Pregnancy & Baby Index: Pregnancy - Preparing for Baby: Twelve fun baby shower games (part 2)
Twelve fun baby shower games (part 2)
Betsy Bailey
Can't get enough baby shower game ideas? Here are seven more games for you to consider! (Look here for five more.)
Yummy
This baby shower game is so popular it is in danger of becoming a time-honored
tradition! The object of this game is to have your guests taste a variety
of unidentified baby foods and try to guess what they are tasting. There
are a variety of ways to present the food, but the most common approach
seems to be placing one dollop from 5-10 different jars on paper plates
for each guest. You may want to write numbers in a circle on the middle
of the plates and arrange the food accordingly, with matching numbers on
the jars themselves. Then each guest numbers a list from 1-10 on a sheet
of paper and attempts to guess what they are tasting. Obviously, the guest
with the most discerning palate wins!
Scrambles and word finds
More classics with many, many variations. With scrambles you simply
scramble the letters of relevant baby words (10-20) and ask your guests
to identify as many of them as possible. Alternatively, you can ask your
guests to pick both a girl name and a boy name for the baby and then try
to think of as many words as they can from the combination of those two
names.
If the gender of the baby is known, have guests pick a first and
middle name. Don't tell them the object of the name until after they have
picked the names, that way they won't intentionally think of longer names
(unless they have done this game many times before, of course!). In its
variations you can do word finds with baby-related words, or the parent's
names... the possibilities are endless.
Diaper pin taboo
This game is a particularly good icebreaker. As each guest arrives,
hand them a diaper pin while explaining that they get to hang onto it as
long as they remember not to cross their legs! The guest who catches another
crossing her legs gets to take the diaper pin from the leg-crossing offender.
The snitch… uh, I mean, guest… who collects the most diaper pins wins the
game. You can decide how long you want this to continue, but probably best
to set a reasonable time limit like 10-15 minutes so people can relax about
the leg-crossing thing. That could get old.
Dress the baby
For this game you need a fully dressed baby doll, a stop watch or watch
with a second hand and a pair of mittens. Undress the doll and have each
guest take turns donning the mittens and dressing the doll as fast as they
can. She who dresses the doll the fastest wins.
Nursery rhymes
Think of 10-15 nursery rhymes or children songs and pick one of the
more obscure lines from the middle of the song ("How I wonder what you
are" from Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star) and have your guests guess as many
as they can.
Card fun
While not exactly a game or contest, this is a sneaky little activity
that can very fun with the right kind of group and mom-to-be (read: casual,
close knit group of friends and laid back, uninhibited mom). In the usual
tradition, assign someone (or yourself) to collect the cards as the mom-of-honor
opens her gifts and have her write down not only the gift which corresponds
to the card, but also the remarks the mom-to-be makes as she unwraps the
gift ("Ohh, that is so darling. I LOVE bunnies," and so on). Be sure the mom
is not aware of this additional commentary on the cards as they are being
written. Once all the gifts are open, read back these comments made by
the mom while explaining that these were the remarks made by her on the
night of conception!
Piggybank variations
In each of these variations you supply baby's first piggy bank and make
a small collection of change to put in it. There are a couple of ways to
do this, depending on how much time you have. In the first scenario, set
up the piggy bank with a small sign explaining that this is a wishing bank.
Guests can drop in some change and make a wish. In the second variation,
which could be a little more interesting, but also more time-consuming,
the piggy bank is placed in the middle of your group. Each guest takes
turns sharing something they have never done before (bungee jumping, skiing,
kiss a man with facial hair, etc.). Each person in the group who HAS done
that particular activity places some change in the piggy bank (it would
be wise to have some change on hand for those who didn't bring any or
don 't have enough!). At the end of the party, mom-to-be has a piggy bank
to take home for her baby.
Have fun!