School Theme Baby Shower: Activities

I admit, I’m not a huge fan of shower games.  I have a hard time finding a game that I really enjoy! Baby showers tend to have the most disgusting games too – like name the baby food (ugh) and name the candy bar that is melted in the baby diaper (eww!).  Or games that embarrass the mom-to-be like guess her girth (hello, when I was pregnant I was self conscious enough!) Do you know what I mean?

So for my sister-in-law’s shower, I searched high and low for activities that we all could enjoy.  We started with a simple chalkboard in my entryway that asked guests to leave a note for the mom-to-be.  I’m a scrapbooker, and I’ve got plans (although they are little more than that right now!) to make my sister in law a mini album of the event.  I left out some scrapbooking journal cards, but really, any simple little notecard would be perfect!  My cards had prompts like “Three qualities I hope baby inherits from family” and “Advice for You”.  The chalkboard note asked them to simply place their wishes in the jar (although clipping them to a wishing tree would be cute too!).

Photo by Kate Kintzel Photography

At the event, we had our amazing photographer, Kate Kintzel, take photos of the guest of honor with each guest individually.  These photos combined with their note will make an easy scrapbook page that she will cherish!

After everyone ate, we enjoyed a round of Price Is Right.  This was particularly fun considering only one of the guests (other than me) had small children.  I had purchased a couple baby items from my sister in law’s registry (that I gifted to her later of course) and created a simple card where guests had to guess the price.  I set out the items on a side table for them to look at.   The cards (with digi supplies from Echo Park) were backed with some cute cardstock that matched the other décor at the shower.  And of course my cute little display of sharpened pencils in a jar (it was a school theme shower after all!) was perfect to use for filling out the answers. This was a fun and simple game that resulted in even more great goodies for my sister in law to take home!

Photo by Kate Kintzel Photography

The highlight of the party activities though required guests to get a little craft. I was inspired by this post from kojodesigns to have guests applique some onesies, but since I didn’t know some of the guests and their crafty experience, I wanted to keep it simple.  Then it occurred to me.  I’ve fallen in love with the fun ideas out there for photo-documenting your baby as he or she grows by photographing them with something that denotes their age in months (like this one from Young House Love). Why not make our own version of the 12 months of onesies?  Baby and mama could enjoy these gifts all year long!  And guests would feel a part of the baby’s life as they see their onesie pop up in photos. 


It was a hit! I bought packs of onesies in varying sizes (these were perfect – three onesies in a pack so I bought one in each size up to 12 months).  At the shower I had set up a simple clothesline display across my mantel.  The clean white onesies were cute all on their own! I set up a basket of fabric scraps that were more boy appropriate, including scraps from the banner I’d sewn for the shower.  I set up an ironing board and iron (which I plugged in at the beginning of the activity). I also preprinted the numbers.  To applique, it’s easiest to print a mirror image of your number (or use stencils).  If you are interested in using our numbers, you can download them here!
Guests were given some fusible web (I used pages of Steam A Seam) and assigned a number (we had 12 guests so it worked out perfectly!).  I handed out the corresponding onesie size, and passed around the bowl of fabrics for them to choose.  Then I walked them through the process.

Photos by Kate Kintzel Photography

1. The fusible web has paper on both sides.  Gently pull to see which paper side will stick with the web when you separate the papers at a corner.  Don’t separate completely – just check on the corner!
2. On the paper that will stay with the web, trace your number.  You want the pencil marks on the side that stays with the web and you want the number to be a mirror image!
3. Remove the backing, and stick the sticky side of the webbing to the wrong side of the fabric.  Before guests did this, I made sure to walk around to verify they had it the correct way!
4. Using some fabric scissors if possible, trim around the number.  The fabric scissors are best for all the nooks and inside circles of the numbers.
5. Then each guest brought their onesie and number over to me at the ironing board.  We picked where their number would rest (some did rugby style with number in upper right, some centered, some put toward baby’s hip – but we kept them all on the front for the photos later!).  Then I removed the last paper backing and lightly ironed them on!

The result was 12 adorable custom onesies.  I can’t wait to see Baby Duncan in these!!

Photo by Kate Kintzel Photography

After the shower I straight stitched around the numbers to make sure they hold up to washing, but that is optional!  You can leave them as is or zizag stitch too!
I’m so glad we did the onesie decorating! My sister in law was thrilled!  And even with varying levels of crafting skills, it was a great success.  I think the guests really enjoyed creating something special for the baby!
Here are some other fun shower games that I think would have been a blast!

1. Baby Sweets Candy Matching Game from The House of Smiths (includes a free printable!).
2. What’s in the bag? from Happy Home Fairy.
3. I Spy Ice Breaker from Bump Smitten (includes a beautiful free printable). 

Tomorrow will be the last post on this wonderful event – I’m going to share the party favors we gave out! If you’d like a recap of the event with all the links, you can find it here!



So now it is your turn – what’s the best and worst baby shower game you’ve ever played?

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