Baby Shower Game and Favor Ideas
Set a date that works for all parties involved
Make sure you pick a day and time that will work with most schedules. You don’t want to have it close to a holiday where people might have other obligations. In order to accommodate work schedules and busy people, Saturdays or weekday evenings usually work best. Try a Saturday morning that way the guests can have the rest of the day to run errands and get household chores done.
Pick a theme-something creative and unique
There are so many different themes you can use for a baby shower. One of my favorites is a “Gift Card” theme. You can have everyone purchase a gift card from a department store or a baby boutique so the mother can pick out her own items. Gift cards are great because then the recipient can get what they want and it cuts back on returning items that you don’t need or getting doubles. Another cute theme is “Baby Essentials.” With this kind of a shower you get gifts like blankets/bedding, bath and personal care items, diapers and pajamas. Another theme idea is a “Playtime” theme. This is for a mom who already has the basics and is looking for educational toys, books, music or things like a play yards and walkers etc.
Plan the food and games ahead of time
Choose something simple like a light brunch or just do dessert. It doesn’t have to be a full meal. You could also do some fun finger foods like a veggie tray and a fruit plate. For the games do a simple word scramble or you can play a traditional game like guess how big her belly is by measuring yarn that will go around mommy. Some other popular game ideas are the taste test-tasting baby food and guessing what kind it is or the baby poop game-melting candy bars in diaper and guess what flavor of candy bar is in each diaper.
Here are some suggestions for unique shower game and favor ideas at baby shower celebrations:
One game that was a hit at some of the baby showers I have given was a music bingo game. We had baby lullabies. On the bingo card there was the name of the song. Try and add some more difficult songs that not everyone will know right off the bat. This was a fun game to see who was up on their music trivia. Some of spaces on the bingo card were as follows:
Rock-a-bye Baby
Hush Little Baby
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
Ocean of Bliss
Lazy Days
Baby Mine
Brahms Lullaby
Another game that seems to be a hit is the word matching game. Most of these words have to do with the birth and delivery of the baby and the prizes correspond with the words. Here is a list of the words and the prizes to give with them.
1st Trimester-Soda Crackers
2nd Trimester-Butterfingers
3rd Trimester-GooGoo Bar
Epidural-Lifesavers
New Daddy-Big Hunk
Water Breaking-Gushers (the fruit snack with liquid in the middle)
Hospital Bill-100 Grand
New Baby-Baby Ruth
Delivery-Whoppers
Dirty Diaper-Raisenettes
Twins-Twix
Make two cards for each of the words and tape them upside down on the floor of a bulletin board and have a number on the back then have guest take turns picking a number and matching the words. When they match the words they get the prize that corresponds with the word.
One more idea is for a game/activity is a memory book for the new mom. Each guest writes down a story of memory they have of the mom and a compliment about her as a person. It can be something from when she was little or a fun memory from friends or college roommates. It doesn’t have to be long just something that stands out in their memory about the mother-to-be. Then when the mothers is feeling overwhelmed and tired she can get out her book and read the memories and compliments that guest have written about her to make her feel better, maybe even chuckle and get her mind on something else. You can buy a journal type book with decorative pages or make some scrapbook pages of your own and glue the papers with the comments on them inside your book.
Get ideas from friends and family
Some of your best resources can be friends and family. You will probably find most of your friends and family have had to plan or help plan a baby shower sometime and they have valuable experience with what works and what doesn’t work.
Make your own favors to help cut down on costs
Favors do not have to be something fancy. I have seen things like a printed plastic bag full of candy with a cute bow tied on top. You could also purchase candy bars and create your own wrapper to glue over the top of the original wrapper. Decorate the wrapper with stickers or stamps and a cute saying like “You Melt My Heart”, “You are Sweet” or “Your Presence Was Worth 1000 Grand.”
Cute simple shower favors can add flair to your celebration. Here are some other ideas:
Have a Polaroid camera and take pictures of the guest and the mom-to-be and put them in cute picture frames (you can get inexpensive frames at the $1 store or a discount store). With this take home memory the guest is sure to remember this shower for years to come.
You can also buy little rubber ducky and wrap them in a washcloth with a saying like “Thank you for coming and bathing in the fun.”
Another simple favor idea is to buy some big candy bars and replace their wrapper with a customized wrapper of your own. You can put a not on them that says “Thank you for being so sweet.”
One more cute favor you can put on their plates to go with the food is a lifesaver pacifier. You can make these by combining two lifesavers with frosting and using a small jellybean as the nipple part. Turn one lifesaver on its flat side and stick the other standing up so the side of the lifesaver attached to the hole in the other lifesaver so it have a flat part for the top of the pacifier and a handle for the bottom. One the other end of the hole in the lifesaver that is lying flat, stick the jelly bean for the nipple. If you use peppermint or spearmint lifesavers this can be an after mint for all of your guests.
Use some of these ideas or create some of your own. A unique baby shower is not difficult to plan if you have a few basic ideas and then let your imagination run wild. Remember it doesn’t have to be elaborate as long as it comes from the heart. There is not a handbook for this kind of event. Anything you do will be appreciated. Follow some of the tips and ideas above and you are sure to have a memorable event. Don’t forget the most important item a camera for pictures!
