Fun baby shower games and ideas
1) Birth the ball!
With a ping pong ball and balloon in hand for each person, have a go at creating your own contractions and 'birthing the ball'. The first person to deliver theirs without bursting the balloon wins! See here for the How To.
2) Babies' Bloomers
Played like the classic Pass the Parcel, the guests are told the prize inside is a pair of bloomers which must be worn by whomever is left opening the last parcel. The desperation for people to pass along the parcel and not get caught holding it is hilarious - and the twist at the end is that it's not actually a pair of baby bloomers, but a lei of flower blooms!
3) Guess Mum's Tummy Size (you'll need string and scissors)
Have each woman pull the yarn to the size they believe would fit perfectly around the Mother-To-Be's center of her pregnant tummy. After everyone cuts their string, compare the results to the Mummy-To-Be's actual tummy. Give a prize to the woman who is the most close! This is a baby shower favorite.
4) Can you guess? game
Get each guest to complete a questionnaire trying to guess what the soon-to-be arrival will look like, weigh, the Big Date and more.
For a copy of this as shown in OHbaby! magazine see the attached PDF's.
BLACK AND WHITE QUESTIONNAIRE
5) Never say "baby": Have each guest place a necklace made of safety pins around her neck when she arrives at the party, and explain the rules: whenever someone says the word "baby" during the shower, anyone who calls it out gets a pin from the other guest who said the word. At the end of the baby shower, the person with the most pins wins a prize.
Materials: String, or yarn, and baby safety pins, or another type of baby object you can place on a string for each guest and the host, as well as string or yarn, enough for everyone to wear as a necklace.
6) How Many Baby Items Can You Name: (you'll need a pad of paper and a pen for each guest). Have each woman write down as many baby products as they can name (bottle, blanket, pacifier, etc) within five minutes. It's easy at the beginning, but towards the last few minutes, the guests will start wracking their brains for more :) Give a prize to the person who names the most items!
7) Guess The Food: (you'll need jars of baby food, pads of paper and pens). Take the labels off of the baby food jars and have the guests guess the food (carrots, peas, sweet potato). It's most fun with at least 10 jars of different kinds of foods. If there is a draw at the end, blindfold the guests and have them taste one of the jars and guess the right flavor to win their prize.
Another very popular version of this is to place a variety of flavours of (slightly melted) chocolate bars into nappies and have the guests try and figure out the different flavours!
8) Guess How Many Safety Pins: (you'll need safety pins and an empty jar). Pass around a jar full of baby safety pins. The one who guesses the closest wins a baby shower prize. A baby shower game favorite!
You can also add cute clothes pins by getting a few packs and using them for the baby shower game, then spreading them around the tables as decorations!
9) Place The Baby On The Mummy: (you'll need cutouts of a baby, tape and a blindfold). Another one of our favourite baby shower games is the baby shower version of Pin The Tail on the Donkey. Blindfold each participant and then give them a paper baby to then approach the mum and place the baby as close to the tummy as possible. The one who gets closest to placing the paper baby on the pregnant tummy wins.
10) Bottle Races: (you'll need baby bottles with milk or an alternate drink). Have each participant take a bottle filled with a liquid and suck the bottle as a baby would. The person who drinks the most in an allotted time wins the baby shower gift. It may be a little embarrassing, but once you see everyone doing it, it's quite a laugh!
11) Baby Bingo: (you'll need pens, pre-printed Bingo cards showing the numbers of how many people attend the baby shower). Prior to opening the baby shower gifts, number each gift on the box starting with one. If you know that 15 people will be attending your shower, pre-print bingo cards with numbers 1-15 and randomly place them on 15 cards. When the mummy-to-be decides to open the presents, she grabs the present she wants to open and reads the number out loud. As soon as someone receives Bingo, they win the baby shower game and the baby shower prize.
12) 'B' is for Baby: (you'll need paper and pens). Each guest is told to write the name of the baby's Mum and Dad-to-be on paper, going vertically down the page. Next to each letter of both names, create a word that is baby-related or something that babies like. An example of using the names Kim and Dan:
K= kite D=drool
I= ice cream A=alphabet
M= mother N=nap
The one who guesses the most words that are the same as the mother-to-be wins a prize.
13) Guess the Baby Item: (you'll need random baby products and a blindfold). A bag of baby items are placed in front of the mother-to-be for her to take one item out at a time blindfolded and tell her baby shower guests what item she has in her hands. This is really fun baby shower game when you choose some crazy baby toys or products.
14) Guess the Baby Pictures: Ask for everyone's pictures prior to the baby shower. Have all the pictures in a collage and make lines for people to fill in who they think the babies are out of the guests at the baby shower. If most don't know each other, just have the pictures of the mother, mother-in-law, sisters, and mummy-to-be. See how many people guess right. You can make copies of the baby picture collage to see how many can guess right!
15) Baby Scrambler: Another fun baby shower game is to choose around 25 baby-related items and scramble the spelling. For instance, pacifier can be changed to reiifpca. Have the guests unscramble the words. The one who gets the most right in 5 minutes receives a prize.
16) Baby Song List: (you'll need a pad of paper and pen for each woman). Have each woman write down in 5 minutes all the songs that have baby in their titles (ie, Baby Love, Santa Baby...). You can make it harder by stating that you also have to name who wrote the songs! A baby shower favourite!
17) Blindfold Nappy Change: (you'll need a blindfold, baby lifesize doll(s), nappies). One of the funniest baby shower games is for the women break into teams (up to five persons per team). Each team has a doll, blindfold and nappies. The object is for each participant to place the blindfold on, take the current nappy off the doll and place the new one on while blindfolded. After the first person finshes changing the nappy, they run to the next team-mate who places the blindfold on and has to do the same. The first team to finish changing nappies wins!
18) Baby Tic-Tac-Toe: (you'll need a large piece of paper or an erasable board to make the tic-tac-toe board, something to write with, and a list of baby facts). People are broken up in teams and have to answer a question about a baby fact. If they get the answer right, they get to choose a space (like the classic tic-tac-toe game).
SOME NON-GAME OPTIONS
- If you have crafty friends, then a lovely idea can be to get together and create artwork for the new babies room
- How about bringing together a group to cook up meals for the freezer of the parents-to-be
- Bring along nappies for the newborn and have each guest write a note in marker pen on the front of each one - words of wisdom, encouragement and humour are a nice reminder that you're not alone at the 3am nappy change!
