Name games are a fun and meaningful way to celebrate at a baby shower, adding a personal touch that honors the little one on the way. We have compiled and created some baby shower games that center around baby names, and some more ideas for your party! Name games cna help break the ice and create lasting memories tied to the joy of welcoming a new life. If you have any shower games you’d like to add, let us know!
1. Initials Game
If name has not been chosen (or revealed) yet: give guests one minute to write down as many baby names as they can that start with their own initials. If the parents have announced the gender of the baby, use the gender. At time up, the guests will read out their names and the expecting parent will pick a winner of the best name suggestion.
If name has been chosen: give guests one minute to write down as many baby names as they can that start with the baby’s initials. Whoever comes closest to the actual chosen name(s), wins. You don’t even have to reveal the name, you can just say the winner “came the closest.”
2. Celebrity Babies
List famous celebrity babies (without surnames) and then have the group guess the celebrity parents. Whoever gets the most correct, wins.
3. Name that Decade
List the 5 most popular baby names from a specific decade and have guests guess which era they belong to.
4. Name Art
If the child’s name has been revealed, have your guests make a piece of art that depicts the name and/or meaning. You can have small canvases & paint, or use fabric paint and blank baby bodysuits, or ornaments. You can even make bracelets with names on them for friends or family!
5. You Bet!
If the name and/or gender has not yet been revealed, have everyone pitch in one dollar and a guess to the gender & name. If someone is exactly right (when name is revealed), they win the pot. If nobody guesses correctly, the money goes to the parents as a gift.
6. In the Middle
Have one person try to guess the middle name of another guest. If they’re stumped they can ask up to 3 questions/clues – if they can’t guess after that, they have to give up. Then that person picks another guest, and so on.
7. Name that Tune
Have your guests come up with 10 songs with names in the title, and whoever finishes first wins. Alternative: play the first 2 seconds of a song with a name in the title, and have the guests shout out the song. Examples: Hey There Delilah, Rhiannon, Jolene, Joanne, etc.
More Baby Shower Games
8. Baby Mug Shots
Have each guest bring their own baby picture and collect it when they arrive. Tape the pictures to one big poster board and put a number under each picture. Have your guests guess which baby is which attendee!
9. Baby Item Price Is Right
Just like the TV show, buy several baby items and record how much each of them cost. Display the items on a table and have each guest write down their guess of the price for each item. The one with the closest guess without going over, wins.
10. Guess the Gerber
Purchase 8 jars of baby food and remove the labels. Put numbers on the lids with a Sharpie and then have your guests try to guess the baby food. No tasting allowed!
11. Baby Got Back
Get 5 little plastic babies (available at a craft store) and put them in a cup. Have each guests shake the cup and toss the babies onto a table. The player with the most babies with their “bottoms up” wins.
12. Designer Originals
Buy plain white onesies in various infant sizes (0-12M). Give one Onesie to each guest and provide fabric paints (or paint pens) on a table. Make sure you put newspaper down in case of spillage! Have each guest decorate a Onesie for the baby-to-be. If you want, you can have Mom give awards: Most artistic, Most colorful, Most creative, Craziest, etc.
13. Pins in Rice
Put 20 safety pins of different sizes into a large bowl of uncooked rice. Blindfold each guest and see how many pins they can find in 60 seconds. The guest who pulls out the most pins wins!
14. Crossover Diaper Pins
As each guest arrives, pin four diaper pins on his/her shirt. Sometime during the shower tell everyone that if someone sees you crossing your legs, they get to take your diaper pin. The person with the most diaper pins after 2 hours (or set your own time), wins.
15. Diaper Skyscraper
Have your guests stack diapers one on top of the other to see who can make the highest skyscraper without the diapers tumbling!
16. Dirty Diapers
Get 5-8 different chocolate candy bars, put each in a cloth diaper and melt them in the microwave. Have each guest guess what candy bars they were originally! The guest with the most right (without tasting them!) wins.
17. Stuffed Shirt
Have rubber balloons (inflated with air or helium) ready for this game. Whichever guest can stuff the most balloons under their shirt wins! If they pop one, they are disqualified.
18. Don’t Drop the Baby (Water Balloon Toss)
Have your guests divide up into teams. Each team must draw a baby on their water balloon and then take turns tossing the balloon back and forth without dropping them. After one successful toss, they must take one step back. If the balloon breaks, they are out. Whichever team is left wins!
19. Body Parts x3
Have your guests name all parts of the body that only have 3 letters in them. The guest with the most correct answers wins. Answers: arm, lid, leg, rib, hip, gum, jaw, lip, toe, eye and ear.
20. College Fund
Buy a plastic piggy bank and tell your guests to bring spare change. Each guest takes a turn saying “I’ve never…” and says something that they have never done like “eat sushi”, “been in a helicopter”, etc. If someone out of the group actually HAS done that thing, they have to put a coin in the piggy bank. At the end of the game, the change goes toward the new baby’s college fund!
21. Baba Race
Get a plastic bottle for each guest and fill it with water. At the start whistle, whichever guest finishes all of the water in the bottle first, wins!
22. Gift Bellies
When it’s time to give the gift items, have the guests put their gift underneath their shirts. Have the Mom-to-be feel each “belly” and try to guess the gift underneath.
23. Guess Mama’s Belly
Pass around a ball of string and have each guest cut a piece they think equals the circumference of the belly of the Mama-to-be. When each guest has cut their string, have them come up to the Mama and test it around her waist. Whoever comes closest, wins!
24. Shower Present Bingo
Each guest gets a bingo card (Grid of 5×5 squares) and fills in what presents they predict the Mama-to-be will get. The “free” space is the present you brought. As each gift is unopened, you put a chip (penny or piece of paper) on the square if you were right. Whoever gets all in a row first, wins!
25. Baby Name Race
Each guest is given a piece of paper and pen. In 60 seconds, the guests have to list as many names as possible that start with the same letters as the baby’s parents’ names. If you know the gender of the baby, do 60 seconds for boys’ names and 60 seconds for girls’ names. Read the names aloud, whichever guest has the most names, wins!
26. Celebrity Babies
Use our Celebrity Baby Names List for this game! Print out a sheet with the celebrity couples on the left and their babies’ names on the right. Scramble them so that the couples are not next to their own babies. Have your guests match the couple with the baby.
27. Ice-Ice-Baby (My Water Broke!)
Buy some miniature plastic babies (available at craft stores) and some small plastic cups. Put a baby in each of the cups, pour water in it and freeze them. Each guest receives one ice-baby. Whoever can make the water melt first and announces “my water broke” wins a prize.
28. Memory Game
Place 15-20 items used for babies (mini shampoo, baby powder, bib, etc.) on a tray. Keep tray hidden from guests. Give each guest a piece of paper and a pencil. Bring the tray of items to the front of the group on the table. Have guests look at the tray for 30 seconds (pencil and paper down. No Writing Yet!). After 30 seconds take the tray out of sight then tell the guests to write as many items as they remember on their piece of paper. The one with the most (correct) items wins.
Jennifer Moss (she/her) is the founder of BabyNames.com, author of The Baby Names Workbook, and Producer of The Baby Names Podcast. Jennifer is widely regarded as the leading expert on popular baby name trends and the naming process, serving as the authoritative source on the subject for national and international media.
Jennifer entered the tech arena in the 80s as a software developer and database architect, and became a pioneer in the Internet industry. In addition to operating BabyNames.com, Jennifer owns a web development agency in central California.
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