Lucy Flynn, BABYGO® team
Someone's throwing you a baby shower, or you're throwing one for your sister and the group chat has gone quiet on ideas. You want a game that gets a room of people who've never met talking, one that gets a proper laugh, and nothing that needs a projector.
Here are the 25 we'd pick, starting with the one most people come to this page for: pass the parcel, the baby shower way.
None of them needs more than a printer, a pack of nappies and a bag of sweets.
Quick answer: Plan three or four games, not ten. One to break the ice as people arrive (find the guest, or pass the parcel with a question in every layer), one everyone plays sitting down (baby shower bingo during the presents), one for a laugh (the nappy game, playdough babies), and one that leaves the parents something to keep (advice cards, nappy messages). Stop while people are still enjoying it.
Key facts
- Pass the parcel: one layer per guest plus two spares, a sweet and a slip of paper in every layer, and the proper prize in the middle.
- The nappy game needs 5 or 6 nappies, the same number of different chocolate bars, a microwave, and a pen and paper each.
- Nappy messages: a pack of newborn nappies and two permanent markers. The parents read the jokes one at a time at 3am.
- Baby shower bingo runs while the presents are opened, so it costs no extra time.
- Three or four games fills two hours. More than that and it stops being a party.
How to play pass the parcel at a baby shower
It's the game everyone already knows the rules to, which is exactly why it works with a room full of strangers. Two versions: the ordinary one with a twist in every layer, and the rhyme version people search for as pass the prize.
1. Pass the parcel, baby shower rules
Wrap a prize in as many layers as you have guests, plus a couple of spares. In each layer put a sweet and a slip of paper: a question for the mum ("what was your first craving"), a small dare, or a baby fact for the guest to read out. Music on, parcel round the circle, music stops, whoever's holding it unwraps one layer and does what the slip says.
Whoever's on the music shouldn't be able to see the circle, or it gets political. The prize in the middle should be something a guest actually wants, a candle or a bottle of something, not a pack of muslins. If there are children at the shower, they get a layer each and the adults let them win.
2. Pass the prize
One wrapped prize and a rhyme you read aloud, where every line is an instruction on where the parcel goes next: to the person with the longest hair, to whoever travelled furthest to be here, to the guest whose birthday is nearest the due date, to the one who's had the most children. Whoever is holding it when the rhyme ends keeps it.
Write the rhyme the night before, eight to ten lines is plenty, and make the last line something only one person in the room can be. The old version of this post called it pass the gift; it's the same game.
Baby shower games that get people talking
Your mum's friends, your work friends and your partner's cousin have nothing in common except you. These fix that in ten minutes.
3. Find the guest
A sheet each with a list of things to find a person for: wears contact lenses, has a dog, has never changed a nappy, has been to Australia, shares a birthday month with the mum. You have to go and ask. First full sheet wins, and the stranger the list the better it goes.
4. What will baby look like
Baby photos of both parents, photocopied and cut into eyes, noses, mouths and hair. Guests assemble a face from the pieces. Nobody knows what the baby will look like until they arrive, so the mum judges the best likeness and the most alarming one.
5. How well do you know mum
Ten questions the mum answers in advance: first craving, what she wanted to be at eight, the baby name she'd never pick, her worst pregnancy moment so far. Guests write their guesses, she reads out the real answers, most right wins. Every guest thinks they know her best, which is the point.
6. Guess the baby photo
Ask everyone for a baby photo of themselves before the day. Number them, pin them up, and let people match the photo to the guest. This one makes everybody smile, including the person who turns out to have been a very serious baby.
7. Baby jeopardy
Categories on a board (nursery rhymes, baby firsts, the mum, famous babies), points for each answer, teams. It's the most effort on this list because you write the questions and make the board, and it's the one that turns into a proper contest.
8. Don't say baby
A clothes peg on everyone's top as they arrive. Say the word "baby" and whoever catches you takes your peg. Most pegs at the end wins. Watch the room start saying "the little one" and "it" within about four minutes.
Funny baby shower games
Read the guest list before you pick from here. Some rooms are up for licking a nappy. Some aren't.
9. The nappy game
Melt a different chocolate bar into each of 5 or 6 nappies, number them, and pass them round. Guests sniff, and lick if they're brave, and write down which bar they think it is. Most right wins. The worse it looks the better it plays, so pick bars with nuts and caramel in, and smells people have to work at.
10. Nappy messages
A pack of newborn nappies and a couple of permanent markers on a table. Every guest writes a message on the outside of one: something supportive, or a joke about what's inside. The parents find them one at a time during the least glamorous part of the first weeks, and a nappy that says "good luck with this one" at 3am is worth more than most of the presents.
11. Pin the sperm on the uterus
Pin the tail on the donkey for grown ups. A big drawing of a uterus on the wall, a cut out sperm each, a blindfold and a spin. Not one for the shower with your partner's grandmother at it, or maybe exactly one for that shower. You know her.
12. Playdough babies
A tub of playdough each and five minutes to make a baby. Vote for the best and the most terrifying. You'll be surprised how creative some guests are, and how frightening a playdough baby can look.
13. Blindfold nappy change
A doll, a nappy, a blindfold and a stopwatch. Fastest clean change wins. The partner goes first, and the guests who've done it for real at 4am get a handicap.
14. Guess the bump
A ball of string and scissors. Everyone cuts the length they think goes round the bump, then you measure. Closest wins. The mum decides whether she's up for this one, and nobody argues with her answer.
Is the shower for you? Tell us your due date and we'll send what to expect, what to do and what to sort each week, so the last few weeks aren't all party planning. 10% off when you're ready.
Baby shower games you can buy ready made
If you've got the budget and not the time, any party shop or the big online shops sell these as packs. Two or three of them cover a whole afternoon.
15. Pin the dummy on the baby
A poster, a sheet of dummy stickers and a blindfold. The classic donkey game with a baby on the wall, and some packs play up to 35 people, so nobody sits out.
16. Baby charades
Charades cards where every action is a pregnancy or baby thing: the 3am feed, fitting the car seat, the 20 week scan, putting a wriggling baby in a sleepsuit. Teams, a timer, no talking. Plays well after the food when nobody wants to stand up.
17. Advice cards
A pack of cards, usually about 30, that guests fill in during the shower with one piece of advice each, kept in a little bag for the parents. Not strictly a game, but it's the thing the parents still have in a drawer in ten years.
18. A five game pack
The printed packs with five games in one: usually a word scramble, baby trivia, who knows mummy best, predictions and a guessing card. Playable by up to ten people, and it saves you making anything yourself.
19. Baby predictions
A card each for the date, the time, the weight and the hair colour. Collect them in an envelope, open it after the birth, and post a small prize to whoever got closest. It's the only game on this list that's still going a month later.
Free printable baby shower games
Showers get expensive. These cost a sheet of paper each and a search for a free template, or ten minutes making your own.
20. Baby shower bingo
A grid of presents the mum is likely to get: muslins, a sleepsuit, a bath thermometer, something from the grandparents that's slightly too big. Guests tick them off as each present is opened, and the first full line shouts bingo. It turns the slow bit of the afternoon into the competitive bit.
21. The candy bar game
Baby terms and clues that match the names of sweets and chocolate bars. It's harder than it sounds, so play it in pairs, and have the answers ready because someone will dispute one.
22. What am I
A list of clues that describe a common baby item: "I go on at bedtime and come off at 6am", "you'll buy me in three sizes before you find the right one". Guess the item. Play it alone or in two teams against each other.
23. Baby word scramble
Baby words with the letters mixed up, against the clock. Simple, quiet, and the one to hand out while people are still eating.
24. Baby names A to Z
Two minutes to write a baby name for every letter of the alphabet. Longest list wins, and the mum gets a veto on anything she'd never use. This one tends to end with the parents' real shortlist being guessed.
25. Wishes for baby
A sheet with a few unfinished lines: "I hope you learn", "I hope you love", "I hope you never". Every guest fills one in and they go in a box for the baby to read when they're older. Nobody wins, and it's the one that makes someone cry.
Baby shower game prizes
Good games need decent prizes, and the prizes are for the guests, so nothing baby related. A candle, a good mug, a bar of proper chocolate, a bottle of something. One prize per game and a spare for the tie.
If you're only playing one or two games, a basket of treats to take away makes everyone bother: bubble bath, a bath bomb, hand cream, a hot chocolate sachet. Cheap to make, and people will play for it.
The present for the mum is a separate question, and the pregnancy gift guide has 71 answers to it, sorted by budget.
Questions we get asked
What do you put in the layers of a baby shower pass the parcel?
A sweet and a slip of paper in every layer. The slips are the fun: a question for the mum, a dare for the unwrapper, or a baby fact to read out. The prize in the middle is something an adult guest would like, not something for the baby.
What is the pass the prize baby shower game?
Pass the parcel with a rhyme instead of music. Each line of the rhyme tells you who to pass the prize to (the longest hair, the furthest travelled, the most children), and whoever holds it on the last line keeps it. You write the rhyme yourself the night before.
When should you have a baby shower?
There's no rule. We'd say late enough that you're showing and have a due date to plan around, and early enough that you're not counting contractions: somewhere in the third trimester, and at least a month before the due date. If you'd rather wait until the baby's here and do a meet the baby afternoon instead, plenty of people do.
Do I have to have a baby shower?
No. Not everyone has one, and nobody needs one. If the idea of a room full of people watching you open presents makes you want to hide, a lunch with four friends does the same job. If someone's offered to throw one for you, you're allowed to say small.
How many games should you play at a baby shower?
Three or four. One as people arrive, one during the presents, one for a laugh, one to keep. Stop while people are still enjoying it, and let the rest of the afternoon be food and talking.
If the shower's yours, the hospital bag checklist is the next thing someone will ask you about, and the pregnancy collection is where the gift guide's BABYGO® picks live.
