Baby Shower Games

With a few well-chosen games, you can help your guests have fun, especially when it's a mixed group that doesn't know each other well. Games can help break the ice between guests that don't know one another. And even if the guests know each other very well, games can create a few unexpected memories of the party.

When choosing your games, the most important thing to remember is that you shouldn't do anything that will make the guest of honor feel uncomfortable or self-concious.

ou'll also need to decide whether you'll be awarding prizes for the winners of these games. The prizes don't need to be anything large, just something to make the winner feel like they've won. Prizes could be small candles, sachets,boxes of note cards,candy bars,refrigerator magnets, etc.

• Baby word games. Word games are a popular activity to do while sipping on punch and eating cake. These games might include anagrams, word searches, crossword puzzles, even Mad Libs, all with a baby theme. You can build your own word searches at Word Search Fun or use ones other people have made. Or make your own crossword with a Crossword Puzzle Maker.

• Baby photo game. Have each guest bring a baby picture to the party (or collect the pictures beforehand). Each guest then has to guess which baby face goes with which guest.

• Baby name game. Starting with the letter A, work your way around the room, with each person in turn saying a name that begins with that letter of the alphabet. A person is eliminated when they can’t think of a name within, say, 10 seconds.

• Guess the girth. This shower game is a real classic, but don’t try it if mommy-to-be is sensitive about how much weight she’s gained. Using a roll of toilet paper or a spool of ribbon, each guest guesses how much will be needed to go around mommy’s stomach, and then each person gets to see how close (or far off) they were.

• Memory game. Place 30 or 40 items related to babies (diapers, pacifiers, toys, bottles, etc.) on a tray. Let guests look at the tray for two or three minutes, then take it away and have them write down as many things as they can remember.

• Baby food taste test. Get a variety of baby foods and have each person taste them and see if they can figure out what food its made out of. If you have a big crowd (or want your friends to still be speaking to you after the party) you can have them smell the food instead of tasting it.

• The “poop” game. Admittedly, this one is pretty gross. Take some diapers (disposable or not) and fill them with different items (crushed candy bars, mustard, cake, pudding, etc.) and see if guests can guess what they are.

• Counting contest. Put jelly beans or candies in a glass baby bottle (count as you put them in) and have guests guess how many pieces are inside. The winner gets to take home the candy.

• Baby betting pool. This is a game you won’t know the result of for a while, but have the guests guess what day the baby will be born, whether it’s a boy or a girl (if the parents don’t know), what time of day it will be born and the weight and length. If you want to collect money for the bet, use it to buy a gift for the new parents, but you can also give the winner some sort of prize.

• Advice game. Pick some action that you want to carry the game through the party, like someone sitting in a certain spot, holding a plate or standing. Set a timer to go off every 15 or 20 minutes and whoever is doing whatever your secret action was has to give the new parents a piece of advice.

• Clothespin games. At the beginning of the shower, give each guest one to four clothespins and have them put them on their clothes. Then announce the rule for the shower, something like guests can’t say the word “baby” or the name of the coming child, or they can’t cross their legs, whatever you want. Whenever someone catches someone else doing the thing that’s not allowed, she can take one of that person’s clothespins. The person with the most clothespins at the end gets a prize.

• Crafty baby games. Buy a terrycloth bath hoddie, some onesies or baby T-shirts and an assortment of fabric pens. Have each guest sign, draw, or write a special message on the item. Alternatively, you could have all the guest sign a picture frame or a scrapbook page, or have guests decorate scrapbook pages mommy can use in her baby book.

This is a good game to play among a close group of friends.
When guests arrive at the shower, ask everyone to write on a small piece of paper some little know fact about themselves or talent they had as a child. After the hostess collects all the papers, she reads each one out loud. The group tries to guess who wrote the fun fact, giving reasons why they think they're right. The game goes on until all facts have been attributed to their right persons.

Bottoms Up
This is basically a dice game using the little "sitting" babies you can get at cake decorating stores. Put them (maybe 8-10) in a cup and shake just as if "shooting" dice. If you get "two bottoms up" you win. I bet you could also see who gets the most "bottoms up" and call it "bottoms up". It's not as easy as it sounds!!

Diaper Race
I have a fun baby shower game. It's called the diapering race. Here's how you play: blindfold the contestants and provide each with a baby-sized doll or teddy bear, then time them as they diaper the "babies." This game simulates the experience most parents have when they change their babies diaper at two o'clock in the morning.