hang It
If you have a clothes line in your back yard or a clothes drying rack indoors, this activity could be a straight forward one to arrange. Split your guests up into equal teams.
Each team has to hang all the diapers in their basket before the time runs out. Whichever team has the most diapers on the line wins!
Dirty Diaper Race
Split up your guests into equal teams, and give each team a baby doll wearing a dirty nappy (spread some chocolate mousse inside!) and some cleaning wipes.
One guest from each team will race their counterpart from the other teams. Whoever is able to change the doll’s nappy, wipe clean the doll’s bottom and put on a new nappy first wins.
Each player in the team gets to have a go. Whichever team has the most winners wins!
Blindfolded Diaper Race
You can play the same game above but add the element of a blindfold! Each player from each team has to be blindfolded, they then have go through the nappy changing routine without looking.
Whoever has the cleanest baby and the fastest nappy change wins. The surprise mousse element will surely get some giggles out of the blindfolded participants!
Sprinkles In Your Diaper
The same concept above can be used again, except here the players have to change diapers that are full of sprinkles making sure none or very little are spilled out.
Diaper Raffle
Ask your guests to bring a packet of diapers for newborns. For each packet they bring they get a raffle ticket and the more packets they bring the more raffle tickets they get.
Towards the end of the baby shower, ask the mum to be to draw out 3 raffle tickets and give out prizes to the winners! The mums the real winner will all those diaper supplies!
Night Diapers
Keep a box of diapers in front of the guests, ask them to write a funny quote, joke or something creative on the back of the diaper. Once everyone has finished, the mum to be can then read them out one by one whilst everyone has to guess who’s written it.
The nappies can then be put back in the box and used for the baby, allowing the parents to reflect back to the fun moments of the baby shower!
Guess The Item In The Diaper
Find a few small baby items, package them securely inside numbered diapers and tape the diaper so the item can’t fall out. Invite the guests to feel the diapers and guess what item is inside each diaper. Whoever guesses the most correct items wins!
What’s In This Diaper?
Find a cardboard box and paint it as a nappy or you could just stick a nappy on to it! Make two holes big enough to fit hands through the side and one big hole at the back that isn’t visible to anyone. You can make a couple of these boxes.
For the game, place icky sensory items into the box – such as chocolate mousse or custard, melted cream, mashed avocado, squashed tomatoes. All the boxes need to have the same item at the same time.
Invite your guests to put their hands through then hole and guess what it is. They must then whisper it into their team member’s ear so they can write it down.
Whoever gets the most guesses right wins! You can blindfold the participants so they can’t see you replacing the items.
Craft Games
Nursery Decor
All you need for this game is some mini canvases, paint, some markers and glitter! Ask your guests to create a canvas for the baby’s nursery – matching the nursery color and theme.
You could just keep it as a fun bonding activity or turn it competitive by asking the parents to be to decide the best 3.
Make Baby’s Quilt
For this game you’ll need to split up your guests into two groups. Give each group pre cut squares of fabric together with non toxic fabric paints or markers.
Guests will then need to design and arrange the squares into a quilt pattern in timed conditions. Whichever team has the best design win!
After the baby shower is over, you can use these fabric squares to make a keepsake for the baby. Either send the squares to a professional quilter or make it into a quilt yourself!
Onesie Decorating Station
This is a straight forward creative competition between the guests – but one which would leave the parents to be with personalized onesies they can use for their baby. Each guest is given a plain white onesie, choice of stencils, fabric glue, fabric markers, felt, fabrics and scissors.
The guests then need to decorate the onesie within timed conditions (or not!). Once everyone is finished, the parents to be can decide which one is their favorite and declare the winner!
Daddy’s Hospital Wardrobe
Similar to the concept above, guests will be tasked with decorating the prized T-Shirt dad will wear to the delivery room!
All participating guests will be given the equipment they need to design the T-Shirt. The daddy to be will then decide which one has the funniest quip or the most creative decoration!
Design The Blocks
Ask your guests to decorate some wooden blocks with acrylic paint pens. Each guest can be given one block to decorate within a certain time frame.
Parents to be can decide the winner. These blocks can then be used by the baby as toys or nursery decor.
Clay Baby
This can be a creative opportunity for your guests to indulge in some sensory play! Offer the participants different colored play dough, asking them to mold a baby under timed conditions.
You can offer them carving tools if you want or let them use their fingers! The mum to be can decide the winner or let the guests vote!
Traditional Games
Gender Guessing Game
Guests can tally their predictions on a chalkboard or whiteboard suggesting whether the baby will be a boy or a girl. To make it more interesting, you can keep a tray of blue and pink bowties/armbands guests can wear to indicate which gender they think the baby is.
Parents to be can then do a gender reveal ceremony, rewarding the guests who got it right!
Don’t Say The ‘B’ Word
This is a sort of ‘running in the background’ kind of game which doesn’t require much effort other than sharp ears! Give all your guests 5 identical items, either armbands or beaded necklaces or clothespins.
Every time someone hears another guest say the word ‘baby’ – the guest uttering it will have to give up one of their items. Eventually whoever is left with the highest number of items wins the game!
Guess The Name
For this you will need to divide your guests up into teams. The aim is for your guests to guess what the parents to be have chosen to name their unborn baby.
Prop letters up into pre made nappy cakes (some hot glue and wooden dowels will do the trick!), scramble them up in a random order and set them on to the teams’ tables. Time the game, whoever guesses the name first by sorting out the nappy cakes in the correct order wins!
Pass The Prize
The guests will sit in a circle and pass the parcel to the person sitting next to them until the nursery rhymes stops being played! Whoever is holding the parcel at the time unwraps it to find a question.
Questions can be related to their childhood, for example: share your most embarrassing childhood memory or who was your first crush. For those not willing to answer – the parents to be can set a dare!
Guess The Due Date
If the parents to be have not yet announced when the baby’s due, this would be an amazing opportunity for them to! Let the guests decide when they think the due date is – the one who gets it right or guesses closest to the actual date wins!
Alternatively, if the parents have already announced the due date, then you can invite the guests to predict the exact date and time they think the baby will arrive on. After the delivery, whoever’s prediction was the closest to the date wins!
What’s In The Bag
Fill the diaper bag up with various different items and ask the guests to guess what’s inside. Whoever guesses the most items correctly wins!
To make it interesting you can have more than one of each item, such as 10 diapers or 7 pacifiers.
Baby Name Generator
Turn this into a timed game by asking your guests to come up with 10 baby names within 30 seconds! Whoever comes up with a potential baby names list first wins!
Word/Trivia Games
Baby Scrabble
Those guests up for a board game, can play a good old game of scrabble except the words have to be related to pregnancy and babies. You can divide the guests up into teams for this one or do mini tournaments with a number of boards.
Which Cartoon Is It?
Write a list of cartoons from the time when your guests were children. Under each cartoon, ask your guests to name all the characters they remember from the cartoon. Whoever gets the most characters correct wins!
UnScramble It
Choose 10-20 common baby related words such as pacifier, bottle, reflux, colic – and mix up the letters of each word. On a large white board or chalkboard write up the scrambled words and get the guests to guess the correct words!
Name The Baby Tune
On your phone download a baby songs playlist. The guests then have to shout out the name of the baby song first before anyone else. Keep score of who gets the most right.
Which Nursery Rhyme Is It?
Hand out photocopied nursery rhymes to your guests with random words whitened out. They then have to guess the missing words from the rhymes. Whoever completes their rhymes first and gets them all correct wins!
Games You Can Print
You can google ‘printable baby shower games’ to find a sea of possible game templates like the one here.
Bingo Baby!
Give a printed bingo sheet to each guest or buy an inexpensive one online. Guests have to listen carefully for baby/pregnancy related words and cross it out on their bingo card. Whoever gets all the items in a diagonal or straight line first shouts ‘bingo baby.’
Baby Shower Gifts Bingo
The same bingo rules apply except here with a twist. As the mum opens up each baby shower gift, the guests mark it off on their bingo card.
If the gifts are from a registry then this will make the bingo cards easier to create. However you can get pre-written ones online with generic baby gifts written on them.
What Did You Say?
Give the parents to be a list of questions that they have to write down their answers to. On the day, the guests are invited to write down what they think the parents to be would have answered.
For example:
‘Who talked about pregnancy first’
‘Who will spoil the child’
‘Who suggested the baby’s name’
‘Who will wake up at night with the baby’
Wishes For The Baby
This is a tender game that will surely get the parents dewy-eyed. The guests will be invited to fill in a printed list of uncompleted wishes for the baby.
For example,
‘I hope you learn…’
‘I hope you find….’
‘I hope you get your Mom/Dad’s…’
‘I hope you become…’
The guests could write humorous answers or sentimental ones. Once finished, everyone will vote for the best answers and the person with the highest scoring answers wins!
How much?
You can either create a catalog of various different baby items or print one from online. The goal is for the guests to guess how much the item is, or a price closest possible to the actual price, they write it down on their paper and whoever has the most correct predictions wins!
Possible Prize Ideas
So now you’ve had a chance to think about the games, you will probably need to think about some exciting prizes that can be used as incentives! You can either choose to hand make these prizes at home using your craft skills or buy them for convenience.
Or you can combine different items to make one prize. For example, a soft toy teddy (maybe in the color of the gender reveal!) holding a small bud vase with some garden picked flowers tied together with a ribbon.
You could also use the baby shower as an opportunity to encourage sustainability by giving your winner a bag of multiple seeds as the prize which might encourage them to plant their own fruits and vegetables.
How about something a little more practical and inexpensive? Such as a stainless steel tumbler or a kitchen item that that can be used on a more regular basis?
A BBQ master’s gift set would surely brew eagerness in a lot of guests! Similarly a self care kit could also prove to be a hit or the ever popular assorted loose leaf tea set.
What about a positive thinking book to spread some optimism? You could also add some humor to the games with a funny T-shirt?
There are many prize options out there which you can pick from depending on your budget and the interests of your guests. If you decide to pick 2 or 3 games, then you can afford to splurge a little on the prizes but if you intend on playing more then it would be financially preferable to restrict the cost per prize to a smaller budget.
Parting Thoughts
The list of ideas is endless!
Once you have decided on the venue and the theme for your baby shower, it will be easier to decide which games you want to add to the day’s program. How many and which games you choose depends on where your venue is, your guests’ preferences and their age range, as well as the budget and time constraints.
Finally, don’t forget, the goal is to make the baby shower a memorable event and to have lots of fun!