Throwing a baby shower for a friend with a baby bump can be a lot of fun! Celebrating her new child and “showering” the mom-to-be with gifts and necessities for the baby is a wonderful way to make her feel special and loved. Most guests enjoy playing 3 to 5 games, any more and they may lose interest. Planning baby shower games takes some creativity – but we’ve got that covered. If you choose to hand out prizes, making them small and baby-themed is a nice touch.
What Am I?
This is a great icebreaker game! As each guest arrives, pin a card on their back. These cards will each read a word that is baby-related, such as “diaper”, “pacifier”, or “bottle”. Guests will go around asking each other a series of yes-or-no questions about which word is on their back, trying to guess. This is a great way for those who don’t know one another to meet. Once someone guesses their word, they may remove the card or pin it to the front
Don’t Drop the Baby!
Guests are given a hard-boiled egg to decorate. Glue-backed felt cut-outs, stick-on googly eyes, and stick-on rhinestones adhere well to eggs, and paint pens or thick-nib sharpies can be used to write or draw on the shells (other types of markers will smear). Once the egg “babies” are decorated, have guests line up with a spoon, carrying their baby egg in the spoon “stroller” to the finish line. The winner can get a prize – a plastic egg full of candy is a fun touch.
Baby Gift Bingo
As the shower hostess, ask the mom-to-be for a list of her baby registry. (If she doesn’t have one, then make a list of commonly gifted shower items). Using a blank BINGO grid, put a small picture of each item on the registry in each square. Mix these up, and feel free to use a smaller grid, so each card is unique. Hand out a card to each guest, along with a stamper or sheet of stickers, and as Mom opens each gift, the guests check it against their BINGO cards. First one with a BINGO wins!
Diaper Bag Shuffle
This game will resonate with new moms everywhere. Gather 10 to 12 items that are commonly placed in a diaper bag. Pass the bag around to each guest, who has two minutes to feel around and guess the items. The guest will write down what they think is in the bag – no peeking! – and then pass it to the next person. The guest with the most correct answers wins!
Diaper Relay
Assemble guests into two teams. Each team has one baby doll, diapered and either swaddled in a receiving blanket or dressed in a full outfit. To start, one member from each team undresses the baby, removes the diaper, wipes the baby’s bottom, re-diapers the baby, and puts the clothing back on or re-swaddles the baby. The baby is then passed to the next member of the team, who repeats the process. The baby is passed down the line to each member until one team finishes first.
Dirty Diaper!
You will need a small pack of newborn diapers and an assortment of fun-sized candy bars. Number each diaper and place one unwrapped candy bar in each diaper, softening it to a gooey consistency. Try to purchase an array of different textures and fillings – nuts, cream centers, crunchy. The “dirty diapers” are passed around to each guest, who will write down which “number two” candy they think each diaper is. The guest with the most correct answers wins! A candy bar bouquet is a funny prize for this game.
Bobbing For Nipples
If you’re throwing a co-ed baby shower, this one is a hilarious game for the men. Fill up buckets with water and several baby bottle nipples in each. Line up the men, with their hands tied behind their backs. On “Go!” each guy will bob for the nipples, placing them into a small bowl beside their bucket. They have two minutes to grab as many as they can. The winning guy can win a prize – maybe a small bottle of Bourbon placed inside a baby bottle!
The Price is Right!
Cut out or print off photos of common baby items. These can include anything from furniture to packs of diapers to baby food and toys. Have each guest guess the actual retail price of each item without going over – the closest one wins! To keep things fair, you can pull the prices from a national retailer’s website. Another option is to have guests divide into teams and determine the price, Family Feud-style. Each guest can win, or the team with the most correct guesses can win.
Diaper Raffle
Announce to the guests attending that a special prize will be raffled off at the end of the baby shower. Guests may “purchase” a raffle ticket with a packet of diapers. They may have as many tickets as they like, as long as they “pay” for the ticket with diapers! This is a great game for a second or third baby shower when you want to celebrate the new baby, but Mom and Dad already have plenty of baby gear and clothing.
Onesie Decor
If your guests have an artistic or crafty, bent, this is a great game that gives Mom many lasting memories. Purchase enough plain white onesies for each guest. Stretch the onesies over thick cardboard and provide puffy paint, decorative felt, markers, and stick-on ribbon for guests to decorate onesies for the new baby. Be careful, though – don’t put out stick-on gems, buttons, or anything else that baby could pick off and put in their mouth! Mom will have cute outfits to treasure from all her friends.