Soon after finding out you are pregnant and announcing the exciting news to family and friends, it’s usually common for a close friend, a co-worker, or a relative to organize and begin planning your baby shower. A baby shower is a way to celebrate the expected or delivered birth of a child by presenting gifts to the mother at a party or small gathering.
If you are the lucky friend/co-worker or family member assigned to the task of organising, planning and executing the games that will be played at the baby shower, then fear not, we have you covered. No one wants their guests to be bored at any event, especially one that may not include bubbly (as the mother to be won’t be able to enjoy a glass herself) so making sure you have games to keep your guests excited, entertained and enjoying themselves can be a daunting task. We have done the research for you and have put together a list of games, new and classic, that will keep all your guests – big and small – entertained.
Sperm in a Hole
Keep scrolling through if the theme of your baby shower is one of class and sophistication. Look no further if your shower consists of cheeky, laid back women who like to have a bit of a dirty giggle. Here’s a game to get all the girls laughing. As the name of the game suggests, the objective is to get the sperm bean bag/toy into the hole. Whoever has best aim and gets the most sperms into the hole is the winner! The choice of ‘hole’ is totally up to you, you can make a wooden box with a hole cut from it or get creative and use everyday items such as your wheelbarrow or even your older children’s soccer goal. If you are totally prepared and are up for the challenge, you can even sew your own sperm bean bag. Search for a sperm template and using a bit of felt and stitching, make a sperm that will go with the theme of your shower, if not here’s one already done for you.
Dirty Diapers Game
No new Mom likes her first dirty diaper experience, no one seems to mention just how sticky and stinky the first poo can be to an unsuspecting, first time Mom. This gross but sweetly satisfying game will give you an insight to your first dirty diaper. Place several types of melted chocolate candies in newborn-sized diapers (or folded napkins). Make sure you have many types and consistencies of chocolate to represent different poo: milky, creamy, nutty and caramel-filled. Pass the diapers around and have each person sniff and lick the gooey 'poo' centers in order to guess which brand of candy bar is in each diaper. The person with the best nose and stomach for chocolatey-tasting 'poos', wins!
Pregnant Twister
This game will get everyone up and having a good time with lots of laughs! Everybody loves Twister, that’s no secret, but to go with the theme of having a baby, this Twister gets a little interesting! Following the original Twister rules but pretending every player is pregnant, makes it all the more difficult and uncomfortable!
You'll Need
- One Twister game
- Small weights
- Pillows
- Fanny packs
Rules of the Game
- The pregnant mom-to-be will sit this one out and act as the judge.
- Give each guest a pillow, a fanny pack, and a set of weights. Have each guest put the weights in their fanny pack and strap the pack and pillow around her waist.
- Play Twister with the extra weight!
- Last one standing is the winner.
What are the Baby Items?
Test your guest’s knowledge and their sense of touch with this simple yet quirky game. Purchase and place at least ten common, useful and fairly inexpensive baby items inside a diaper bag for e.g. a bib, bottle, teething ring, book, diaper, baby food, baby toy, onesie etc. Give each guest a pen and paper before passing the diaper bag around. Without looking, each person should stick a hand inside the bag and identify as many items as possible. Give each person two minutes to feel around and make their guesses before moving the bag to the next person. Once everyone has had a turn, find out who had the most correct answers. The winner gets a prize and the parents-to-be get the diaper bag filled with baby essentials!
Guess Who?
If your shower invite list includes a number of people that may only know the mother to be, then having games that may help with breaking the ice is a great idea. This game will do just that. Be sure to request in your invitation that all guests bring a baby photo of themselves along to the shower. These photos will be collected upon arrival and a number placed to each photo. The photos will then be hung up and a piece of paper with each guests’ name written and numbered, along with a pen will be given to each guest. The task for the guests will be to guess which baby photo belongs to which guest. Give the guests 10 minutes to match the baby photos to the guests and the person with the most correct answers is the winner!
Don’t say BABY!
Don’t be fooled by this game, as it’s easy to slip up! This game is harder than it sounds! The aim of the game is to not say the word “baby” for the entire length of the baby shower. One slip of the word could cost you the win! Each guest is given a baby safety pin or peg on arrival to the shower. There is only one rule given and that is you cannot say the word “baby”, if you are heard saying the word then whoever caught you will then get to take your pin/peg. Don’t stress, you have the entire shower to gain back your pin and others by paying close attention to what people are saying and be sure to catch out anyone who utters the word “baby”. The person with the most pins/pegs at the end of the shower is the winner!
Guess Mom’s Measurements
This is an oldy but a goody! If you have ever attended a baby shower before then you have likely played this game. It is as simple as the name suggests. Each guest is given string that they are to use to guess the size of Moms’ growing bump. This actually sounds easier than you think. Without being able to wrap the string around Mom just yet, you are to guess the measurement by looking only at her bump! Once everyone has cut the string to the length they assume is correct then Mom will come around to each guest to be measured by their string. Whoever has cut the string closest to Mom’s measurements is the winner!
Birthing Babies
This game is great to get the kids to join in as well for a bit of fun! The night before your shower, freeze a bunch of ice cubes with tiny plastic babies in the center. When guests arrive, drop an ice cube into a cup of water and present to each person. As time ticks by, the ice begins to melt and the baby is closer and closer to its due date! Whoever has a baby first, wins.
Drink It like a Baby!
This game is fun for all ages and always a hilarious hit with the guests! Everyone loves a beverage or two at any party and a baby shower is no exception. Fill up baby bottles with the beverage of your choice – juice for kids and beer for the grown-ups. Then, give everyone a baby bottle – teat and all- and on the count of three they must suck the bottles dry as quickly as possible. The person to down the contents of their bottle first wins! Watch out adults, the kids might kick butt in this one!
Guess the Baby Food
Looking for a tasty baby shower game? Test your taste buds with a baby-food guessing game. Gather seven to ten unique flavors of baby food jars, number each lid and tear off the labels. Ask each guest to grab a spoon and start sampling! The person who guesses the most flavors correctly wins!
Feed The Baby
Get out the bibs for your guests and have them drooling food, making messes and laughing uncontrollably with this baby shower game. Divide the party into teams of two. Each team is given a jar of applesauce and two small spoons. One team at a time, you'll blindfold the pair and have the team members feed the applesauce to one another at the same time. Clock each team's time. The fastest duo to finish their applesauce wins. Of course, the best part is watching everyone spill and dribble all over themselves! Don’t forget to get the kids to join in!
Pin the sperm on the egg
If the kids are being kept occupied in the other room or your organising a child free, girls only baby shower, then this game is a must! There is nothing funnier than going back to the basics of how this baby on the way, was made! If your guests are up for lots of laughs and giggles, then look no further. Pin the Sperm on the egg is a must play. The objective of the game is as the name suggests – the guests are to be blind folded and given cut outs of sperm, with their eyes covered they are to try and pin the sperm on the ‘egg’. The person who gets their sperm closest to the egg is the winner!
Guess the Baby Song
Test your guests song knowledge with this ‘Guess the Baby Song’ game. Put together a playlist of any songs you know that use the word “babe or baby” either in their lyrics or as their title. Here are some examples:
- "Baby One More Time" - Britney Spears
- "Baby Boy" - Beyonce
- "Baby, Baby" - Amy Grant
- "Be My Baby" - The Ronettes
- "Baby Love" - The Supremes
- "American Baby" - Dave Matthews Band
- "Always Be My Baby" - Mariah Carey
- "I'm Your Baby Tonight" - Whitney Houston
- "My Baby You" - Marc Anthony
- "Can't Get Enough of Your Lave, Babe" - Barry White
- "Baby I Love Your Way" - Peter Frampton
- "I Got You Babe" - Sonny and Cher
- "It Ain't Me, Babe" - Bob Dylan
- "Don't Worry Baby" - The Beach Boys
- "Babe" – STYX
- “Hey Ya!” – OutKast
Give all your guests pens and paper and have them listen to a minute or so of the song being played – ask them to guess either the title or the singer of the song and to write it down. After all songs have been played check to see which guest got the most answers correct.
Diaper that Baby!
Every new parent needs to know how to diaper a baby, right? Of course. But what happens when you run out of diapers. That’s when parents have to become resourceful. This game forces your guest to use their Macgyver-like parenting skills to work. Simply round up two or three similar shaped plastic dolls. Bring guest up a couple at a time. Explain that they have to “diaper” the baby, but they are out of diapers. Give each contestant something that is similar to, but not quite exactly like a diaper. Think about things such as paper towels, newspapers, cloth napkins, t-shirts, or even toilet tissue. Each contestant must not only “diaper” the doll, but the diaper has to stay on when the doll is lifted from the playing surface. The first player to achieve this wins the heat and the next two players come forward. Continue playing by pitting winners against each other until one champion emerges.
Baby Gift Bingo
It’s always exciting to open gifts, especially if you are the one on the receiving end. Keep everyone else interested with this bingo game. Simply create a five block by five block grid. Put a free space in the middle, just like any other bingo board. If you have access to the gift registry, you can fill the other blocks with gifts that you know, or suspect, will be unwrapped. If you don’t know the exact gifts, try putting in vaguer clues such as “A gift that is yellow,” or “Something needed for a bath.” Make sure that you mix up the gifts so that each board is different. Then as each gift is opened, encourage guests to check off a block that corresponds with the gift. The first guest to complete a bingo line wins a bingo-themed gift such as a lucky Bingo bracelet.
Baby Face
Who doesn’t love those cute little faces. And they’re so easy to draw, right? Not so fast. For this game you will need a pad of paper and a pencil for each player. Hand them out and ask them to draw a baby face. However, before they put pen to paper, tell your guests about the catch. They have to put the pad of paper on top of their head. They try to draw a baby face without seeing the lines. Let laughter flow when everyone shares their “masterpieces.” Vote on the best and the worst drawings and give each a prize. Maybe coloring books would help them “stay in the lines?”
Baby Names. Think you know babies? Try out this game. Make a list of the animal names on side of the paper and lines for your guests to answer on the other. The guest with the most correct answers can win a lovely baby animal of their own. Feel free to choose from the list below:
- Cat Kitten
- Dog Puppy
- Whale Calf
- Llama Cria
- Fox Kit
- Pig Shoat
- Trout Fingerling
- Buffalo Calf
- Jellyfish Ephyra
- Oyster Spat
- Platypus Puggle
- Swan Cygnat
- Hare Leveret
- Frog Tadpole or Pollywog
- Grasshopper Nymph
- Falcon Eyas
- Bear cub
- Salmon Smolt
- Antelope Kid
- Elephant Calf