Halloween Baby Shower Games That Are More Fun Than Scary

By Jan Bay

Halloween baby shower games should feel like part of the party, not like ordinary shower games with a pumpkin stuck on top. I gathered ideas that are easy for guests to understand, including Halloween baby bingo, guessing games, simple DIY activities, printable games and a few options that work when kids are invited too.

See Halloween Baby Shower Game Supplies Here

Best Halloween Baby Shower Games

You don't need to turn the whole shower into game night to break the ice and loosen everyone up a bit. I'd plan two games everyone plays together and one easy guessing game that can run in the background. That's enough to keep things moving without taking over the party.

For a Halloween shower, my three-game combination would be:

• Candy jar guessing game: Set it out when guests arrive and announce the winner later.
• Halloween baby shower bingo: Play this while everyone is seated, especially if you want something that works for mixed ages.
• Pin the Pacifier on the Little Boo: Use a friendly ghost instead of anything gruesome. It's silly, quick and actually looks like it belongs at a Halloween baby shower.

If your group is one that is known to enjoy playing games, add one more. If the guest of honor would rather visit, eat and open gifts, stop at three.

I would skip anything that is awkward, embarrassing, overly complicated or deliberately gross. The melted-candy-bar-in-a-diaper game may be famous, but you certainly don't need it and some people simply do not find it appealing. Especially beside a dessert table.

Pick Games That Do Different Things

Try not to choose three games that are basically worksheets. Mix them up instead.

• One passive game: candy count, due date guess or baby photo match
• One seated game: bingo, word scramble or a printed guessing game
• One active game: pacifier hunt, ring toss or Pin the Pacifier on the Little Boo

That little bit of variety matters more than having a long game list. Mixing things up helps because someone who hates word games may happily hunt for hidden paper pacifiers, while the person who doesn't want to get out of her chair can still play bingo.

Printable Halloween Baby Shower Games

Printable Halloween baby shower games are handy when you want everyone doing the same thing at the same time. Put a card and pencil at each seat before the shower starts and you won't have to stop the party to pass everything around.

I would keep the printables baby-centered and use Halloween for the look and wording. Black bats, little ghosts, pumpkins and moons around the border are plenty. The theme adds to the occasion, but the actual game should still make sense at a baby shower.

Halloween Baby Word Scramble

This one is easy to make and print yourself. Give guests five minutes to unscramble the baby words below. You can title the sheet Unscramble the Little Boo's Baby Gear if you want to carry the theme through.

1. BIRC
2. IBB
3. PRAEDI
4. TLOBET
5. DWELADS
6. RIFECIAP
7. LORRLEST
8. YUBTOSID
9. TETLAR
10. KTELBAN
11. RYRESUN
12. TEOISOB

Answer key: crib, bib, diaper, bottle, swaddle, pacifier, stroller, bodysuit, rattle, blanket, nursery, booties.

I'd give one point for each correct answer and use the fastest completion time only as a tiebreaker. Twelve words is enough. A thirty-word scramble starts feeling like homework.

Make Your Own Halloween Baby Shower Bingo

For bingo, make a 5 by 5 grid with a free space in the middle. Choose 24 words from the list below and put them in a different order on each card.

• Baby
• Bottle
• Booties
• Crib
• Diaper
• Pacifier
• Stroller
• Blanket
• Bib
• Rattle
• Nursery
• Baby Bath
• Little Boo
• Pumpkin
• Ghost
• Bat
• Moon
• Spiderweb
• Candy
• Cauldron
• Black Cat
• Costume
• Trick or Treat
• Jack-o'-Lantern
• Witch's Hat
• October
• Due Date
• Baby Name
• Mom-to-Be
• Baby Shower

Call the words from a bowl and have guests mark five in a row. Candy corn can work as markers for adults, but plain paper markers are less messy and make more sense if young children are playing too.

A Little Boo Predictions Card

This is more keepsake than competition, but I like having one quiet activity mixed in with the games. Give each guest a card with spaces for:

• Baby's birthday
• Time of birth
• Weight
• Length
• Hair color
• Who baby will resemble
• One wish for the baby

Collect the cards instead of scoring them at the shower. Tie them together with ribbon or tuck them into an envelope for the parents to keep. It gives you something meaningful among all the prizes and candy.

Free Halloween Baby Shower Games

You can put together several good games without buying a boxed game set. Use things you already have, make simple paper pieces or turn something you were buying for the party anyway into the game.

Guess How Many Treats Are in the Jar

Fill a clear jar with individually wrapped candy and count every piece before the shower. Write the number somewhere private. Guests put their names and guesses on slips of paper, and the closest guess wins.

Don't make the jar enormous. There's enough for the hostess to do without sitting there counting a mountain of candy for one game. Somewhere around 50 to 150 pieces keeps the answer within a range people can actually estimate. The candy can become part of the prize afterward.

If you'd rather not use candy, fill the jar with mini plastic pumpkins, orange pom-poms or other larger reusable pieces. But candy is nice because, well...it's candy. The winner can eat it or add it to the stash for trick-or-treaters. Either is fine. Just don't use tiny loose objects if very young children will have access to the game table.

Don't Say Baby

Give each guest a clothespin, bracelet or paper token when she arrives. Anyone who hears another player say the word baby gets to take that player's token. The guest with the most at the end wins.

For a Halloween variation, ban baby and boo. I wouldn't add more forbidden words than that. Everyone still needs to be able to have a normal conversation.

Guess the Due Date

Draw a simple calendar for the month the baby is due and let each guest put her name on one square. If the expected date falls close to the beginning or end of the month, put two months side by side so nobody is forced into an unrealistic guess. If the baby arrives on that date, you have your winner.

If you don't want to wait until after the shower to award the prize, make this a keepsake instead and let the parents save the calendar.

Match the Guest to the Baby Picture

Ask willing guests to send a baby picture before the shower. Number the photos and display them together. Everyone writes down which guest she thinks belongs to each picture.

This works particularly well when the guests know one another. For a large shower where half the room has never met, I'd choose something else.

DIY Halloween Baby Shower Games

The DIY games are where you can make the Halloween theme much more obvious. I would still keep them cute. Think friendly ghosts and pumpkins, not fake blood and severed body parts. It's a baby shower.

Pin the Pacifier on the Little Boo

Draw or print one large friendly ghost on poster board. Leave the face simple and make one oversized pacifier shape as the target area.

Then cut one paper pacifier for each guest and write her name on it.

1. Hang the ghost at about adult eye level.
2. Place a small piece of removable tape on the back of every paper pacifier.
3. Stand the player directly in front of the board, about one step away.
4. Blindfold her if she is comfortable with it.
5. Let her reach forward and place the pacifier where she thinks the ghost's mouth should be.
6. The closest pacifier wins.

No spinning required. Watching someone stagger into the gift table isn't the kind of entertainment we're after.

Feed the Little Monster Baby Sock Toss

Cut a large mouth into the front of a sturdy cardboard box and decorate the box as a friendly monster. Use rolled pairs of clean baby socks as the tossing pieces.

Mark a line about 5 to 7 feet away for adults. Give each player five sock bundles and one point for every bundle that lands through the monster's mouth.

Afterward, unroll the socks and add them to the shower gifts if they're new. That makes the supplies useful instead of creating another box of party pieces you'll never need again.

Little Boo Pacifier Hunt

Cut 15 to 20 pacifier shapes from cardstock. Number them on the back so you know exactly how many are hidden.

Hide them in visible but unexpected places around the party room. Tuck one beside a picture frame, under the edge of a serving stand, near the gift table and beside a pumpkin. Don't put them inside food containers, underneath furniture or anywhere guests have to dismantle decorations to find them.

Give guests ten minutes. Whoever finds the most wins.

Halloween Baby Memory Tray Game

Put 12 baby items on a tray along with three Halloween objects. For example:

• Bib
• Baby sock
• Diaper
• Pacifier
• Washcloth
• Baby spoon
• Comb
• Bottle
• Rattle
• Bodysuit
• Baby brush
• Receiving blanket
• Mini pumpkin
• Paper bat
• Witch's hat decoration

Let everyone study the tray for 30 seconds. Cover it completely, then give guests two minutes to write down everything they remember. One point per correct item. No phones.

Halloween Baby Shower Guessing Games

Guessing games are easy to fit into a shower because the rules are short. Some can sit near the entrance for guests to play whenever they arrive, while others work as a quick table game between food and gifts.

If you want the easiest passive option, use the candy-count jar above. You already have the supplies, the rules take about ten seconds to explain and nobody has to stop what she's doing to play.

What's in the Diaper Bag?

Put eight to ten baby items inside an opaque diaper bag. Guests can feel the outside of the bag but can't reach inside.

Good objects include a bottle, baby brush, rolled washcloth, spoon, bib, diaper, small board book and pair of socks. Avoid anything sharp, breakable or so tiny that it becomes impossible to identify by touch.

Give one point for each correct answer.

Guess the Baby Food Flavor

If you want a tasting game, use commercially packaged baby foods and keep the original containers available so ingredients can be checked. Number small individual samples rather than having several guests eat from the same jar.

I would stick to recognizable fruit and vegetable flavors. Anyone with a food allergy or who simply doesn't want to taste baby food can sit this one out. There is no prize large enough to make me turn a baby shower into a contest over who can swallow the strangest puree.

Halloween Baby Shower Games for Kids

If children are invited, give them something they can understand without needing an adult to read a full game sheet to them.

The paper pacifier hunt is probably the easiest. You can also set up:

• Pumpkin ring toss: Put lightweight rings over the stems of sturdy decorative pumpkins placed on the floor.
• Little ghost beanbag toss: Cut large ghost-shaped openings in a cardboard board and toss soft beanbags through them.
• Sticker pumpkin decorating: Use paper pumpkin shapes and Halloween stickers instead of carving real pumpkins.
• Find the little pumpkins: Hide large paper pumpkins around one room and let the children collect them in baskets.

Keep children's games away from the food table and the main walkway. I'd also use paper decorations and battery-operated lights around the play area rather than open-flame candles.

If children will be arriving in costume, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's Halloween safety guidance covers costume fit, visibility and Halloween decorations. It's worth a quick look when you're combining a shower with a children's Halloween party.

Halloween Baby Shower Game Prizes

You don't need a prize for every person or an elaborate gift basket for every game. If you're playing two or three competitive games, I'd buy three prizes in roughly the same price range and be done with it.

Useful little prizes include:

• A $10 coffee shop gift card tucked into a Halloween card
• Gourmet popcorn with a small movie gift card
• A seasonal mug with tea or cocoa packets
• A small bakery gift card
• A kitchen towel with a jar of apple butter
• A box of good chocolates or cookies
• A small fall candle for an adult winner

You can make the prize feel Halloween themed with the packaging instead of buying a novelty Halloween object. Black tissue paper, orange ribbon or a little ghost gift tag will do it.

And if two guests tie, have a spare candy bar or small gift card ready. Much easier than inventing an emergency tiebreaker while everyone waits.

Keep the Games With the Rest of the Party

Once you've chosen the games, you can coordinate them with the rest of your Halloween baby shower ideas rather than treating them as a separate theme. A ghost on the game cards can match the ghost on the cake, or little pumpkins on the bingo cards can repeat the pumpkins on the tables.

If you're still working out the menu, my Halloween baby shower food ideas and Halloween baby shower cake ideas can carry the same spooky-sweet look through the food and dessert table.

That's enough coordination. The game sheets don't need to match the napkins, cups, favors, balloons and every pumpkin in the room.

Halloween Baby Shower Games FAQ

When should you play the games during a Halloween baby shower?

I'd let a passive guessing game run while guests arrive, play one short seated game after everyone has settled in and save an active game for later if the room needs a little energy. You don't have to announce three games back to back and make everyone feel as though they've entered a tournament.

What if some guests don't like baby shower games?

Don't force it. Keep the arrival game optional, choose one short group game and let anyone who would rather visit sit it out. The shower won't fall apart because somebody doesn't want to play bingo.

Can these games work for a coed Halloween baby shower?

Yes. Candy counting, bingo, the baby sock toss, diaper bag guessing and the pacifier hunt don't depend on a women-only guest list. If the group includes coworkers, partners or friends from different circles, I'd avoid games that assume everybody knows personal details about the mom-to-be.