Obviously, as the guest of honour (and possibly a few of her friends) will be pregnant, you can forget about planning drinking games and relay races. These cute alternatives are guaranteed to get everybody giggling. It’s fun to offer little prizes for the winners of each game too.
Tell me a story
Prior to the party, ask all guests to submit a short childhood story of theirs. e.g the time they fell out of a tree or broke a vase and blamed their brother. These are read out at the party and mum-to-be has to guess which of her friends the story relates to.
Poem and present
Ask everyone to bring a small present and a poem with it and mum-to-be has to guess who has given the present.
Bag it up
Put lots of things that relate to pregnancy and babies (nappy, dummy, babygro, breast pad and so on) into a bag. In turn go round and each person will put their hand into the bag (without looking) and feel for an item, without taking it out of the bag, and try to guess what it is.
Drink time
Fill baby bottles with juice and have a race to see which person can finish it first.
Taster session
Take six jars of different types of baby foods and empty into separate bowls so nobody knows what each one is. Everyone present has to taste the food in each bowl and write down what they think it is.
What’s the width?
For this you will need a ball of yarn and scissors. Each guest has to cut a length of yarn that they think will fit around the stomach of the mum-to -be. No one is allowed to put the yarn around their own waist or that of another guest. Then each one ties their length of yarn around the pregnant mum’s waist and the one that is most accurate wins a prize. If there are several other pregnant women at the shower, ask everyone to guess how wide each one is.
Who’s that girl?
Everyone is asked to bring along a baby photo of themselves and hands these to the organiser, who will need to give the pictures numbers and make a note of who is who. The pictures could be laid out on a board with numbers and everyone has to write down which picture corresponds to which guest. Alternatively, the pictures are held up one by one by the organiser and the guests have to write down the name of the person they think it is. Another option is that only the mum-to-be has to guess who is who.
Enter mum’s mind
Give mum-to-be a list of questions to answer before the party — such as what’s your favourite film, when did you first realise you were pregnant and so on. Divide your guests into two teams and get them to guess what mum-to-be said for each question – e.g her favourite film is…
Name numbers
Ask the mum-to-be what initial she’d like her baby’s name to begin with and then ask all the guests to write down as many names beginning with that letter in one minute. Each person reads their list of names with any duplicate names getting scratched off. The person who has the largest number of names left on their list is the winner. The added bonus here is that the mum-to-be gets some ideas for potential names for the baby as well.
Alphabet soup
The group gets together in a circle and each person has to come up with a name of the alphabet. For instance the first person says a name with A, then the next person says a name with B, all the way to Z. If any guest can’t keep the rhythm or can’t think of a name, they’re out. The last person wins a prize.
Anagram game
Take the first and middle names of the parents-to-be and get the guests to come up with as many different names using only letters from those names. They don’t have to use all the letters but each name must be a recognizable one. The person with the longest list wins the game.
Song babies
This is played by dividing the guests into two groups or more. Each group is given a sheet of paper and a pen and are given five minutes to write down as many songs as they can with the word ‘baby’ in either the title or the lyrics. The team with the most songs is the winner.
Telling a tale
Either individually or in pairs, guests have to write down as many myths (‘old wives’ tales’) about pregnancy as they can. For instance, ‘if the bump is all in the front, it is a boy’. This is great fun as you may get to hear about myths you hadn’t heard of before.
Snappy nappy
For this you will need nappies, a life-size baby doll and a digital stopwatch or timer. The guests have to get a nappy on a baby doll in the fastest possible time. To add a twist have them try it blindfolded or in pairs, with each person being able to use only one hand.
The price is right
Put together about a dozen newborn baby items, such as nappies, wipes, talc, massage oil, a soother, booties, etc. The price of each item is sealed in an envelope next to the product. Hand out the list of items on sheets of paper and have the guests, individually or in pairs, come up with the correct price for each item. The organiser then opens each envelope and reads out the price; the person or team that comes closest to the correct price wins the product. At the end of the game all the products can be handed to the mum-to-be.
Top tip
Have loads of party favours and prizes available for the guests who win the games. The cost of each item depends on your budget, but favours filled with individually wrapped chocolates, sugared almonds and jelly beans are always a big hit.