Baby shower games that aren't lame: 15 ideas, plus 45 quiz questions

The best baby shower games are quick to explain, need no one to stand up, and work for the aunt who knows everyone and the coworker who knows no one. Below: 15 games sorted by crowd, two ready-made quizzes, and the ones to skip.

How many games to plan

Two or three for a two-hour shower. One that runs in the background all party, one the whole room plays together, and one in reserve if the gifts go quickly. Ten minutes each is plenty.

Games for big groups

These need one sentence of rules and no microphone.

1. Don't say "baby." Everyone gets a clothespin or a sticker on arrival. Say "baby" and anyone who catches you takes yours. Most pins at the end wins. It runs all party with no host.
2. Gift bingo. Guests fill a bingo card with gifts they think the parents will open (onesie, bottles, a book), then mark them off during gift opening. It keeps the room watching. Our free bingo card maker prints a different shuffle on every card: swap in your own squares.
3. Guess the baby photo. Ask guests to bring or send a baby photo of themselves, number them on a board, and see who can match the most. Put the ask on the invitation so people remember.
4. Predictions card. Due date, weight, hair colour, who the baby will look like. Collect the cards, open them after the birth, and the parents send a small prize.
5. The price is right. Line up ten baby items with the price hidden. Closest total without going over wins.
6. Baby word scramble. Twelve scrambled words (rattle, bassinet, pacifier, lullaby). Hand it out at the door for early arrivals.

Games for coed showers

7. Mommy or Daddy. Read statements ("changed a tire," "cried at a commercial," "was a picky eater") and guests guess which parent it fits. The Bride or Groom game is the same format: rename the columns Mom and Dad under Options.
8. Celebrity baby names. Match the baby to the famous parents: Blue Ivy, North, Apple, Suri, Stormi, Lilibet, Harper Seven. Quick, and nobody needs to know the couple.
9. Name that lullaby. Play five seconds of a nursery rhyme or a lullaby cover. First table to name it scores.
10. Baby food taste test. Five jars with the labels covered, guests guess the flavour. Optional for the brave.

Games for the office

Short, seated, done in a lunch hour.

11. Guess the baby photo, using coworkers' photos. The office favourite.
12. Baby trivia (questions below), read out in ten minutes.
13. Emoji nursery rhymes. "🐑🐑⬛" is Baa Baa Black Sheep. Ten on a sheet, pens down after five minutes.

Quiet games that still feel special

14. Advice for the parents. A card with one prompt and room to write: "Best thing to do on a hard night," "A book to read to the baby." The parents keep them. Our advice cards let you edit the prompts and print up to eight a sheet.
15. Wishes for baby. Guests write a wish for the baby's first year on a card or a small tag. Read them at the first birthday.

30 how well do you know the mom to be questions

Pick 15. The mom to be writes her answers first, guests score one point for each match, and she reveals them at the end. For a coed shower, ask the same questions about both parents.

1. Where was she born?
2. What is her middle name?
3. How many siblings does she have?
4. What was her first job?
5. What did she want to be when she grew up?
6. What is her coffee or tea order?
7. What is her go-to takeout?
8. Her favourite film?
9. The show she has rewatched the most?
10. Her biggest pregnancy craving?
11. The food she cannot stand right now?
12. Where did she and her partner meet?
13. How long have they been together?
14. Who will be the stricter parent?
15. Who will do the night feeds?
16. Who will change more diapers?
17. Which parent will the baby look like?
18. What was her childhood nickname?
19. Her favourite children's book?
20. Her favourite song to sing in the car?
21. How did she tell her partner the news?
22. Who was the first person they told after that?
23. Boy, girl or surprise?
24. Is the nursery done?
25. The baby item she is most excited about?
26. Her due date?
27. The baby name they argued about most?
28. Her favourite holiday destination?
29. What she is most looking forward to?
30. One word her friends would use to describe her?

15 baby trivia questions (with answers)

Good for mixed rooms, because no one has to know the parents.

1. About how many bones is a newborn born with? About 300. Many fuse as the child grows, leaving 206 in an adult.
2. How many weeks is a full-term pregnancy? About 40, counted from the first day of the last period.
3. What is the soft spot on a baby's head called? The fontanelle.
4. What is a baby's first milk called? Colostrum.
5. What is a newborn's first poop called? Meconium.
6. About how many hours a day does a newborn sleep? 14 to 17, in short stretches.
7. About how often does a newborn feed? Every two to three hours, eight to twelve times a day.
8. What do newborns see best? High contrast, like black and white. Colour vision develops over the first months.
9. When does the first tooth usually appear? Around six months.
10. When do most babies start solid food? Around six months.
11. Are babies born with kneecaps? Not bony ones. They start as cartilage and harden in early childhood.
12. What do people call the first three months after birth? The fourth trimester.
13. What does the Apgar score check right after birth? Appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and breathing, scored out of 10.
14. In "Rock-a-bye Baby," where is the cradle? In the treetop.
15. In "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," what is the star like? A diamond in the sky.

Games to skip

• Measure the belly with string or toilet paper. Plenty of moms to be hate it. Ask first.
• Melted chocolate in diapers. Funny to some, a hard no for others.
• Anything that makes one guest perform alone. The quiet coworker will leave early.

Prizes

Small and useful: a candle, a nice pen, a plant, a coffee card. Wrap them in the shower colours. Let the winner of the first game pick first, so people stay in the room.

Put the games on the invitation

Ask for baby photos, mention the predictions card and give the dress code in one line of the invitation. Our baby shower invitation wording has 40 ideas. A digital baby shower invitation from Paper & Seal (our product) collects the RSVPs so you know how many cards to print, and on The Invitation and up it can carry a quiz guests play on their phones, with a leaderboard.