THE STRING GAME
Pass a ball of string and a pair of scissors around to each guest and have them cut off a length of string they think represents the size of the guest of honour’s pregnant belly. Take each piece of string and put it around her belly. The winner is the person whose string is the closest to the actual size. A variation of this game is to use rolls of toilet paper and count the number of ‘squares’.
PIN THE BABY IN THE WOMB
Kind of like Pin the Tail on the Donkey except for this you’ll need a large picture of a woman with a nice circle drawn where her womb would be and guests each get a little baby cutout that they need to stick (while blindfolded) in the circle. The winner is the guest who gets the closest.
PIN THE BABY ON THE STORK
Pretty much the same as Pin the Baby in the Womb except this time you’ll need to find a large picture of a stork and a some smaller ‘baby’ images to stick on as close as possible. The winner is the guest who gets the closest.
BABY ITEM BINGO
This is bingo but with baby items instead of numbers on the bingo cards. If you haven’t played bingo before it is quite simple. You need bingo cards for each player and a master list of words. Cut out the words from the master list and drop them in a hat. Hand out the bingo cards and a pen to each player. Draw the words out one at a time and read them out. If the word appears on the player’s card they cross it off and call ‘BABY BINGO’ when they’ve crossed out a full line – horizontally, diagonally or vertically.
PRINT: Download and print out our free Baby Bingo Baby Shower Game Cards
GUESS THE JELLY BABIES IN THE BOTTLE
This game is a good one to have as a Lucky Door Prize. Have a bottle or glass jar filled with Jelly Babies at the front door where you greet guests as they arrive. Make sure YOU know how many lollies are in the jar and have guest write down their guess when they first arrive. The winner is the person who guesses correctly or is the closest guess.
FROZEN BABY BIRTH
Freeze some Jelly Babies in ice cube trays and hand out the frozen ice cubes to your guests to suck on. The first one to ‘give birth’ to their baby wins! A variation of this is to hand out little plastic shot glasses with the jelly baby frozen in water and guests have to guess what time their baby will be born (ie. melt). The closest guess wins.
GUESS THE BABY FOOD
Blindfold your guests and have them taste different flavours of baby food and guess which each of them are. The person who guesses the most correct is the winner.
DON’T CROSS YOUR LEGS!
It is said that pregnant women should not cross their legs! So the guest must remember to not cross their legs in sympathy for the guest of honour. Give each person a peg or safety pin or similar item at the start of the party and if they’re caught crossing their legs they must hand the peg to the person who caught them. The winner is the guest with the most pegs.
NAPPY CHANGE GAME
Each guest gets a nappy and a doll or stuffed animal. Have them race to see who can put the nappy on quickest. Make them old-school nappies with pins for an extra challenge!
BABY ANIMAL QUIZ
Do you know your pups from your kittens? If your alpaca had babies would you know what to call them? Your guests probably won’t either. Try this quick Baby Animal Quiz to puzzle them. The winner is the guest with the most answers correct.
PRINT: Download and print out our free Baby Animal Quiz for your baby shower
WHO’S THE DUMMY?
Hand each guest a dummy on a ribbon to hang around their neck. The idea of this game is to avoid at all costs saying the word ‘baby’. If you are heard by someone else saying BABY they take your dummy. Whoever ends up with the most dummies around their neck at the end wins!
MESSAGE IN A NAPPY
This one is not technically a game but a nice idea. Have disposable nappies and a permanent marker and ask the guests to write little messages on the front of the nappy so the mum and dad can have a smile when changing their new baby’s nappy.
THE MULTI-TASKING MUMMA
String up a line, have everyone have a turn to see how quickly the can put up two cloth nappies with pegs while pretending to talk on a mobile phone and hold a baby at the same time (use a doll or something else – obviously not a real baby). The guest who is the fastest wins.
THE NURSERY RHYME GAME
Find a book of nursery rhymes and take a line from each one. Have guests guess which nursery rhyme the line is from. Some are easy, for example ‘how I wonder what you are’ (Twinkle Twinkle) but some are harder, such as ‘the cupboard was bare’ (Old Mother Hubbard).
THE DIRTY NAPPY GAME
This one is funny but a bit gross. You’ll need some nappies and the same number of different chocolate bars. Squish each chocolate bar (they’ll have to be a bit melted) in a different nappy. Pass the nappies around the room and guests have to guess what chocolate bar it is, eg Mars Bar, Picnic, whatever ones you choose. They might have to give them a smell to see which ones they are – so make sure you have a camera ready too! The winner is the person with the most guesses correct.
CELEBRITY BABY NAMES
Each player has a card with a list of famous people on it and the host has a corresponding list of baby names. The host reads from their list and each player must write the baby name next to their famous parent. The player with the most number correct wins a prize! You can create your own list or download ours below…
PRINT: Download and print out our free Baby Shower Celebrity Baby Quiz
BABY MEMORY GAME
Have 20 baby items or so (some kind of strange ones too) that people get 30 seconds to look at and memorise – then they get taken away or covered and see who can remember the most items.
BOTTLE BOWLING
Just like ten-pin bowling but with baby bottles!
THE BABY PHOTO GAME
Ask each guest to bring a photo of themselves as a baby and then put them on display somewhere at the baby shower. Put numbers on the back. Have each guest write down who they think each person is. The person with the most correct wins.
DRESS THE BABY
Have guests dress a doll or a stuffed toy with one hand behind their back. Time them or have it as a race. The guest who is the quickest wins.
THE A-Z OF BABIES GAME
Divide guests into small groups or pairs and have each group come up with a baby item that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Each group takes turns to read out their list and any items that another group has listed is crossed off. The group with the most left at the end (therefore the most unique) wins. A variation of this is to do a baby name for each letter.
DIRTY NAPPY LUCKY DOOR PRIZE
Give each guest a wrapped up nappy (as if it has been used) when they arrive. At some point in the party ask guests to open their nappy and the one with the dirty nappy (put mustard or something similar in one) wins!
BABY FIND-A-WORD
Hand out a Baby Find-a-Word card and a pen to each guest. Make sure they start at the same time. The first guest to find and circle all the words in the puzzle must shout ‘Baby!’ and have the correctly answered sheet to win.
PRINT: Download and print out our free Baby Shower Find-A-Word Puzzle
THE DUMMY SPIT
Give each guest a dummy and have the spit them out – the guest with the dummy that goes the furthest wins the prize.
BRING A BEAD
Another one that isn’t really a game but a nice gesture for the mum-to-be. Every guest brings a bead from home and then each guest puts their bead onto the thread while making a wish for the baby. The mum-to-be is left with a really meaningful necklace.
BABY PRICE IS RIGHT
Put a number of baby items on a tray and everyone has to guess how much they cost. The person who guesses the closest wins.
BABY WORD JUMBLE
Write down 10 or so baby-related words, but jumble up the letters, and guests have to work out what the words are meant to be.
BABY NAME MEANINGS
Find out the meanings of all the first names of the people attending the shower. Write down the names on the left side of a piece of paper and the meanings on the right side. But mix up the order so the names and meanings aren’t matched up. Make copies for everyone and hand them out at the shower. You can let guests take their time or set your stopwatch and give them just a few minutes to match up the names with their correct meanings. Whoever gets the most right is the winner.
MAKE A BABY
Have guests create a baby – either from play dough or drawing one with their eyes shut. You can all judge the winner!
CHINESE WHISPERS – BABY TIPS
Do you remember how to play Chinese Whispers? All stand in a row and the person on the end whispers something to the person next to them and so on. By the end of the line the message isn’t quite as it started. This one doesn’t really have a winner. It is just a bit of fun. Rotate the line so each guest has a turn at being at the start – but make sure the guest of honour is always at the end. Have each guest give their best parenting or baby tip and have fun seeing how it turns out at the other end!
DRINK IT UP!
See which guest is the fastest at drinking water (or something else!) from a baby bottle.
BIRTHDAY CARD TIME CAPSULES
Another nice idea rather than a game. Buy birthday cards for each birthday (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc) and hand one to each guest. They get to write a nice message for the baby on each one – tailored appropriately for the age they will be.
This article has been republished with permission from the bub hub crew. You can read the original article at The Bub Hub.
