You’ve got your baby shower theme, your decorations, the guest list pinned down, invitations sent out, the cake ordered, and the gift registry finalized. Now, you realize you’re forgetting one very important thing: What are your guests going to do before they eat cake and watch the glowing queen open her regal pile of presents?

Baby shower activities can be easy to forget when you’re in full planning mode, but they are so important to the life of the party! The right choice of curated, fun baby shower games can really enhance a party vibe and can contribute to guests’ happiness. 

We have you covered with great baby shower game ideas that your baby shower guests will actually want to play. So sit back, scroll a little, and hand-pick some options from our top faves. Games are a fun way to include icebreakers that encourage your guests to mingle with each other and are also a lovely way to showcase the guest of honor. 

You’ll Need: A baby photo of each guest (ask them to bring one on the baby shower invitations), a large poster board, tape, and a sheet of paper and pen for each guest. Ask your guests to write their names on the back of the photo. 

How To Play: When each guest arrives, collect their baby picture in secret. When all the photos arrive, tape them all on a large poster board and number each photo. 

Throughout the party, have guests go up to the poster board and take some time to guess who’s who. When everyone is done playing the guessing game, do a “big reveal” in which you tell everyone the truth about each photo. The person who guessed the most baby pictures (assigned to the most people correctly) wins. 

You’ll Need: Baby items (e.g., a pacifier, baby bottle, diaper, rattle, etc.), paper bags (one for each baby item), sheets of paper, and pens for each guest.

How To Play: Place each baby item in a paper bag, and number the bag. Have the guests all sit in a circle and pass around the bags.

Without opening the bags, they have to write down their guess of what is in each bag. They can shake or feel the bag but cannot open it to look inside. The guest with the most correct answers wins.

You’ll Need: Raffle tickets and a package of diapers from each guest (request that they bring one on the baby shower invitations. For each diaper pack they bring, they receive one raffle ticket)

How To Play: When the guests arrive, trade their diaper packages for raffle tickets. Towards the end of the party, do a raffle draw and hand out some small prizes. This one’s fun for the parents-to-be, too, because they get a well-stocked supply of diapers! It’s great for co-ed baby showers.

You’ll Need: Three to five clothespins per guest (your choice of the number, but each guest should have the same amount)

How To Play: When each guest arrives, have them pin the clothespins to their shirt and tell them, “Don’t say baby!” Anytime throughout the party, if someone accidentally does say the word baby, they have to remove a clothespin each time. Whoever is left wearing the most clothespins by the end of the party wins. 

You’ll Need: A sheet of paper (to hold the master list of questions), a notecard for each guest, and a pen for each guest.

How To Play: Before the big day, gather a ton of details about the special mom-to-be. Make a list of questions to ask her — try to ask fun, quirky questions about her childhood, her hobbies, and her interests and how they have changed through time. 

Then, during the party, give each guest a notecard or their own sheet of paper and read each question aloud. Whoever has the most correct answers wins. 

This is a great game to make the mom-to-be feel special (or the parents-to-be, if your shower is co-ed/gender-inclusive). Most of the baby shower centers around the new baby, but this game focuses on mama bear and her life!

You’ll Need: Several baby dolls dressed in baby onesies and wearing diapers and a pack of extra diapers.

How To Play: This one is a more active game, so you’ll need some space for the interactive relay race. Split your guests into teams, and have each team line up in front of a baby doll station (placed farther ahead). 

When you yell “Go,” have the first person run to the other end, change the diaper on the baby doll, and run back to tap the next person. Each person must change the doll’s diaper and run back to their team members, and the first team to fully finish the race and complete all the diaper changes wins. 

You’ll Need: Several different types of chocolate-based candy bars, a pack of diapers, sheets of paper and pens for each guest, and extra candy bars (for prizes)

How To Play: Unwrap each candy bar and melt them in the microwave before guests arrive. Then, spread each melted chocolate “situation” onto a different diaper to create a chocolatey, gooey mess.

Have guests come up to each “dirty diaper” and guess what type of candy made that disturbingly deliciously scented mess. The traditional prize for the winning number of guesses is a bag of candy, but we’re fans of something a bit more luxe, like cashmere socks.

Note: If this party game is simply way too gross for you, opt for Guess that Baby Food. You can either blindfold the guests to hide the contents of the jar, but it’s even more fun when you make it like an upscale wine tasting. Bring out your inner sommelier with statements like “A subtle note of prunes” and pretending to swirl a mason jar of baby food. 

You’ll Need: A sheet of paper with different emoji combinations that depict baby-related words and sheets of paper and pens for each guest. 

How To Play: This one’s pretty easy but a hit for 2023. Show guests the different emojis, and whoever guesses the most baby-related words from each emoji sequence correctly wins bragging rights as the “baby emoji whisperer.” 

You’ll Need: Ice cube trays, plastic babies, glasses of water, or another refreshing beverage.

How To Play: Several hours before the party, put a plastic baby in each ice cube section of your trays and pour water over them. Once the “ice cube babies” have frozen, set them aside in the freezer until guests arrive. 

Give all guests a glass filled with a beverage, and put an ice cube in each guest’s drink. The second a cube finishes melting, a guest will need to shout, “My water broke!”. The first three people to correctly call that their water broke are the winners. 

You’ll Need: A word scramble template with baby-related words (and enough copies for each guest).

How To Play: Give each guest a copy of their word scramble, face down, and don’t let them look at it until you say so. When the timer begins, whoever can unscramble all of the words fastest, AND get the most answers correct, wins. 

You’ll Need: A trivia game template with questions.

How To Play: This one’s pretty simple, as long as you use a trivia template. If you customize your own, consider adding trivia questions about the parents-to-be, or cater to the theme of the shower (e.g., test their nursery rhyme knowledge for a twinkle twinkle little star-themed shower). You can also write your own baby trivia questions if you love a challenge. 

You’ll Need: Baby shower bingo with enough bingo cards for each guest.

How To Play: Before guests arrive, print out their bingo cards and distribute them as they arrive. As mom-to-be opens all of her amazing baby shower gifts, have the guests fill out their bingo sheet. The first to call bingo by crossing off the items in a row, column, or diagonal wins the bingo game. 

You’ll Need: A rockin’ baby shower playlist.

How To Play: Play each song on the playlist, and have guests shout out the song title the second they know it. Whoever guesses the most song titles correctly wins. 

If you pick a few games from this list, your guests will actually want to play and engage in your party activities, and more participation makes it more entertaining for everyone! 

When it comes to prizes, in addition to ultimate bragging rights, small items such as a candle, self-care items like lotion, or a gift card, work great. The prizes don’t have to be big — just enough to be a token of congratulations and appreciation. 

Sources:

The Dynamics of Becoming a Mother during Pregnancy and After Childbirth | Institute of Psychology

42 Fun Baby Shower Games That Everyone Will Love | Today

True or false? How much do you really know about babies? | UNICEF Parenting