Looking for unique baby shower activities (besides games) that everyone will love? We’ve got you covered!
When it comes to fun baby shower activity ideas, most people think immediately of games.
However, there are plenty of other fun activities that can be enjoyed without having to compete… or speak publicly, complete some weird dance within a time limit or score the most correct answers… or anything else that might seem awkward and not-fun to you.
(And if this is you, you’re not alone! I am one of those people that deeply detest baby shower games. Even though, yes, there are some baby shower games that don’t suck – I would truly rather just not play a game.)
If you’re looking for unique baby shower activities and fun things to do at a baby shower that aren’t games, have we got a list for you!
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What can you do instead of games at a baby shower?
ANYTHING that celebrates the new mom and is enjoyable for the guests is a good thing to do at a baby shower. These fun baby shower activities (not games) will keep guests entertained but not put anyone on the awkward game spot.
You could even take a few of these ideas and set up more than one activity station and guests can take part in as many (or as few) activities as they want!
Sell raffle tickets – and give the proceeds to Mom to buy whatever she wants
Choose a really great raffle prize – something bigger and better than the standard baby shower game prizes – that guests will be happy to hand over their cash for. (Maybe a nice bottle of wine, or a gift card for a massage.)
You don’t want to make the tickets too expensive – a couple bucks a piece is a good price – so plan a prize that might cost half of whatever your raffle would raise.
At the end of the party, when all the guests have had the chance to purchase tickets, draw the winner.
Have a Diaper raffle
Diapers are one of the most important (and expensive!) things new parents need plenty of. And if you’ve been a parent yourself, you know just how much pressure it takes off to have a stockpile of diapers in the house!
A diaper raffle is just like a regular raffle, but with diapers instead of cash. Every baby shower guest who brings a package of diapers gets an entry ticket for the raffle.
Before the end of the shower, the mom-to-be draws a winner from the tickets and gives the winner a prize. It’s a lot of fun!
Write encouraging messages on diapers
Those 3 am / late night diaper changes are hard enough with boring diapers! But if new mom can grab a clean diaper with a love note or funny messages from a friend on it, she won’t feel so alone!
This is a great baby shower activity that doesn’t put any pressure on anyone – and it’s easy to sit out if you don’t want to take part.
Just set up a table with some markers and a couple baskets (one for clean diapers, one for written-on diapers), and let guests know it’s there. Supply a whole box of diapers for this – you can’t have too many!
They can do it whenever they get around to it (just like a guest book).
The messages can be funny or heartfelt – whatever you want! My personal favorite is “Get dad to do the next one”.
Make a blanket as a group
We did this at my sister’s baby shower and it was so wonderful!
She had a HUGE group of friends and family of all ages, and it was a baby shower activity that literally everyone could take part in… and yet it was only a minute or two of participation each.
And for those that don’t sew or knit or crochet, it’s also a REALLY fun easy way to contribute to a baby blanket that mom will use for years!
To prepare for this activity, you’ll want to follow the instructions for making this fleece tied baby blanket, up until the part where you actaully start tying. At that point, set it aside and wait for the shower to continue.
You can explain how to tie the blanket to the guest just before mom opens presents, and guests can work on the blanket while they watch the gift opening.
Have each guest tie a handful of knots (give them guidance here based on how many guests are in attendance and how many knots will need to be tied based on the size of your blanket), and pass it on to the person on their right.
Decorate onesies / bibs
Purchase enough plain white onesies (or blank pale colored onesies) for every guest at the party to decorate at least one, and set up a table (cover it in a plastic disposable table cloth) with:
- fabric paint
- stamps
- stencils
- fabric markers
- iron-on letters + decals (and an iron)
- fabric fusion sheets
- ribbon
- scissors
Bibs are also easy and fun to decorate – and useful for mom to have plenty of!
Here’s a great tutorial with ideas on how to make this shower activity absolutely awesome.
You could do one table with onesies and one with bibs for the best of both worlds, and to get more people involved at an activity table at the same time. (This might be especially helpful if you have a lot of guests.)
Decorate baby blocks
Similar to the above idea, but here you’re decorating wooden blocks for the baby to play with (once he’s just a little older, perhaps)!
Spot of Tea Designs has a fantastic tutorial on how she prepared the blocks shown above and got everything ready so all the guests could decorate them using acrylic paints and stencils – and she tells you where you can find nice unfinished wood blocks too.
This is probably the baby shower activity that I would plan now if I was planning another shower.
Ask Guests to Name the Baby
Double check with mom to be, but if she hasn’t settled on a name yet, she might really appreciate this fun baby shower activity!
Set up a table in the corner with pens, small papers, (and a jar for “boy names” and “girl names” if gender is unknown), and take baby name suggestions.
The nice thing about this low-key idea is it gives guests something to do but it’s very passive and there’s no pressure for mom to actually USE any of the names – she won’t even know who suggested what, unless they add their own names to the notes.
Making freezer meals is a great baby shower activity
I take it back, painting wooden blocks sounds awesome, but this is what I would plan to truly bless a new mom.
I know what a life saver freezer meals were for me in that first week with a new born, and it’d be a very different kind of shower, but if the guests know to come prepared to work then that’s ok! It’s a better activity for a small group, though.
At first glance, planning a freezer meal baby shower sounds a little overwhelming (all that food, all that chopping, all that organizing) – but think of what it sounds like to a pregnant mom doing it alone!
Here’s great instructions on planning to make freezer meals as your baby shower activity and it really simplifies everything.
Fill out new mom advice cards
You can set up a table with pre-printed cards and pens, and ask everyone to fill one out with their best advice before they leave, or you can pass them around the circle while mom is opening gifts etc.
Collect them and organize them into a small scrap book for mom.
Etsy has so many gorgeous new mom advice card templates + ideas that will help you make this baby shower activity happen! Check them out here.
Fill out prediction cards for baby
Similar to new mom advice cards, these are also available in so many cute designs on Etsy.
Party guests can guess anything – from the baby’s name or birth weight to what they will be when they grow up. These are just fun ways to celebrate a new baby, and share your well wishes for their future. Compile them into a baby book or put them in a time capsule (below).
Create a time capsule for baby
A baby time capsule is a fun way to let this baby look back later in life, after they open it – perhaps on their 21st birthday – and see what the world was like the year they were born. It’s also a great way to learn about the first people in this world who loved them – even if those people aren’t around anymore.
Have each guest coming to the baby shower write a short letter of their hopes and predictions for the future for the baby or use the baby predictions cards from above) and include these in the time capsule!
You can also ask your guests to each bring something small to add to the time capsule.
Some suggestions include:
– Coins or stamps from the year baby was born
– Local newspapers from the month / year of their birth (bonus points if baby’s birth announcement is in there!) – Books
– Wildly popular items from the year they were born
– Pictures of you and baby’s mom / dad together
– Print out of moms FB post announcing her pregnancy / birth of baby
Don’t seal the box up, so mom can add baby’s coming home outfit, first swaddle blanket, or other treasures from baby’s birth!
Here’s more info on making a time capsule for baby!
Whack a Piñata
This is a little more active than jotting names of cards or even painting ladybugs on onesies, but it’s a fun activity just the same!
If mom hasn’t announced the baby’s gender to everyone yet, this can be a fun gender reveal idea too – fill the piñata with candy in a pink or blue color scheme – and the guests learn the gender when the piñata gets opened!
It’s also an easy thing to incorporate into your baby shower theme – if you have a dinosaur theme, you can get a dinosaur piñata etc.
Set up a photo booth
This is an activity that guests can take part in – or not – and it can be off to one corner and not really bothering anyone.
All you have to provide is a fun backdrop (hang a curtain or set up a balloon arch) and gather some photo booth props.
To be completely honest, this is the one thing on this list that I would NOT personally plan todo at a baby shower. I don’t get photo booths. But that’s just me – I don’t take selfies, and I don’t want to take a bunch of pictures of me holding fake glasses over my eyes. It’s so weird.
But lots of people love photo booths – so… it’s on the list. lol
Sit around and eat
The food can absolutely be the star of the show – no other activities required.
You could have a finger food buffet, or a fun candy bar, or an English Tea style brunch or a full sit down meal!
Of course you will probably want to have a cute cake also. See our full list of baby shower cake ideas here!
Visit with other guests
The art of just sitting around and chatting is basically dead – the age of mobile phones has destroyed it!
If you plan no activities, chatting will probably happen naturally, and the low-key low-prep of that kind of party is lovely.
You might even get to know some of your neighbors / friends / family members better!
Open gifts – of course!
Watching mom open shower gifts is a fun thing to do while chatting with other guests.
Set up a comfy spot for mom and put a guest on handing-gifts-to-mom duty, and one on picking-up-wrapping-paper duty (give her a garbage bag to collect bits as they come off, so the mess from present opening doesn’t pile up around mom’s feet).
Which of these fun baby shower activity ideas (that aren’t games) will you plan for your next baby shower?
If mom – like me – hates being the center of attention, fun baby shower games just might not be fun for her!
Traditional baby shower games require a lot of being put on the spot in large groups, and that’s just uncool for some people lol. An in-person baby shower doesn’t have to be stressful for the non-competitive among us, if we just find different baby shower activities to celebrate the expecting mom!
Check out these other baby shower ideas:
25+ Unique Baby Shower Gift Ideas
25+ DIY Baby Shower Gift Ideas
23 Easy DIY Baby Shower Decorations
65+ Free Printable Baby Shower Trivia Questions
