There is no getting around it — baby showers can quickly turn into a waste of a perfectly good afternoon if you’re not properly prepared or you put someone in charge who doesn’t know how to work a room. It’s 2019 and the days of having a cake, a bowl of punch, and opening gifts while everyone eagerly checks the clock are long gone.
When planning a fun, exciting, and memorable baby shower, you have to find ways to keep your guests’ attention and make sure the shower is anything but boring, cheesy, and annoying.
Here are just a few baby shower game ideas that will make your guests never want to leave.
How Many Games Should People Play?
A typical baby shower will last anywhere from 2 to 3 hours, so you’ll probably be able to fit a handful of games in before your guests start losing attention or tire themselves out. Too many games and guests might feel overwhelmed or like they’re rushing from activity to activity. Too few, and the Try to find games that take no more than 10 or 15 minutes in order keep up the pace and make sure you still have time to serve snacks, open gifts, and let people awkwardly touch the mother-to-be’s “baby bump.”
Speaking of baby bumps…
Take Bets On The Delivery Date
By the time the baby shower takes place, the expecting mother will more than likely have a delivery window, but the actual delivery date can be anyone’s guess. Here’s a way to add a little more fun to the guess and allow guests to get in on the fun too.
How To Play
To start off, have everyone at the party guess the due date, with one person keeping track of the guesses. Have someone secure the list once all of the guesses have been written down. This person will have to keep ahold of the list until the baby is born a few months later.
Since the winner won’t be named until the baby is born, this game can be played by placing the list by the gifts or the front of the party.
You can make things fun by making the prize a gift card, bottle of wine, or even have a buy-in where the winner takes the pooled cash.
Guess The “Poo”
The mom-to-be is going to be changing a lot of diapers in a few months, so why not prepare her (and the other guests) by having a game where everyone has to guess the “poo” in a lineup of diapers.
How To Play
This disgusting, yet amusing, game is played by melting different types of chocolate bars and placing them in diapers. The guests will then guess which chocolate bar is which. Whoever correctly guesses the most “poo” is declared the winner.
Pregnant Twister
This game involves much more than just the pregnant mother twisting and contorting herself to amuse her friends and family. No, this one involves the guests as well thanks to fake baby bellies.
How To Play
Pregnant Twister is more fun than it sounds and outside of fake baby bellies (you can always use small pillows) and the classic Hasbro game, there’s not much that you will need. The mom-to-be can play or sit this one out as she watches all of her non-pregnant friends learn how hard it is to get around with a baby bump all the time.
The Classic “Water Breaking” Game
No, this is not a game where the guests wait for the expecting mother’s water to finally break — that would be one long party if they did. Only miniature plastic babies are involved here.
How To Play
The night before the baby shower, take tiny plastic babies that are commonly found in King Cakes and freeze them individually in ice cubes. During the party either have all of the guests hold the frozen babies in their hands or in a cup (just depends on how much fun you want to have). The guest whose ice melts first yells out “My water broke!“
Baby Bottle Bowling
Who said bowling had to be reserved for bowling alley? Bring the fun of bowling to the world of baby showers with this fun spin on the old game with baby bottles as the pins.
How To Play
To play baby bottle bowling all you need is 10 baby bottles (have the guests bring bottles as gifts) and fill them with sand. Everyone can take turns rolling a small ball towards the bottles and the person who has the most points after a few rounds is declared the winner.
Decorating Onesies
This is more of an activity than it is a game, but it’s still a fun way to bring out the creativity at the baby shower.
How To Play
It’s like arts and crafts at summer camp but with alcohol. Have everyone sit around a table and come up with different ways to decorate onesies. You can make things really fun by getting onesies in different sizes so that the baby will have beautifully tacky clothes for months to come.
Name The Baby
Chances are, the mom-to-be has already decided on a name or two depending what she is having, but that shouldn’t stop her friends and family from coming up with all sorts of crazy names.
How To Play
Hand out small strips of paper and have everyone write down a name or two. After everyone has submitted their names, read them aloud and see which one is the funniest, strangest, or has the most unnecessary use of “Y.”
The “Baby Face” Game
If you want to make things really weird and then some, try the “Baby Face” game for a spin.
How To Play:
This will take a bit of prep work in the days leading up to the shower, but it’s worth it in the end. Take a photo of the mom and dad’s faces, blow them up, and then cut them into strips.
On the day of the shower, have the guests mix and match the different strips to create a single image that may or may not show what the baby will look like.
Best Prizes To Give Out
But what do you give the winners of each of the games? You could give out prizes for each gam or tally points and give out one big prize at the end. Here are a few prizes that will be suitable for the winner no matter which format you choose.
- DIY Dish Towels
- Hand-Painted Planters
- Seed Bombs
- Wine Set
- Gift Certificates
- More Wine
Whatever you decide on, make sure the games are creative and fun so you make your baby shower one to remember.