Baby Shower Games?

[Phil Schwartz]

(Even though I'm not an AB ("just" a DL), I thought I'd share this experience for the benefit of everyone here.)

Ok, so this was a new one on me. Over the weekend, I attended a baby shower for a relative. I haven't been to a lot of these, despite my family and friends being astonishingly fertile.

There were many things that you would expect. Baby themed everything, a congratulatory cake (not a cake wreck - I checked), and several silly baby-themed games. For instance, there was a chugging contest, in which each person had to drink a full baby bottle of apple juice, using the nipple in the usual manner. Nearly a dozen women (and a few men, including the father-to-be) battled away at that one, nursing for all they were worth. The winner had to rinse apple juice out of her cleavage, which just added to the festivities, but I digress.

One game that struck me as particularly odd was the diaper challenge. The idea was this: There were 15 or so numbered baby diapers, each with some portion of a candy bar crushed and melted in the bottom, then the diaper squeezed closed around it. The winner was the person who could correctly identify the greatest number of candy bars just by looking at the contents of each diaper.

I had never heard of that one before. Most people joined in, some in teams of two, while a few of us (myself included) either sat it out or started to participate, only to drop out almost immediately. Initially I thought it might be rather fun, but once at it, I found that opening baby diapers and closely examining the contents was decidedly not my cup of tea. So I bailed, though I helped out my wife as she would describe ingredients and I'd try to come up with the correct candy bar. No, we didn't win, and come to think of it, I never did find out what happened to the rest of those candy bars.

I'm sure others have seen some, shall we say, interesting games and activities at baby showers. What have you seen?

[diaperpt]

One game that struck me as particularly odd was the diaper challenge. The idea was this: There were 15 or so numbered baby diapers, each with some portion of a candy bar crushed and melted in the bottom, then the diaper squeezed closed around it. The winner was the person who could correctly identify the greatest number of candy bars just by looking at the contents of each diaper.

I had never heard of that one before. Most people joined in, some in teams of two, while a few of us (myself included) either sat it out or started to participate, only to drop out almost immediately. Initially I thought it might be rather fun, but once at it, I found that opening baby diapers and closely examining the contents was decidedly not my cup of tea. So I bailed, though I helped out my wife as she would describe ingredients and I'd try to come up with the correct candy bar. No, we didn't win, and come to think of it, I never did find out what happened to the rest of those candy bars.

I'm sure others have seen some, shall we say, interesting games and activities at baby showers. What have you seen?

Sounds kind of disgusting to me...do people get their nose right down into it...any one try to do a taste test? ...I wonder if there are ever any control diapers, with real poop... now that's getting disgusting! ...sorry...

No, I've never sat through a baby shower...I'm of an age when baby showers were only for the ladies. The showers I'm familiar with were always ones where the ladies gathered together at someone's house and us guys recessed to a nearby bar to drink it up and return when we thought it was safe. Of course then the ladies would try to catch up to our drinking...yup, very sexist...

[packrat]

My experience is similar to diaperpt. I've only been to a couple of showers. Neither of them included any games, but I understand the 'girls only' showers my wife has attended, often held in a home, did include some contests. My youngest daughter is pregnant now, and she will provide our first grandchild. I know that my wife is planning a shower and I will report on any strange 'contests' or games should they happen. I don't know if the shower will be co-ed or not.

[sarah_ab]

oh man there are so many different type of games you can play at a baby shower, its endless... i've been to one where they had those dolls that 'pee' you know you pour water down their mouth and it comes out a hole at the bottome, and the point was to see who could fill the baby's diaper with the most liquid before it leaked...

there were diaper changing contests, who could change a diaper the fastest.. and they had filled the diaper with oatmeal mixed with chocolate syrup, and you had to also get your 'baby' completely clean.

the games are endless!

one fun one, was everyone had to have a pacifier in their mouth, then we played a game of telephone... everyone trying to pass on a message with a paci stopping them from enunciating

[Phil Schwartz]

No, I've never sat through a baby shower...I'm of an age when baby showers were only for the ladies. The showers I'm familiar with were always ones where the ladies gathered together at someone's house and us guys recessed to a nearby bar to drink it up and return when we thought it was safe. Of course then the ladies would try to catch up to our drinking...yup, very sexist...

Most of the baby showers happening for my generation were this way as well. I have actually attended very few of them. Now that the next generation is having kids, the invitations go to a wider group and it seems that the gender expectations have widened as well.

The father-to-be (first time for him) had a good time. He has only a limited amount of time to finish remodeling the baby's room and the adjoining bath. After the shower, he went right back to work at it. If we had instead taken him off drinking, who knows what angles the walls might have taken...