10 FUN BABY SHOWER GAME IDEAS

By Omon Imoisili

“There’s no sweeter celebration of friendship than a baby shower.”-Anonymous.
It’s a great and fun way for friends and family of parents-to-be to show love and share in the joy of expecting a new addition to the family. Cool games do not only add more fun to such parties but create extra pleasant memories that linger on even when the baby arrives.

Before the baby shower, you will need to make available all the materials you need including prizes to be won at the end of each game. Find 10 fun games to try out:

1. Guess who?
Guests are told to bring their own baby pictures or baby pictures of their kids. These pictures are pinned on a board on the wall or spread on the table. The guests are then asked to match the baby pictures to their owners. The person with the most correct answers wins. The more, the merrier, so get lots of people involved.

2. Suck it up!
Baby feeding bottles of same sizes are filled with juice, wine, soft drinks, water, milk, any drink. At the count of three, everyone must suck the bottle empty quickly. The first to finish wins the game.

3. Where was it?
This is a memory game. Using a rope tied at both ends, hang different objects on the rope – bibs, head warmers, babies socks, baby blankets and any kind of hangable baby objects. Write out the names of the objects in the order in which they are hung. Leave the objects on the rope long enough for the guest to see and then take them off. Giving each guest a pen and paper, ask them to write down all the objects that were on the rope in the exact order they were hung. The person who gets the right order wins.

4. What’s in the bag?
Gather 10 or more baby items such as a diaper, bib, pacifier, feeding bottle, baby rattle, teething ring and the likes in a bag. Offer each guest a pen and paper and then the bag. Each guest should dip into the bag without looking to figure the exact items in the bag and pass. Once the bag has gone round, ask the guests to write down the names of the items in the bag. The person who is able to write the highest number of items in the bag, wins.

5. Make a diaper
Guests are shared into groups and given the task of making diapers using creative materials. The team with the most creative diapered baby wins.

6. How well we know each other
The parents-to-be are asked about 10 or more questions separately and out of each other’s hearing. The questions could be:
*What is the sex of your baby?
*What food did you crave for the most in your first trimester?
*Whose features do you want the baby to inherit?
*How many more kids do you want?
The answers of each spouse should be noted and parents-to-be should be placed on hot seats together to guess each other’s answers.

7. Birthday wishes timeline
Depending on the number of guests present, each is given a blank birthday card and envelope with numbers on them. Guests are to design and construct a birthday message suitable for the birthday year written on the envelope. For example, if there are 40 guests at the shower, there should be a birthday card for each year for the baby’s first 40 years. Noteworthy are those landmark years in life. So guests that gets these numbers must indicate the significance of these special years. In all though, the messages should be meaningful and lovely.

8. What did you notice?
Each guest is given a pen and paper and instructed to closely observe the mama-to-be. The mom-to-be comes in with a tray of baby items. She shows the content of the tray to guests, and then leaves the room. The guests will be required to write down all they noticed about the expectant mum:
 What colour of nail polish is she wearing on her toes?
 Did she wear an engagement ring or just her wedding band?
 Was she wearing make-up?
 What type of dress was she wearing?
It is at this point the guests would realise that they didn’t actually pay much attention to the expectant mum but to the objects on the tray. After each guest has written down their answers, the expectant mum comes back into the room and the answers of the guest will be compared to what was observed. The guest with the most accurate answers wins.

9. How many can you name?
The guests should be given pens and papers with an alphabet written on the paper. The guests are to write 20 baby names and baby items beginning with that alphabet within a stipulated time. For example: Brown could be someone’s name and also a type of colour. This game is fun and may even help the parents-to-be choose names for the expected baby if they have not already done so. Better yet, this game can spin in another direction. Using the first letter of the expectant couple’s name, each guest could write about 20 names beginning with that letter. This occurs within an allotted time, say 1 or 2 minutes. The person with the most names wins.

10. Use the letters
If the name of the baby has already been chosen, the name is written in bold letters on a paper and a copy each is given to a guest. In 2 minutes, have the guests write 20 words using all the vowels or consonants in the name. The person with the most words wins the game.

What games did you play during your baby shower?