Seasons > Special Days > Baby Shower Games
Tell About the Funniest Thing Your Kid Has Done
Divide everyone into groups of around 10 people. Encourage everyone who can think of a funny story to share it in their group. After several people have shared in each group, let one person from each group share the funniest story. This is really a lot of fun, so don’t cut it short. It kind of feeds on itself, so it helps to tell a story or two of your own to get the stories rolling. Smaller groups might have a harder time coming up with stories, so in that case, one big group might be better than dividing into smaller groups.
Blue Book for Blue Days
This is a variation of the first idea. Have everyone write their funny stories on pages of a small photo album or scrapbook. Then on days when the new mom is having a hard time, she can read some stories and laugh, and see the funny side of life again. If you don’t want to spend time during the shower writing these, you could include the pages with the invitations so they bring their stories already written. As they arrive, they can put their pages into the book. Later the M.C. could read a few to everyone.
Get the New Mom and Grandma Talking
Ask the Grandma to tell stories about the new mom when she was a little girl. Get the new mom telling stories about the birth of her baby, or about her experiences as a child that she wants to duplicate or avoid. If they have trouble with coming up with stories on their own, ask them questions.
Book of Parenting Tips
Provide pens and color coded cards, so everyone can write their favorite parenting tips. Here are some ideas for topic suggestions, since most people draw a blank if they are simply asked to write parenting tips. Encourage singles to write about good things their parents did for them, or things that they have discovered while baby sitting, since they don’t have children of their own. Provide a binder and plastic sleeves with 4 pockets per page for everyone to put their cards in so the new mom can have an organized way to store the tips, and make them easy to find when she needs them. (Hundred yen stores sell these)
1. Discipline tips
2. Fun times for toddler, preschool, or elementary age
3. Time saving tips
4. Organization tips
5. Medical and safety tips
6. Easy meals
7. Recommend favorite books, DVD’s
8.Recommend good educational toys
9. Recommend magazines that are helpful
10. Recommend websites with good ideas
11. Recommend good products and where to buy them
Coupon Book
Make a book of coupons, and ask each person to make up a coupon for a service they are willing to do for the new mom--babysit, fix a meal, take her shopping, sit and talk over coffee, give back rub or manicure, wash a load of laundry, pass on clothing, toys, or books, etc.
Baby Book/Scrap book
Give each person a page and scrap booking material so they can decorate a page. Then all the new mom has to do is add a picture and a comment. One option is to make it like a baby book with a page for first tooth, first haircut, first crawling, first steps walking, etc.
Name Games (these work better as a group game since it is more fun to figure out answers as a group (even if the group is only two or three people), than individually--then you don’t feel so stupid if no one knows the answer)
1.Make a matching game with names and their meanings. This is a difficult game, since most people do not know meanings of names unless they know their own name, or have recently chosen a name for a new baby. if you don’t know enough names to make a game off the top of your head, use a book for choosing names for a new baby.
2. Make a game of listing names of children from movies or T.V. shows.
3. Make a cross word puzzle using names.
4. Scramble names for groups to unscramble
5. Make a game for matching names with the decades they were popular
Memory Games
1. Finish the nursery rhyme.
2.Name all the baby items on a tray. To keep it fair, time how long they can look at it (1 minute, or 30 seconds, etc.) If you want to do it as a group game, just include more items.
3. See which group can come up with the most songs that contain the word, “baby.”
Guessing games
1.Guess the date and time of birth, how much the baby weighed at birth, how many inches long, what the middle name is, and just for fun, what he or she will be when he or she grows up.
2.From among the guests, guess who has the most kids, fewest kids, most grandkids, who is the mother with youngest kid, oldest kid, who was the youngest at birth of her first child, and who was oldest. If everyone already knows each other so well that they already know these facts, instead of making it a guessing game, give out a few door prizes for some of the guests who fit these descriptions.
Baby Bottle Games
1.Fill a baby bottle with jelly beans and see who can guess how many are in the bottle.
2.Fill several bottles with juice and ask volunteers to drink all of it-- see who can drink it the fastest. If guests are in teams, chose one representative per group.
3. Pass an empty baby bottle around and let everyone put their loose change in it for the new baby.
Make a diaper “cake”
O.K., so this one is not a game--it belongs on the decorations page, but I ran out of room on that page. It makes a really cute centerpiece, don’t you think? Line up new disposable diapers in layers and anchor together with a ribbon tied around each layer. Decorate with tissue paper flowers and top with a cute wet-wipes container. My friend made this, and I don’t know where she got the idea, but it seems to be pretty popular these days.
Seasons > Special Days > Baby Shower Games