Planning the perfect baby shower comes with one unspoken pressure nobody talks about: keeping guests actually entertained. Not awkwardly hovering by the snack table. Not staring at their phones. Really, genuinely having fun.
Finding the right baby shower activities is harder than it looks. Too competitive and half the room checks out. Too quiet and the energy falls flat.
The real secret is knowing your crowd – and knowing the mom-to-be. Is she the life of the party or someone who loves a cozy, relaxed gathering? Is the guest list full of people who know each other well, or a mix of different circles meeting for the first time? The answers shape everything.
I personally love a loud, competitive game where everyone is laughing and slightly stressed about the timer – but I know that is not every shower.
That is exactly why I put together this list of 18 baby shower activities covering every personality and every crowd, from printable games to creative craft stations to meaningful memory-making projects.
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Printable Games and Icebreakers
These work beautifully for mixed groups where not everyone knows each other. They get conversation flowing naturally without putting anyone on the spot.
Find the Guest
What You’ll Need:
- Printed bingo-style fact cards
- Pens or pencils
Preparation: Before the big day, ask each attendee to send you a unique or funny fact about themselves. Compile these facts onto the printable cards.
How to Play: As guests mingle, they must talk to each other to figure out who belongs to which fact. They fill in names on the cards as they go. The first person to connect five in a row wins!
This is one of the best icebreakers for showers where guests come from different circles – work friends, college friends, and family who have never met will all be chatting within minutes.
Baby Bingo
What You’ll Need:
- Printed bingo cards (one per guest)
- Pens or daubers
Preparation: Print one bingo card per guest before the party. Each card features a different grid of baby-related words or images.
How to Play: The host reads out baby-themed words one at a time. Guests mark off any word on their card that gets called. First to get five in a row calls bingo and wins!
Baby Bingo is one of the most popular baby shower activities for a reason – it is fast, fun, and gets everyone involved from the very first round.
Baby Emoji Pictionary
What You’ll Need:
- Printed emoji pictionary game cards
- Pens or pencils
- A timer
Preparation: Print out the game cards and place one at each seat before guests arrive.
How to Play: Guests have exactly three minutes to decode adorable baby-themed phrases or rhymes written entirely in emojis. It is fast, funny, and surprisingly challenging!
Save yourself the design work – grab my printable Emoji game and just print and play.
Who Knows Mommy Best?
What You’ll Need:
- Printed questionnaires
- Pens or pencils
- A timer
Preparation: Design and print questionnaires about the mom-to-be – her cravings, her childhood, her parenting plans.
How to Play: Give guests five minutes to fill in their answers. After everyone finishes, the mom-to-be reads the correct answers aloud. The answers always spark wonderful stories and laughter – and reveal which guests really think they know her best.
Mommy or Daddy?
What You’ll Need:
- Printed game sheets
- Pens or pencils
Preparation: Prepare a list of statements about baby habits, parenting styles, and funny predictions. Guests decide whether each one describes mom or dad.
How to Play: Let guests fill in their sheets, then reveal the answers together. It always gets the dads in the room hilariously defensive – and is a wonderful way to include partners, fathers, and the dad-to-be’s family in the celebration.
Baby Word Search
What You’ll Need:
- Printed word search sheets
- Pens or pencils
Preparation: Print one sheet per guest and place at each seat or at the activity table.
How to Play: Guests work through the baby-themed word search at their own pace. The baby shower word search is one of the most relaxed, low-pressure activities you can offer – perfect to have out when guests are still arriving and mingling, or as a quiet table activity during lunch.
Baby Word Scramble
What You’ll Need:
- Printed word scramble sheets
- Pens or pencils
- A timer
Preparation: Print one sheet per guest. Place them face-down at each seat so everyone starts at the same time.
How to Play: Flip the sheets over and give guests two minutes to unscramble as many baby-related words as they can. Simple to set up, surprisingly competitive, and always good for a laugh when someone cannot figure out a word that everyone else finds obvious.
Baby Trivia Quiz
What You’ll Need:
- Printed trivia sheets
- Pens or pencils
Preparation: Create a quiz about famous babies, wild parenting facts, or a fun Guess the Baby Animal matching game.
How to Play: Pass out the quizzes and challenge guests to answer as many questions as they can. The person with the most correct answers wins. This one is perfect for the competitive guests in your group!
Nursery Rhyme Fill-in-the-Blank
What You’ll Need:
- Printed nursery rhyme sheets
- Pens or pencils
- A timer
Preparation: Print out classic nursery rhyme lyrics with key words intentionally left blank.
How to Play: Set the timer for three minutes and see who can fill in the blanks the fastest. You will be amazed at how many people completely forget the ending to Humpty Dumpty when they are racing against the clock!
Baby Name Race
What You’ll Need:
- Cardstock paper with the alphabet printed down the side
- Pens or pencils
- A timer
Preparation: Prepare the alphabet cards and place them on the tables.
How to Play: Set a timer for two minutes and challenge guests to write a baby name for every single letter of the alphabet. The person that finish first wins – and the parents might just find their favorite name on one of those cards.
Baby Shower Activities That Aren’t Games
Not every mom-to-be wants a room full of competitive games – and not every guest does either. These low-key baby shower activity ideas are perfect for a relaxed shower where guests participate at their own pace, mingle freely, and still feel genuinely engaged the whole time.
Advice for the Parents
Set out beautifully printed advice cards, high-quality pens, and a decorative box or jar on a welcome table. Invite guests to jot down their best piece of parenting advice, a funny survival tip for the newborn days, or a heartfelt wish for the family.
This works as both an ongoing activity throughout the party and a deeply meaningful keepsake the parents will treasure – especially during those long, sleepless nights in the early weeks.
Baby Predictions Card
Set out printed prediction cards and pens on the welcome table or at each seat. Guests fill in their best guesses for the baby’s due date, birth weight, eye color, hair color, and who the baby will look like most.
Once everyone has filled in their card, collect them and seal them in an envelope for the parents to open after the birth – then see who got it right!
This is one of those activities that feels light and fun at the shower but becomes genuinely exciting once the baby arrives. It is also a sweet keepsake that captures what everyone was hoping and imagining before they met the little one.
Creative Craft and Keepsake Stations
Set these up around the room and let guests wander between them throughout the party. They double as beautiful decor while the shower is happening and meaningful gifts when it is over.
Baby’s First ABC Book
Set up a table with printed alphabet coloring pages and a variety of art supplies – crayons, markers, colored pencils. Each guest chooses a letter to color and decorate throughout the party. Once everything is over, slide the pages into sheet protectors or bind them together and you have a beautiful, custom keepsake book for bedtime reading.
The baby shower ABC book has become one of the most popular modern alternatives to the traditional guest book, and it is easy to see why – it becomes one of those items the family genuinely keeps forever.
Onesie Decorating Station
Wash and dry plain white onesies in various sizes beforehand and place cardboard inserts inside each one to prevent bleed-through. Set up a craft table with fabric markers, iron-on patches, and stencils for guests who feel less artistic.
Your friends and family will have a wonderful time designing custom fashion for the little one – and the parents go home with an adorable, one-of-a-kind wardrobe. For great quality fabric markers, Michaels has everything you need.
Decorate a Baby Block
Place blank wooden blocks and safe, non-toxic paint pens at the center of each table. Guests can draw animals, write sweet messages, or color beautiful patterns on the blocks throughout the party.
These look incredible stacked on a nursery shelf and are completely safe for the baby to play with later on.
Build-a-Mobile
Pick up a simple wooden mobile hoop kit – and set it up at a dedicated craft table. Add pre-cut felt or heavy paper shapes, markers, paint pens, and ribbon. Guests each decorate one or two hanging pieces – stars, animals, clouds, whatever matches the shower theme – and then assemble everything onto the hoop.
The result is a whimsical, one-of-a-kind mobile for the baby’s crib that every single guest had a hand in making. It becomes one of those nursery pieces the parents will never want to take down.
Custom Bib Making
Set out plain fabric bibs with fabric markers, and stencils on a designated table. Guests can paint funny sayings, cute animals, or sweet messages throughout the party.
Babies go through a staggering number of bibs, so having a big stack of lovingly decorated ones is genuinely one of the most useful gifts the new parents will receive.
Memory-Making Activities
These are the activities guests remember long after the party ends. Set them up as ongoing stations so people can contribute throughout the shower.
Polaroid Scrapbook Station
Set up an instant camera, a beautiful blank scrapbook, colorful washi tape, and metallic pens in a well-lit corner of the room. Guests snap sweet photos of themselves, tape them onto the pages, and leave a handwritten note next to their picture.
By the end of the shower, the mom-to-be has an instant photo album filled with everyone who celebrated her.
The Video Guest Book
Set up a tablet or phone on a small tripod with a cute instructional sign inviting guests to record a message. Guests sit down for a moment, hit record, and share their well wishes, advice, or a funny memory for the baby and parents.
By the end of the shower, the family has a beautiful video they can watch together on the baby’s first birthday, first day of school, and for years to come.
Fingerprint Tree Guest Book
Display a canvas featuring a painted tree with bare branches on an easel near the entrance, with ink pads in various colors and baby wipes for easy cleanup.
Guests press their thumbprints onto the branches to create colorful leaves, then sign their name next to their print. The result is a stunning, custom piece of nursery art that every single guest contributed to.
Time Capsule for Baby
Include a note in the shower invitations asking guests to bring a small trinket or newspaper clipping from today. Set up a beautiful decorative box with note cards and pens. (paid link)
Guests place their items and letters inside, and the box is sealed at the end of the shower with instructions for the child to open it on their eighteenth birthday. It is one of those activities that sounds simple and turns out to be magical.
Whether you fill the afternoon with quiet craft stations, heartfelt keepsake projects, or a mix of everything – the best baby shower is the one that feels like her.
Personally, I am a huge fan of fun, interactive games and I think they bring so much energy to a celebration. If you want to add some to your lineup, check out my full list of baby shower games – your guests will love them.
With love,
Shely
