(Sort of OT) Baby Shower Game Ideas?

A friend asked me for help with games for a baby shower she is hosting (not adoption related) and my mind has completely blanked! :o The shower is for a young, single mom, so she wants it to be age appropraite and fun....anyone remember any games you have played a baby showers...that are fun? Not the same old, same old. I have until Wednesday to get back to her.... :eek: Thanks!!

I am not a fan of the games, so this was a GREAT substitute and most everyone just loved the idea. I hosted the baby shower for my sister. I bought a bunch of white onsies in various sizes, fabric paints, card stock (just regular 8 1/2 x 11" size paper, but thicker), and waterproof tableclothes. I asked that anyone was welcome to design a custom onsie for the baby in whatever design they wanted. A few of the "non artistic" people were nervous, but once they got going they were very creative! The cardstock paper was put inbetween the onsie so the paint didn't run through to the back. I had a few folding banquet tables setup also for drying the shirts. I kept them and gave them to my sister the next week when they were fully dried. At the end my sister got to pick her favorite (artists were unknown) and that person one a prize. I would probably do "top 3" if I had it to do over again. Now her little boy gets to wear all of the fun shirts. It is a great rememberance and very special. Word of warning though!!! Have straight pins available! The fabric paint comes in little squeeze bottles and we had a major explosion! My little neice kept squeezing when her bottle was clogged. It wouldn't go. So she put it upright, looked into it and squeezed a little too hard. Picture a volcano! I wasn't in the room, but did see the aftermath! Yellow globs of paint all over my aunt's expensive outfit (and I mean expensive!), a friends beautiful handmade wool sweater (only a drop-still wearable) and my other sisters hair (she rinsed it but it stayed yellow!!!! she had to dye it!) Thankfully, only a few drops landed on my carpet. The funniest thing was when everyone was saying goodbye (the painting room is near the front door) for some reason I looked up and there were HUGE globs of it all over the ceiling too! Vaulted ceilings! That thing really exploded. We had to repaint the ceiling. It is a funny story though - and it keeps on going - I just found a new drop of yellow paint a few days ago on the window! So if you do this, outside might be best - or warn everyone not to squeeze too hard!

One of my favorite shower activities is asking each of the guests in advance to bring a bead to the shower along with a handwritten note expressing wishes for the mother to be and her child. (If time permits, we've also asked out-of-town family and friends who are unable to attend to send in their submissions - if not they can be collected and given to the mom later) Anyway, at the shower each participant takes a turn to read her note or if private, extend a blessing and then give the bead to the mom who strings it on a cord given to her. The intention is that she have a necklace that she can wear on the day of birth that is composed of the love and support of her family and friends. This has always been a great hit and creates a lasting keepsake. Could also be adapted for an adoptive mom... just that the necklace would be to wear when going and picking up her child, adoption trip, etc. Some other games, although not overly creative... not sure if they're same old, same old. Birth the baby... little baby in a water filled ballon, piece of wood with a nail, string tying balloon to waist so it hangs down. Take turns competing with each other to see who can break the balloon "birth the baby" fastest... Races to diaper baby dolls Clothespin drop in baby bottle Maybe these were so fun because I remember playing them at a co-ed shower. Before hand we had wrapped prizes - things that every new mom needs but doesn't know she needs, nipple cream and nursing pads (if breastfeeding), tucks pads, etc. All the things someone doesn't want to have to go out and buy the day she's comes home. Winners opened the prizes and placed them into a gift basket for the mom to take home.

Not a big fan of the games either. I actually really hate them. One that was new to me recently (maybe it is as old as the hills - don't know) was a spool of yarn and scissors were passed around the room. Each person cut a piece of yarn at the length that they thought would go around the mom-to-be. A pre-measured piece was used to compare and a prize was given to who came the closest. Another one that wasn't too ovewhelming to the "we hate games crew" was each person was given a sticker as they walked in the door. Then a word or two were determined to be forbidden. If you were talking with someone and they said the word, you could take their sticker. The person with the most stickers at the end won. If there will be any pre-teen girls there, they loved being the word police. Have fun.

I went to a baby shower where each table were to create a page in the scrapbook. All the materials were on a center table and the guest were allow to do scrapbooking while the presents were being opened so it didn't take up too much extra time. If there are center pieces you can give each guest a piece of paper with a large tic tac toe board on it. Before the gifts are open tell the guest to write down in each square presents they think the mom will receive at her shower. Then as she opens the gifts they cross out the gifts as she received them. The first on to get tic tac toe wins. Then they are the one at the table who receives the centerpiece. Or you could use some other kind of award. The tic tac toe boards don't have to be the three across. You can make them larger if you like with maybe 5 across and 5 down. Good luck, -Jo

We also have played the "tic tac toe" game where they wrote what gifts they thought the mom would receive. We did it the size of the mom's name (or at least a size where we knew she would receive that amount of gifts!) Two other quick games we did were nursery rhyme pictionary with the host drawing the tie-breaker (as they were pretty obvious and easy). The other one was "TV Kids Matching Game" where you had to match the name of the child(ren) to the tv show they were on. That was fun because there were 3 generations playing and so I picked shows from the 60s through 90s. In fact, the youngest child there did win!

Ok this is kind of gross sounding but pretty funny. You get 10 cloth diapers and get 10 different candy bars. You put one candy bar on one of the diapers and put it in the microwave so it melts. You do that for all of them. You make sure you number them some how. And you tell everybody to pass them around and the the pregnant women needs help knowing all of the different smells of a babys dirty diapers. They can smell or taste the "candy bar". It is really funny to see everyone smell and taste what looks like poop!!! The decorating a onesie is a really good one too. At my shower we played bingo. Where all of the different words like, diapers, onesies, Russia, and pacifiers were on there and they just had to play bingo. That one could be for adoption or pregnancy. Just a couple of ideas...

HI, The candy bar game is the one I just thought of that Amanda just posted. I was terrible at it but it seemed that the very young mothers all were very good at it. Lots of new candy bars out there that this older mom was not aware of.

At the last baby shower I hosted we did the baby bingo game, and I wrote "baby words" on the bottom of all the cups. Then I wrote the same "baby words" on small pieces of paper and folded them up and put them in a jar or something for the mom to be to draw from. At the shower the mother to be drew a word from the jar, and whoever had the cup with the corresponding word on it won a prize.

Thanks for ALL of your wonderful ideas...you guys are the best! I'll pass them along...some of these I had never heard of...I am sooo NOT a game person...I think I just blocked them all out! :o I'm open to any other ideas....

One that I have done - but is kinda gross is guessing what each baby food is. The host spoons various baby foods into numbered bowls and the guests have to guess what each one is - by smell or taste. Another game is to have each guest fabric paint or liquid stitch a design on a square of material to be sewn together as a special baby quilt. Someone who sews or owns a machine will need to put it together after the shower.

My favorite game is this: Ask all the guests to bring along a photo of themselves as a baby. They have to bring it in a plain white envelope with nothing written on it. Some one then opens them all up and pins them to a board with numbers above each photo. You then have to write down who you think each of the babies are. It's really fun. Some of them are obvious but some of them are tough.

Hi