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In the middle of a pandemic is not an easy time to be pregnant. With the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warning that pregnant women may have an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19, even a simple idea like a baby shower seems fraught with risk. “Ideally, a baby shower should wait until after the pandemic risk has dropped significantly,” Jamie Bacharach of Acupuncture Jerusalem told Mom.com. “It's not written in stone that a baby shower needs to take place before the baby is born.”
But we know that isn’t going to be practical for many expecting moms who need the shower gifts to prepare for baby.
That's where socially distant and drive-by baby showers come in. Just because you can’t walk up and hug your favorite mom-to-be doesn’t mean you can’t have a a celebration that includes seeing friends, having good food and fun baby shower games to engage guests in a socially distant, virtual, or a drive-by baby shower.
Virtual baby shower ice breakers
Many baby showers get friends and family together, many of whom don’t know each other. Playing some games that are designed as simple ice breakers will help guests feel comfortable and make mom feel good that everyone in her life is enjoying each other’s company.
Some virtual ice breakers you can play include:
- Embarrassing Moments: Go around the group and have each guest recall a time when they were young and silly and did something embarrassing. Bonus points go to stories about expecting a baby or being a parent.
- Who’s Who: Get a collection of old photos of family and friends. Have guests guess the relationship to mom (and dad) and let the parents-to-be recant stories about that person.
- Guess Who Will: Prepare a list of questions for things like, “Who will change more diapers?” or “Who will give baby a bath every night?” Have guests answer the questions with mom or dad’s name. Then read the questions and have mom and dad answer at the same time. If they answer the same, whoever got it right gets a point.
Make sure to send links to the games to your guests ahead of time so they can download and print them.
Drive by with some old favorite games
Not every baby shower game requires close quarters. Go into the treasure trove of great games that make baby showers fun. Games help people open up, chat, and enjoy some silliness in a group where they might not know everyone.
For these drive-by shower games, send your guests a file they can printout ahead of time, fill out and then drop off as they drive-by.
Here are some great standard baby shower games you can enjoy:
- Animal Babies: Write down a list of 20 animals and leave a space for what the animal’s baby is called. For example, a Cow has a calf. Create an answer key and see who can get the most right.
- Who Knows Mommy Best: Create a questionnaire with 15 trivia questions about mom-to-be and her favorite things such as color, restaurant, or band. Also, ask questions about her favorite cravings while pregnant and see who has the inside scoops on the expecting mom.
- Baby Mad Libs: Have your guests go online and print out baby shower mad libs. Let each guest write down the words that will then be read in a very hilarious story about mom.
Have fun reading through them when you get back into the house. Send the winners a gift card.
Virtual baby shower parent preparation games
A great baby show is more than just fun, it helps mom and dad learn some things about what they should expect when they become parents. Design a few games around practical parents must-knows.
Some fun games for parent preparation that can be done in a virtual baby shower:
- The Price is Right: Get popular baby items, big and small, and have guests guess the price of them. This will help mom and dad understand just how crazy expensive kids can be. The person who gets the closest overall wins a prize.
- Baby Gift Bingo: Have your guests download baby bingo cards ahead of time. As mom opens a baby shower gift, guests can check off the item from their card. The first to get a row or column gets a prize. You can also give prizes for the first to get both a row and column as well as anyone who gets a blackout.
- Baby Jeopardy: Create a baby jeopard board on a poster board with columns of subjects and rows of answers. Have guests use their names as a buzzer to answer ask the questions and win the box, then choose the next answer. According to mom Ivy Butler, Baby Jeopardy is “seriously the most fun game for a baby shower.”
Remember that you don’t need to do a lot of games to make the baby shower fun and memorable. The idea is to find a few things that resonate with mom to help her get into the fun.
