51 Baby Shower Games for Couples and Mixed Groups

01 How to play the baby photo matching game

To play the baby photo matching game, collect baby photos from guests who want to join, number them, and let everyone guess who’s who. It gets both sides of the family talking, and it only works with photos people chose to share.

• Players: everyone, alone or in pairs; best with 10 to 20 photos.
• Time: about 10 minutes of guessing, then 5 for the reveal. Put the photos out as guests arrive.
• Winner: the most right guesses.

1. 1
   Ask privately, a week or two before

   Text or email the guests you think would enjoy it, say the photo will be shown and matched to their name, and make it easy to say no.
2. 2
   Number the photos

   Print them or put them in a slideshow, without names, and note each number on your key.
3. 3
   Let everyone guess

   Guests write a name next to each number. Anyone who didn’t send a photo can still play.
4. 4
   Reveal the matches

   Read the key aloud. Whoever gets the most right wins the prize, and the stories behind the photos win the room.

A message you can send:

02 Future favorites: prediction cards with no winner

Future favorites is a prediction game in which guests imagine what this child might love, and the family keeps every card. There’s no score, so nobody has to be good at it.

• Players: everyone, any number.
• Time: 10 to 15 minutes, while people eat.
• Winner: none. The family keeps every card.

Hand out the cards once everyone has a plate, and let guests answer as many prompts as they like.

Copy the prompts onto index cards, with room to write under each one. Guests drop their cards in the basket, and the parents can read a few aloud, only if they’d like to.

03 Couples baby shower trivia, approved by the parents

Couples baby shower trivia starts with the parents: they write or approve the questions, ten light ones about themselves, five each.

• Players: teams of four to six.
• Time: about 15 minutes for ten questions.
• Winner: the team with the most right answers.

1. 1
   Ask each parent privately

   Five light questions each, with the answers. Mix the two lists, and drop anything either of them would rather keep private.
2. 2
   Make teams of four to six

   Put friends from both sides on every team: that’s half the fun.
3. 3
   Read, write, reveal

   Read each question twice while teams write their answers. Reveal them all at the end, and let the parents tell the story behind each one.

Here are sample questions to suggest; swap in the parents’ names. Copy the ones they approve onto cards, or read them from your phone.

04 A story prompt table for guests who’d rather not compete

A story prompt table gives guests a quiet way to join in: a card, a pen and a prompt, whenever they like. It suits the guests who prefer conversation to competition.

• Players: anyone, a few at a time.
• Time: it stays open the whole party; a visit takes a few minutes.
• Winner: none. The family keeps the cards.

Write one prompt at the top of each card. Guests pick one, write as much or as little as they like, and drop it in the box. Read notes aloud only if the writer and the family agree.

For more ideas with no winner at all, see our list of things to do at a baby shower besides games.

05 Couples baby shower games that star both parents

Games 5 to 12 put both parents-to-be in the middle: which parent said it, the shoe game, would they rather, a blindfolded diaper race, a baby gear race, a baby food taste test, how old were they and the couple’s timeline. Ask them first: some love the spotlight, others would rather watch.

5. Which parent said it?

Each parent answers the same ten prompts in private; guests guess who gave each answer.

• Players: everyone, alone or in pairs.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: the prompts below, answered by both parents a week before; numbered slips and pens.
• How: read one answer at a time. Guests write which parent said it. After ten, the parents reveal each one together.
• Variant: guests hold up a card with each parent’s name instead of writing.
• Winner: the most right answers.

6. The shoe game

The baby shower version of the newlywed game: the parents sit back to back, each holding one of their own shoes and one of the other’s, and answer “who is more likely to…” by raising one.

• Players: the two parents; everyone else watches.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: two chairs, both parents’ shoes, and the questions below.
• How: read a question. Each parent raises the shoe of whoever they think it describes. Agree, and the room cheers; disagree, and they explain.
• Variant: let guests vote first, by a show of hands.
• Winner: nobody keeps score; count the matches if you like.

7. Would they rather?

Guests predict how the parents answered ten “would you rather” questions about life with a baby.

• Players: everyone, alone or in teams.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: the questions below, answered by the parents together beforehand, and a card per guest with the ten questions and both answers printed; pens.
• How: read each question. Guests circle the answer they think the parents chose. Reveal all ten at the end.
• Variant: ask each parent separately, and see whether they agree.
• Winner: the most right predictions.

8. Blindfolded diaper race

One player is blindfolded and diapers a baby doll; their partner guides them with words only.

• Players: pairs, two at a time; the parents race first.
• Time: about 2 minutes a round.
• You’ll need: two baby dolls, newborn diapers, two blindfolds, a timer.
• How: on “go,” the blindfolded player takes the old diaper off and puts a new one on; the partner talks them through it, keeping their own hands behind their back.
• Variant: the partner may only answer yes or no.
• Winner: the first diaper fastened on straight, tabs closed.

9. Baby gear race

The parents race through three jobs with their new gear: open the stroller, buckle a doll into the car seat, pack the diaper bag.

• Players: the parents, against a team of guests who already have kids.
• Time: about 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: a stroller, a car seat on the floor, a diaper bag, a doll, and ten items to pack: diapers, wipes, a bottle, a bib, a burp cloth, a change of clothes, a hat, a pacifier, a blanket, a toy.
• How: time each team through the three jobs, one after the other. A missed item adds 10 seconds.
• Variant: fold the stroller back up at the end.
• Winner: the fastest time.

10. Baby food taste test

Five jars of store-bought baby food, labels covered; the parents taste and name the flavor.

• Players: the parents, or two volunteers.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: five single-flavor jars, numbered, with the labels covered; a clean spoon for every taste; slips for guesses.
• How: read each label for the FDA’s nine major food allergens, and ask the tasters first. They taste each jar and call out a flavor; guests write their own guesses too.
• Variant: look and smell only, no tasting.
• Winner: the most flavors named.

11. How old were they?

Photos of both parents at different ages; guests guess how old they were in each.

• Players: everyone.
• Time: 10 minutes, or the whole party on a board.
• You’ll need: eight photos the parents chose, four each, numbered; slips and pens; the real ages, kept out of sight.
• How: guests write an age under each number. Read the real ages; each guest adds up how far off they were.
• Variant: guess the year instead of the age.
• Winner: the smallest total difference.

12. The couple’s timeline

Eight moments from the parents’ life together on cards; guests put them in order.

• Players: teams of three or four.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: eight moments the parents are happy to share, like how they met, a first trip, a first home or a pet, each on a card; one set per team.
• How: teams lay the cards in order. The parents tell the real order, with a story for each card.
• Variant: for one parent, use moments from their own life.
• Winner: the most cards in the right place.

06 Coed baby shower team games and relays

Games 13 to 22 are team games and relays: a clothesline relay, a bottle race, diaper pong, baby bottle bowling, a diaper stack, a toilet paper swaddle, pass the baby, a sock match, baby charades and baby Pictionary. Put guests from both sides on every team.

13. Clothesline relay

Teams race to hang baby clothes on a line, one item per runner.

• Players: two to four teams of four to six.
• Time: about 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: a string tied between two chairs for each team, 10 small baby clothes and 20 clothespins per team.
• How: one at a time, each runner hangs an item with two pins, runs back and tags the next.
• Variant: hang them in size order, newborn first; the parents keep the clothes.
• Winner: the first team with all 10 items hung.

14. Bottle race

Players race to empty a baby bottle of lemonade or sparkling water.

• Players: four at a time, in heats.
• Time: about 1 minute a heat.
• You’ll need: a new baby bottle for each player, with their name on it, and 4 oz of lemonade or sparkling water in each.
• How: on “go,” drink. Hands behind your back for a harder round.
• Variant: heat winners meet in a final.
• Winner: the first empty bottle.

15. Diaper pong

Ping-pong balls tossed into open diapers, like the cup game.

• Players: two teams of two to four.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: 12 newborn diapers, opened and taped to each end of a table in two triangles of six; four ping-pong balls.
• How: teams take turns tossing. A ball that lands in a diaper takes that diaper out.
• Variant: one bounce allowed, for kids.
• Winner: the first team to clear the other’s six.

16. Baby bottle bowling

Ten baby bottles stand in as pins at the end of a hallway.

• Players: everyone, in turns, alone or in teams.
• Time: 10 to 15 minutes.
• You’ll need: 10 plastic baby bottles, a little water in each so they stand, a soft ball and painter’s tape for the line.
• How: each player gets two rolls from the line. Count the bottles down, and set them back up.
• Variant: roll a rolled-up pair of baby socks.
• Winner: the most bottles down.

17. Diaper stack

Each team builds the tallest tower of diapers it can.

• Players: teams of two or three.
• Time: 60 seconds a round.
• You’ll need: a pack of diapers per team; the parents keep them all.
• How: on “go,” stack. The tower must stand on its own for three seconds when time is up.
• Variant: one hand each.
• Winner: the tallest tower still standing.

18. Toilet paper swaddle

Teams wrap one volunteer from shoulders to ankles, like a swaddled newborn.

• Players: teams of three or four, one volunteer each.
• Time: 2 minutes.
• You’ll need: two rolls of toilet paper per team.
• How: wrap over clothes, never the face. When time is up, the volunteers shuffle out for judging.
• Variant: wrap a teddy bear instead.
• Winner: the parents pick the best swaddle.

19. Pass the baby

A doll goes around the circle while music plays; whoever holds it when the music stops answers a card.

• Players: everyone, in a circle.
• Time: 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: a doll, a speaker, and cards with prompts, like “your best baby advice” or a “would you rather” from game 7.
• How: stop the music at random. The holder reads a card aloud, answers it, and the music starts again.
• Variant: the holder is out, and the circle shrinks.
• Winner: no winner, or the last player left in the variant.

20. Sock match race

Pairs race to match tiny socks from one mixed-up basket.

• Players: pairs, two at a time.
• Time: about 2 minutes.
• You’ll need: 20 pairs of baby socks, all mixed in a basket; the parents keep them.
• How: on “go,” each pair digs in and lays matched pairs in front of them.
• Variant: one player of each pair wears oven mitts.
• Winner: the most pairs matched when 2 minutes are up.

21. Baby charades

Teams act out life with a baby, without a word.

• Players: two teams.
• Time: 10 to 15 minutes.
• You’ll need: the 20 cards below, a bowl, a 1-minute timer.
• How: one player draws a card and acts; their team guesses within a minute. Teams take turns.
• Variant: both teams guess every card, and the first to shout wins it.
• Winner: the most cards guessed.

22. Baby Pictionary

Teams draw baby things on a big pad while their side guesses.

• Players: two teams.
• Time: 10 to 15 minutes.
• You’ll need: a large pad or a whiteboard, markers, the 20 words below, a 1-minute timer.
• How: one player draws a word, no letters or numbers; their team has a minute to guess. Swap teams after each word.
• Variant: draw with the other hand.
• Winner: the most words guessed.

07 Couples baby shower quizzes, with the answers

Games 23 to 32 are quizzes: nursery rhymes, famous babies, TV parents, songs, “baby” around the world, scrambles, emoji books, baby ABC, a memory tray and the Price Is Right, eight with the answers written out. Teams of mixed guests work best; no phones.

23. Finish the nursery rhyme

Guests fill in the missing word of ten nursery rhymes.

• Players: everyone, alone or in teams.
• Time: about 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: the lines below on a card, without the answers; pens.
• How: guests write the missing words. Read the answers, and let them mark their own.
• Variant: read each line aloud, and let the first to sing the rest win it.
• Winner: the most right answers.

24. Cartoon and movie babies

Guests name the show or film each famous baby comes from.

• Players: everyone, alone or in teams.
• Time: about 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: the ten names below on a card; pens.
• How: guests write the show or film next to each baby. Read the answers.
• Variant: two scrambled columns to match, for kids.
• Winner: the most right answers.

25. Name the TV parents

Guests name the show each TV parent, or pair of parents, comes from.

• Players: everyone, alone or in teams.
• Time: about 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: the ten parents below on a card; pens.
• How: guests write the show next to each name. Read the answers.
• Variant: give the show, and ask for the parents’ names.
• Winner: the most right answers.

26. Songs with “baby” in the title

Play a few seconds of each song; guests name the song and the artist.

• Players: teams of three to five.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: the ten songs below in a playlist, a speaker, slips and pens.
• How: play the first 5 to 10 seconds of each song, before anyone sings. Teams write title and artist.
• Variant: hum instead of playing.
• Winner: the most points: one for the title, one for the artist.

27. Baby around the world

Guests match the word for “baby” to its language.

• Players: everyone, alone or in teams.
• Time: about 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: a card with the ten words in one column and the ten languages, mixed up, in the other; pens.
• How: guests draw lines from word to language. Read the answers.
• Variant: ask guests who speak another language to add their own word.
• Winner: the most right matches.

28. Baby word scramble

Ten baby words with their letters mixed up.

• Players: everyone, alone or in pairs.
• Time: 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: the scrambles below on a card, without the answers; pens.
• How: start a 5-minute timer; guests unscramble as many as they can.
• Variant: give the first letter of each answer.
• Winner: the most words, or the first to finish all ten.

29. Name the book from its emoji

Ten picture-book classics, each spelled out in emoji.

• Players: teams of three to five.
• Time: about 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: the emoji below on a card or a screen; slips and pens.
• How: teams write the title for each line. Read the answers.
• Variant: each team writes an emoji title for the next team to guess.
• Winner: the most titles.

30. Baby ABC

Teams list one baby item for every letter, A to Z.

• Players: teams of three to five.
• Time: 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: a sheet with A to Z down the side for each team; pens.
• How: start the timer. Teams write one item a letter: bottle for B, crib for C. Read the lists aloud at the end.
• Variant: any answer another team also wrote scores nothing.
• Winner: the most letters filled.

31. Baby memory tray

Fifteen baby items on a tray, shown for 30 seconds, then covered.

• Players: everyone, alone.
• Time: about 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: a tray, a towel to cover it, the 15 items below, slips and pens.
• How: uncover the tray for 30 seconds, cover it, and give guests 2 minutes to list everything they remember.
• Variant: take one item away, uncover, and ask what’s missing.
• Winner: the longest right list.

32. The Price Is Right, baby edition

Guests guess what eight baby items cost.

• Players: everyone, alone.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: eight items from the parents’ registry or the store, like wipes, diapers, a bottle, diaper cream and a board book, with the receipt; slips and pens.
• How: show each item. Guests write a price. Add up their guesses and compare with the receipt.
• Variant: guess item by item, and the closest wins each.
• Winner: the closest total without going over.

08 Classic baby shower games, made for couples

Games 33 to 42 are the classics, with a twist for a mixed crowd: don’t say “baby,” a pacifier hunt, birth date squares, guess how many, forehead portraits, gift bingo, the left-right game, find the guest who, a corny joke contest and name that candy bar. Nothing assumes who the parents are, and nothing needs a pregnant belly.

33. Don’t say “baby”

Every guest gets a clothespin; say “baby,” and whoever hears you takes yours.

• Players: everyone, the whole party.
• Time: from arrival to the end.
• You’ll need: a clothespin for every guest, clipped on at the door.
• How: announce the word at the start. Anyone who says it hands one of their pins to whoever caught them. The ban pauses during other games.
• Variant: ban the parents’ names instead.
• Winner: the most pins at the end.

34. Pacifier hunt

Twenty pacifiers hidden around the room, found during the party.

• Players: everyone.
• Time: the whole party, or a 5-minute hunt.
• You’ll need: 20 new full-size pacifiers, hidden in plain sight: a plant, a bookshelf, a picture frame. Skip mini party pacifiers: the CPSC treats small parts like these as a choking hazard for children under 3.
• How: guests pocket every pacifier they spot, quietly. Count them before the cake.
• Variant: one golden pacifier, painted, worth five; it’s for display, never for a baby.
• Winner: the most pacifiers found.

35. Birth date squares

Guests claim a day on a calendar around the expected date; closest to the real birthday wins.

• Players: everyone, one square each.
• Time: a minute a guest, on arrival.
• You’ll need: a printed calendar of the weeks around the date the parents expect, and a pen. Ask the parents first.
• How: each guest writes their name in one empty day. After the birth, the parents announce the winner.
• Variant: add a time of day, for a tiebreaker.
• Winner: the closest day; send the prize by mail.

36. Guess how many

A jar of candy, counted in advance; guests guess the number.

• Players: everyone.
• Time: a minute a guest, any time.
• You’ll need: a clear jar, wrapped candy you counted as you filled it, slips, pens. Keep the bag, so guests can read the label for allergens.
• How: guests drop a guess and their name in a cup. Read the count before the cake.
• Variant: fill the jar with baby socks; the parents keep the socks, and the winner gets a small prize.
• Winner: the closest guess takes the jar.

37. Forehead portraits

Guests draw the baby on a paper plate held on their forehead.

• Players: everyone, at once.
• Time: about 3 minutes.
• You’ll need: a paper plate and a marker per guest.
• How: read the features one by one: the head, two eyes, a nose, a mouth, ears, a little hair, a hat. Plates stay on foreheads until the end.
• Variant: draw the parents instead.
• Winner: the parents pick their favorite.

38. Gift bingo

Guests fill a bingo card with gifts they expect, then mark them as the parents open presents.

• Players: everyone, during the gifts.
• Time: as long as the gifts take.
• You’ll need: a blank 5-by-5 grid per guest, the center square free; pens.
• How: only if the parents open gifts at the party. Guests fill each square with a gift, like “bibs” or “a board book,” and mark squares as the gifts come out.
• Variant: four corners win, instead of a line.
• Winner: the first to call a full line.

39. The left-right game

A wrapped prize goes around the circle while you read a story: left on “left,” right on “right.”

• Players: everyone, in a circle.
• Time: about 3 minutes.
• You’ll need: one wrapped prize, or a few, and the story below.
• How: read slowly. Each time you say “left” or “right,” the prize moves one person that way.
• Variant: start three prizes at once.
• Winner: whoever holds the prize at the last word keeps it.

40. Find the guest who…

A bingo card of 16 facts; guests find someone each fact fits, and get their name. It’s the best icebreaker for two families who’ve never met.

• Players: everyone.
• Time: 10 to 15 minutes, as guests arrive.
• You’ll need: a card per guest with the 16 squares below, in a 4-by-4 grid; pens.
• How: guests mingle and ask. One name per square, and each person signs only one square per card.
• Variant: fill the whole card, not just a line.
• Winner: the first full line, across, down or diagonal.

41. Corny joke contest

Guests tell their corniest baby joke; the parents choose the one that made them groan loudest.

• Players: anyone who wants a turn.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: a jar of jokes on slips, for guests who don’t have one, like the ten below.
• How: one joke each, in turn. The parents keep a straight face if they can.
• Variant: whoever makes a parent laugh out loud wins on the spot.
• Winner: the parents pick the groaner of the day.

42. Name that candy bar

Eight candy bars cut in half on numbered plates; guests name each one by its cross-section.

• Players: everyone, alone or in pairs.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: eight different full-size candy bars, eight small plates, a knife, numbered slips and pens.
• How: cut each bar in half to show its layers, and number the plates. Guests look and sniff, never taste: many bars contain peanuts or tree nuts, two of the FDA’s nine major food allergens. Keep the wrappers for the answers.
• Variant: smell only, eyes closed.
• Winner: the most bars named.

09 More coed baby shower games for the whole room

Games 43 to 47 get the whole room playing at once: Mad Libs, two truths and a lie, celebrity baby names, the oven mitt challenge and baby Jeopardy.

43. Baby shower Mad Libs

One partner asks for words without showing the story; then they read the finished story to the table.

• Players: pairs, all at once.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: the story below on a card for each pair, with its blanks, and pens.
• How: the partner holding the card asks for each word by its type, like “a food” or “a number,” without reading the story out. They fill in the blanks, then read the whole story aloud.
• Variant: the parents fill one in together and read it last.
• Winner: the parents pick the funniest story.

44. Two truths and a lie, parents’ edition

Each parent tells three things about themselves; guests vote on the one that isn’t true.

• Players: the parents tell, everyone votes.
• Time: about 10 minutes, three rounds each.
• You’ll need: nothing, or slips for votes in a big room.
• How: a parent says three statements. Guests hold up one, two or three fingers for the one they think is false. The parent reveals the lie, and the story behind the truths.
• Variant: guests take turns at their own tables.
• Winner: whoever spots the most lies; keep count on a napkin.

45. Celebrity baby names

Guests match famous parents to the names they gave their children.

• Players: everyone, alone or in teams.
• Time: about 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: a card with the ten names in one column and the parents, mixed up, in the other; pens.
• How: guests draw lines from each name to its famous parents. Read the answers.
• Variant: give the parents, and ask for the name.
• Winner: the most right matches.

46. Oven mitt challenge

Players wear oven mitts and race to unwrap as much candy as they can.

• Players: four at a time, in heats.
• Time: 1 minute a heat.
• You’ll need: a pair of oven mitts per player, a bowl of individually wrapped candy, and a plate each.
• How: on “go,” players unwrap candies, mitts on, and drop each one on their plate. Read the bag for the FDA’s major food allergens before anyone eats them.
• Variant: put a onesie and socks on a doll, mitts on.
• Winner: the most candies unwrapped in a minute.

47. Baby Jeopardy

A board of five categories, built from the quizzes above and played like the TV game show.

• Players: two or three teams.
• Time: 15 to 20 minutes.
• You’ll need: a poster board with five columns, nursery rhymes, famous babies, TV parents, songs and “baby” around the world; five sticky notes in each, marked 100 to 500, each hiding a question from that quiz; someone to read.
• How: teams take turns picking a category and a value. Answer right and keep the note; answer wrong and the next team may try.
• Variant: a final question about the parents, where teams bet their points.
• Winner: the team with the most points.

10 Outdoor games for a coed backyard shower

Games 48 to 51 need a yard or a park, where there’s room to run: a stroller course, a water balloon toss, a diaper toss and don’t drop the baby.

48. Stroller obstacle course

Pairs walk a stroller with a doll around cones, one steering, one calling the turns.

• Players: pairs, two at a time.
• Time: about 2 minutes a race.
• You’ll need: two strollers, two dolls, eight cones or water bottles on a clear, flat course, and a timer.
• How: the pusher walks the course while the partner calls the turns. A cone knocked over adds 5 seconds, and running adds 10.
• Variant: the pusher keeps one hand behind their back.
• Winner: the fastest time.

49. Water balloon toss

Pairs toss a water balloon back and forth, a step farther apart after each catch.

• Players: pairs, all at once.
• Time: about 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: one filled water balloon per pair, plus spares, and a trash bag.
• How: pairs start a step apart. After each catch, both step back. A burst balloon is out.
• Variant: catch one-handed.
• Winner: the last pair with an unbroken balloon.

50. Diaper toss

Rolled-up diapers thrown into laundry baskets, like a bean bag toss.

• Players: two teams.
• Time: about 10 minutes.
• You’ll need: three laundry baskets at 6, 9 and 12 feet, and 12 diapers rolled and taped.
• How: each player throws three diapers a round, for three rounds. The baskets score 1, 2 and 3 points.
• Variant: throw with your other hand.
• Winner: the team with the most points after three rounds.

51. Don’t drop the baby

A relay where each runner carries a rubber duck on a big spoon.

• Players: two to four teams.
• Time: about 5 minutes.
• You’ll need: a large spoon per runner, a rubber duck per team, and a turnaround cone.
• How: runners go around the cone and back, then tip the duck onto the next runner’s spoon. Drop it, and start that leg again.
• Variant: walk the course backward.
• Winner: the first team to finish.

11 How to choose baby shower games for couples

Choose baby shower games for couples by the size of the group, the length of the party and the crowd. But ask the parents-to-be first: some love being the center of a game, and others would rather watch from the snack table.

By group size

• Under 10 people: future favorites cards, the shoe game, or trivia with the whole room as one team.
• 10 to 20 people: the photo match, team trivia, diaper pong or a quiz.
• More than 20 guests: games everyone plays at once, like don’t say “baby,” find the guest who, forehead portraits or the left-right game in two circles.
• An open house where guests come and go: games that wait on a table, like the story table, the photo board or the guess-how-many jar.

By party length

• 90 minutes: one short game.
• Two hours: one or two.
• Three hours: two, with plenty of time to talk in between.

Games that run all party long, like don’t say “baby,” the pacifier hunt, guess how many and birth date squares, don’t count toward the one or two.

By crowd

• Two families who’ve never met: find the guest who, then a team game with both sides on every team.
• Kids coming: the pacifier hunt, baby bottle bowling or don’t drop the baby.
• Older relatives: nursery rhymes, songs with “baby” in the title, or the memory tray, played sitting down.
• Guests on video: quizzes read aloud, which parent said it or would they rather, with answers sent to you in a private message.
• A crowd that loves to laugh: the toilet paper swaddle, the blindfolded diaper race, the bottle race and Mad Libs.
• On a budget: paper and pens are all you need for which parent said it, would they rather, the quizzes, find the guest who and the left-right game.

Two ready-made lineups for two hours

Each schedule in our baby shower agenda keeps 20 to 25 minutes for one optional activity, which fits any one game here. Prefer no games at all? Our list of things to do at a baby shower besides games has quiet ideas with no winner.

12 What should the invitation say about games?

A baby shower invitation usually says nothing about the games: its job is to say where to go, when, and how to RSVP. The games can stay a surprise.

If a game needs something from guests, like a baby photo, ask only the people who’d enjoy it, privately, by text or email. For an outdoor game, a line like “Wear shoes you can run in” is enough.

If your invitation is an InviteByLink baby shower website, guests RSVP right on the page. Your dashboard adds up the people in each yes: plan teams, cards and pens from that number, plus a few spares. The website holds no photos, and anyone who has the link can open it, so photo requests stay in your private messages.

13 Questions