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Games and activities enliven a baby shower and provide an opportunity for guests to interact. Advance planning and preparation are the keys to successful shower activities.
Consider your guest list when choosing games and activities for a baby shower. For example, games for a workplace baby shower should be quicker and less personal than games for a Saturday afternoon baby shower with close friends and family.
Fun games and activities for a baby shower include:
- Name the Baby - have each guest select 7 scrabble letters (face down) and then create a baby name using theses letters. Award prizes for the highest scoring name and the most creative name.
- Guessing Bottle - fill a baby bottle with pink and blue m&ms or gourmet jelly beans and have guests guess how many candies are in the bottle. The guest with the closest guess wins the bottle and candy. Be sure to count the candies as you fill the bottle and record the number where you'll be able to find it.
- Baby Photo Guess Who - ask each guest to bring a baby photo of herself. Number the photos and note who they belong to. Then place all the photos on a table and have guests try to match the photos to the guests.
- Notes of Advice - If your guest list includes several mothers, have them take a few moments to write their best parenting advice on a piece of pretty notepaper. Have each mom read her note aloud. Collect all the notes and tie them together with a pretty ribbon as a keepsake for the mom-to-be.
- Great Mother - Have guests take turns completing the phrase "You'll be a great mother because..." Record the phrases on a piece of paper for the mother to have.
- Hand-Decorate Baby Clothes - Purchase inexpensive white cotton t-shirts or onesies and ask guests to decorate these with fabric markers.
- Pictionary or Charades - play pictionary or charades using baby-themed topics, such as changing a diaper or first hair cut.
- ABC Names - have guests take turns coming up with names that start with each letter of the alphabet, such as A for Alice, B for Bradley, C for Claire, etc. If the gender of the baby is known, limit the names to that gender.
- Baby Food Flavor Guessing - remove the labels from several jars of baby food (write the flavor on the bottom of the jar). Have guests taste each food and try to guess the flavor. Avoid meat-based baby foods, if vegetarians are present.
- Mom or Dad? - develop a list of significant childhood events for both the future mom and dad, such as broke finger playing basketball or won 5th grade spelling bee. Have guests guess whether each event happened to mom or dad.
- Nursery Rhyme Trivia - have guests answer trivia questions about popular nursery rhymes such as "How many bags of wool did Baa Baa Black Sheep have?
- Funny Baby Captions - print out several funny baby photos from the web and have guests come up with captions.
- Rubber Ducky pond - float rubber ducky toys in a large bowl or kiddie pool. Mark the bottom of one or more ducks with a star and award a prize when this duck is selected by a guest.
- Pull-string pinata - buy a cute pinata, modify it with a pull string pinata kit, and fill with individually wrapped chocolates for a grown-up treat. Guests take turns pulling a string until the special string opens the pinata and the treats fall out.
Be flexible. Don't expect all guests to participate in an activity and be ready to allow an activity to go longer if guests are having a good time or to change to a new activity as needed.
If the mom-to-be doesn't want traditional shower games or you don't think they'll go over with your guests, consider more generic activities such as card or board games or a craft project.