Your bestie is expecting her first child—a girl!—and you’ve had the date for her baby shower saved in your calendar for months. Cue the pandemic and, just like everything else in the world that’s been affected by social distancing, the party has been pivoted online. But how do you make it special with so many friends and relatives Zooming in from near and far? With a slew of crazy creative (and non-eye-roll-inducing) virtual baby shower games you can all play together. We rounded up the best ideas, plus details on how to organize—and psych up—the group.
9 Virtual Baby Shower Games You Can Play on Zoom
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Published May 27, 2020
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The Best Virtual Baby Shower Games To Play
The invite is out—now it’s time for the virtual party planning to begin. When it comes to games, the classics are still an option. You just need to get creative in terms of how you carry them out online.
1. Who’s That Baby?
It’s a virtual baby shower game that never gets old. Ahead of the party, ask every guest to email a baby pic of themselves. (In a lot of ways, this is easier given that it’s a virtual party—you won’t have to print anything out!) Next, throw every image into either a PowerPoint presentation or simply an album in your favorite photos app. During the event, share your screen with the group so that everyone can wager guesses about whose baby photo is whose.
2. Who’s Who in the Family?
Another photo-focused game that lends itself well to this virtual setup. Ask the mama-to-be to round up a selection of photos of relatives on both her side of the family and her spouse’s. Then, cue the slideshow. The goal is for everyone to guess which relative has a face that resembles the mom’s side or the dad’s side. The guest with the most correct answers wins a virtual prize!
3. Baby Shower Gift Bingo
Yep, this baby shower classic is still one you can play virtually. You simply need to mock-up the template (or use one that you pulled online) and email it to everyone ahead of the occasion. That way, they can print it out themselves and play along. The person who calls out Bingo first has to hold up their card so that the host can cross-check their work.
4. How Well Do You Know the Mama-to-Be?
Virtual or not, it’s tough to beat a round of trivia that you can all play as a group. Teams for this aren’t as easy to pull off when you’re all in separate places, but everyone can still play for themselves. You’ll need a series of questions about the mom-to-be (perhaps sectioned off into periods of her life like, “the college years” or “working woman”), then the host will call them out. Guests can jot down their responses and then the host will have to trust their word that they are keeping an honest tally of their score. (Or you could have everyone email their answers so you can tally them up while everyone sips homemade mimosas—your call.)
5. Celeb Baby Name Game
Jennifer Garner. Gwyneth Paltrow. Michelle Obama. All moms. But can your guests recall the names of their kids? Again, present your screen with a series of celeb images, then have everyone wager guesses as to the correct names of their kids. (Bonus points if they can recall their ages, too.)
6. Baby Shower Charades
Just because you’re not all together in person doesn’t mean you can’t play a physical game or two. You can divide everyone into two teams, then assign each person a baby-related action. (Say, burping a baby, changing a diaper or just being a sleep-deprived parent in general.) Then, as one team member acts out their assignment, their team will wager guesses with a time limit set in place by the host. (To minimize someone on the wrong team shouting out, the host can mute those who aren’t participating in that particular round.) The team with the most correct answers at the end wins.
7. Baby Song Roulette
Whether you cue up a 10-second clip of “Baby, Baby” by the Supremes or “Hit Me Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears, the goal is for guests to name that baby-themed tune. The person with the most correct answers wins. To keep things more organized, you could have people write their guesses and hold them up to the screen, since video platforms have a tendency of prioritizing the first person to talk.
8. Virtual Scavenger Hunt
The host can make a list of fun (and baby-themed) objects that may or may not be lying around everyone’s house, then see which of the guests can produce the most items. Some example objects: milk, a diaper, a baby pic. Set a timer for how long everyone has to search and let the virtual race begin.
9. Advice for the Parents – A Live Reading
OK, this is less of a game and more of a sentimental surprise. But, given that in-person baby showers often ask guests to share sweet sentiments—say, advice for the mom-to-be—why not utilize one of the best features of these video chatting services? The option to record your live chat. Give each guest a head’s up that they’ll be put on the spot to read a piece of advice about child rearing and then hit record during the party as you go around the “room” calling on people for their turn to talk. At the end, the parents will have a beautiful time capsule of the day—and a memento to call up when they’re in need of extra support on a sleep-deprived night.
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The Best Online Platforms to Use for Your Virtual Baby Shower
Choosing the right service for your video soirée can make or break the occasion for real. In a nutshell, you want to pick the platform that will have the least technical difficulties for everyone “dialing” in. Think about it: You’ve got everyone from your sister-in-law in a totally different time zone to your nana who’s not quite as tech-proficient on the call. The directions to join have to be easy and crystal clear. Here, our top three video chatting platforms for a virtual party like this.
- Google Meet. Got a Gmail account? It’s actually that easy to set up a group call with up to 250 participants right from your email. Simply set up a calendar invite with the date and time of your virtual shower plugged in, add the email addresses of your guests, then choose “add Google Meet video conferencing.” You’re done! Guests will automatically receive a calendar invite with a link to join the video call. (You could also create a calendar invite, then copy and paste the Google Meet video conferencing link onto the e-invitation—another way for guests to click to join.) It’s worth noting, if you use Google Meet, there’s a Chrome extension that allows you to see everyone’s faces in a grid view all at once—handy for game playing!
- Zoom. This is another great video conferencing option for your virtual baby shower. Just keep in mind that if you expect the event to last longer than 40 minutes, you’ll need to pay for a pro account. (The basic plan on Zoom is free, but has a time limit on meetings if there are three or more participants.) A pro account will cost you $15/month, but it removes the time limit and allows up to 100 people to join the video call. The setup is also super simple and straightforward. Download Zoom, then create an invite and a personal link to for guests to log in. Just like with Google Meet, you can either add everyone’s email addresses to your invite or you can include the URL directly in the invite.
- Messenger Rooms. This new addition to Facebook’s Messenger app allows you to invite anyone to a video call, even if they don’t have a Facebook account. Simply open up the Messenger app on your phone, then tap the “people” tab to select the people you’d like to invite. A link will be generated as well, so you can share it with people who aren’t on Facebook. (Invitees can join the video call from their phone or their computer as long as they have the URL.) What stands out about Messenger Rooms is the video quality and the range of filters you can use (as long as you log in via the Messenger app) to make things feel a little more festive.
