Home Baby shower activities

[MonkeyPie]

My mom and SIL are throwing me a baby shower on march 6th (I am unreasonably excited!), and neither one have ever thrown one before, much less BEEN to one. I honestly don''t know but a few of the really silly games I have played in the past at showers.

So what did you ladies have at your showers for fun stuff to do? We will have lots of food and all of that, but I don''t want to just be force-feeding my guests the whole time, heh.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 2/25/2010 12:14:37 PM
Author:MonkeyPie
My mom and SIL are throwing me a baby shower on march 6th (I am unreasonably excited!), and neither one have ever thrown one before, much less BEEN to one. I honestly don''t know but a few of the really silly games I have played in the past at showers.

So what did you ladies have at your showers for fun stuff to do? We will have lots of food and all of that, but I don''t want to just be force-feeding my guests the whole time, heh.

MP, I HATE baby shower games. Hate them hate them hate them. So I am happy to help you out here because have I mentioned that I hate baby shower games?

First of all, how many people at this shower? And where is it being held at?

For the shower I threw, I was the MC and in charge of the games. My girlfriends put me in charge of the games knowing that I hate them, but I think they had faith that I''d come with something original. I only did two games and for the rest of the shower we just let people mingle, eat and enjoy since the shower was at a nice restaurant and was in general, an elegant affair.

We did Baby Shower Bingo. If your SIL is going to open the gifts at the shower, this helps make the process less tedious (because let''s face it, it''s not really exciting for anyone to see bibs and burp clothes and breast pumps). I think I posted a sample bingo card I made for my friend''s shower. If your SIL has a registry, ask if you can stalk it so that way you know what''s been purchased and you will be able to put items on the card that you know be called when she opens the gifts. There are many Baby Shower Bingo card generators on the web, since you have to produce as many different cards as you have guests.

For the second game, I did a quiz. Because my friend was having triplets, I had 10 fun factoid questions about her pregnancy, triplet pregnancy and rearing triplets in general. The guests and to see if they can answer the questions AND make a guess on whether my friend''s DH would be able to correct answer the question (so a possible 20 correct answers for the guests of the shower). I filmed my friend''s DH in advance and edited in into one video.

I put the 10 questions in powerpoint with multiple choice answers. After they answered, we went over the 10 answers and I gave fun facts about some of the answers. Then I played the video of my friend''s DH so people could see if they got the "did he answer correct" part right or wrong. Of course, men are TOTALLY ignorant of pregnancy, so it made for a very amusing video. It was also a surprise as to how in tune with his wife''s specific pregnancy he was.

btw, I had a big computer monitor, speakers and of course my computer as set up. The table was set in a U shape so everyone could see the monitor easily (which was inside the U).

The girls at the shower said it was the most fun they had at a shower. I think it was because the games were interesting and they weren''t forced to mingle, get up, or exert any physical energy they didn''t really care to expend.

 

[Morgie44]

This was done for my bridal shower, but I am sure could be applied to baby too. My aunt had slips of paper at each table for guests to write a funny story/piece of advice. Then, during gift opening, my aunt broke it up and read two or three stories in between gifts. I normally don''t like the piece of advice type things, but this was really fun/funny and made gift opening less monotonous.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

tGal, If I get pregnant I want you to come and MC my baby shower!!! I too hate shower games, but since I got away with no sower for our wedding by getting married 6 weeks after he rpoposed, I think my family and friends are itching for a big bay shower

 

[MonkeyPie]

LOL TGal, I was hoping you''d jump in. I remember your bingo cards, they were super creative - I may have to go dig them up and see how I can make them work for my shower. It will be at my SIL''s house and I am expecting 15 guests or so, MAYBE 20 at the most.

I figured we could do a couple of the really cliche baby games - measuring my belly, maybe a word scramble, that sort of thing, because people seem to expect those. The rest of the time I wanted something more unique. I really like your idea with the DH being involved but I cannot imagine my DH being happy about that, hah. Plus he''s a huge nerd so he would know all the answers!

 

[jcrow]

not a big fan of games here either, but for our shower, we did have a couple of fun things. since we don''t have a name picked out, everyone wrote their suggestions on a piece of paper. some where jokes [like a made up wacky name that was made by combining both of our first names]. another thing guests did was fill out this "advice for baby" sheet. some things were like, i hope you learn ____, i hope you grow ____, i hope you remember ____. we read them out loud and it was very enjoyable. each advice page had a place for the guest to write their name, so they''re great keepsakes we can put into the baby book. the last thing guests did was guess how many sheets of toilet paper it took to wrap around my belly. i didn''t particularly like that one. i''m already self-conscious so i didn''t enjoy standing up and everyone guessing how big i was.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 2/25/2010 12:51:39 PM
Author: MonkeyPie
LOL TGal, I was hoping you''d jump in. I remember your bingo cards, they were super creative - I may have to go dig them up and see how I can make them work for my shower. It will be at my SIL''s house and I am expecting 15 guests or so, MAYBE 20 at the most.

I figured we could do a couple of the really cliche baby games - measuring my belly, maybe a word scramble, that sort of thing, because people seem to expect those. The rest of the time I wanted something more unique. I really like your idea with the DH being involved but I cannot imagine my DH being happy about that, hah. Plus he''s a huge nerd so he would know all the answers!

MP, forgot to mention that if it''s a small group, you don''t HAVE to do a baby game.

For my shower, I said NO GAMES. I didn''t even want a shower. My friend said we HAD to do at least one game because baby showers always have prizes and people enjoy winning them. I told her I hate baby games. She said, fine, you think of a game then. So I did my own baby shower game.

We had a group of 10 girls. We played, "Guess whose secret." Everyone writes 2 secrets that they think no one knows about them in a bowl. One person can''t play (usually the hostess). She reads all of them out, and people guess. Some of the secrets were hilarious." And some weren''t really "secrets" but silly factoids like "I''ve never worn a thong." Once all is answered, the "secret" is read one again and before the person is behind the secret is announced, everyone calls out (just at random) who they think the person is. It''s hilarious who people actually think is the owner of the secret (and sometimes, admittedly, insulting).

We all got to know each other better and had a good laugh. This game doesn''t take much energy either. Usually people grumble about trying to figure out what secret to write, but you can give examples to start and usually the game gets rolling.

 

[monarch64]

I love the bingo game TGal mentioned. As a spectator, it makes watching someone open gifts more enjoyable. The rest of the games I can do without.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 2/25/2010 12:58:00 PM
Author: TravelingGal
We had a group of 10 girls. We played, ''Guess whose secret.'' Everyone writes 2 secrets that they think no one knows about them in a bowl. One person can''t play (usually the hostess). She reads all of them out, and people guess. Some of the secrets were hilarious.'' And some weren''t really ''secrets'' but silly factoids like ''I''ve never worn a thong.'' Once all is answered, the ''secret'' is read one again and before the person is behind the secret is announced, everyone calls out (just at random) who they think the person is. It''s hilarious who people actually think is the owner of the secret (and sometimes, admittedly, insulting).

I LOVE this idea, and now I will be stealing it. Thanks TGal!

 

[MustangGal]

Make sure you pick a mix of active games and sit-down games. For my shower my SIL did all trivia type things, it got really boring and we didn''t move around at all.

One thing DH''s family does for baby showers is a diaper raffle. On the invites you ask all the guests to bring a pack of diapers to enter the Diaper Raffle. Each person that does gets a raffle ticket, and you pull a ticket for a prize. I didn''t have to buy diapers for 5 months!

 

[somethingshiny]

I happen to like games and have thrown a few showers. These are the games that went over the best:


Don''t say "baby" game- Give everyone an item to attach to their person with instructions not to say the word "baby." If anyone catches another saying the word, that person gets their item to attach to their person. I''ve used Mardi Gras beads, tiny clothespins, diaper pins.

Draw a Baby- Give each guest a paper plate and a pen. They put the plate on top of their head and do their best to draw a baby while it''s up there. The guest of honor chooses a winner. The gnarly babies that we drew!!

Diaper game- You either love it or you don''t and everyone knows how to play.

Nursery Rhyme game- I''m quite the Nursery Rhyme aficionado. I printed up a list of questions based on the rhymes. From easy: Who did Jack run up the hill with? to the more difficult: Which leg did Goosey Goosey Gander grab?

Baby animals game- Print out a list of animals and leave blanks for the guests to fill in the proper term for the baby. example: Cow-calf, Horse-foal, etc. Some of the more fun animals are eel (baby is elver) butterfly (because people forget they come from caterpillars)

Parenting advice from guests. I used pre-decorated sheets and let the guests write as little or as much as they wanted and then scrapbooked them.

Letters to the Little One- This is really good for a group of writers. Everyone writes as much or as little to the baby and puts it in a box. The box is sealed and given a date to open. Some of the moms wanted to be able to open them on the first birthday, one of the moms wanted to give it to her daughter for her 16th bday.

Baby Pictionary~ Use baby themed words to play Pictionary.

Diaper the baby or Dress the baby one-handed- This is fun if there are lots of moms at the shower. Bring dolls (we only did 2-4 at a time) and race each other one-handed to diaper or dress the baby. Another version is to use both hands but be blind folded.


Hope you can find something useful in this long post!!

 

[Rock_of_Love]

Alright, I''ll admit it, I''m a fan of the diaper game! Nothing says "baby" quite like diapers "dirtied" with melted chocolate bars.

Also, love the "guess the baby food" game.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 2/25/2010 5:19:21 PM
Author: somethingshiny
I happen to like games and have thrown a few showers. These are the games that went over the best:


Don''t say ''baby'' game- Give everyone an item to attach to their person with instructions not to say the word ''baby.'' If anyone catches another saying the word, that person gets their item to attach to their person. I''ve used Mardi Gras beads, tiny clothespins, diaper pins.

Draw a Baby- Give each guest a paper plate and a pen. They put the plate on top of their head and do their best to draw a baby while it''s up there. The guest of honor chooses a winner. The gnarly babies that we drew!!

Diaper game- You either love it or you don''t and everyone knows how to play.

Nursery Rhyme game- I''m quite the Nursery Rhyme aficionado. I printed up a list of questions based on the rhymes. From easy: Who did Jack run up the hill with? to the more difficult: Which leg did Goosey Goosey Gander grab?

Baby animals game- Print out a list of animals and leave blanks for the guests to fill in the proper term for the baby. example: Cow-calf, Horse-foal, etc. Some of the more fun animals are eel (baby is elver) butterfly (because people forget they come from caterpillars)

Parenting advice from guests. I used pre-decorated sheets and let the guests write as little or as much as they wanted and then scrapbooked them.

Letters to the Little One- This is really good for a group of writers. Everyone writes as much or as little to the baby and puts it in a box. The box is sealed and given a date to open. Some of the moms wanted to be able to open them on the first birthday, one of the moms wanted to give it to her daughter for her 16th bday.

Baby Pictionary~ Use baby themed words to play Pictionary.

Diaper the baby or Dress the baby one-handed- This is fun if there are lots of moms at the shower. Bring dolls (we only did 2-4 at a time) and race each other one-handed to diaper or dress the baby. Another version is to use both hands but be blind folded.


Hope you can find something useful in this long post!!

SS, I must be the most horrid party pooper because I have played every single one of those games at baby showers (and I''ve been to a few) except for the pictionary...and I hated every single one.

But I will totally agree...those definitely are among some of the better baby shower games. I really hate "guess what baby food it is."

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 2/25/2010 6:20:14 PM
Author: Rock_of_Love
Alright, I''ll admit it, I''m a fan of the diaper game! Nothing says ''baby'' quite like diapers ''dirtied'' with melted chocolate bars.

Also, love the ''guess the baby food'' game.

LOL, we were cross posting so I didn''t see this. Different strokes for different folks (and I admit, I hate showers so I think I''m the sour grape and probably more people like the game than hate it.)

 

[somethingshiny]

Tgal~ lol. You''d hate ALL of my showers!! We are BIG game people. My DH''s aunt threw a wedding shower for me and my best friend gave me a baby shower. They both HATE games so I never got to play any for my own showers!


Another "game" that I thought of is an abstract art thing. Fill a bunch of balloons with paint and tack them to a large canvas. Have guests take turns throwing darts. The "painting" then goes in the baby''s room as custom art.

A different painting game is having Mama rub her stomach with paint and then pressing it against a canvas. Then the "artist" of the bunch takes a paint brush and mimics the Mama''s general shape. Just kind of a swoop around the belly, a swoop to indicate curves, basically a torso only "painting", nothing too literal. Then Mama can paint anything inside the "belly" area. I''ve seen hearts, swirls, infinity sign.

These are not so much "fun" but they are relatively unique and have an awesome keepsake from pregnancy.

 

[mtjoya]

Bebe shower games. Lemme see, at my baby shower they played the clothing pin game. The game was that your guests would try to grab as many clothing pins they can with ONE hand and the one with the most pins would win the game.

The other one was the measuring of your tummy. We used toilet paper. Guests will estimate the size of your tummy with the TP and the guest who came close is the winner. Yea, these games are funny but entertaining as well. Good Luck have fun at your baby shower!