Baby shower entertainment: the Famous Name Game

If you're getting ready to host a baby shower, try playing the Famous Name Game. It's a great game to play if the mother-to-be has already picked out a name for the baby.

How do you play? As the party's host, create a list of famous people with the same first name as the baby. Then, describe those people and let people guess who you're describing.  If you'd like, you can give a prize to the person who gets the most right, or give prizes to the first person to answer each question.

 

Since the Social Security Administration recently released its list of the most popular baby names of 2010, we'll use some popular names for our examples.

Sample Famous Name Game clues:

Jacob

1. Business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge.  (Jacob Marley)
2. Popular werewolf of the Twilight series.  (Jacob Black)
3. Actor of October Sky and Brokeback Mountain fame.  (Jacob "Jake" Gyllenhaal)

Isabella

1. Woman who established a Boston art museum from which 13 works were infamously stolen in the 1990s (Isabella Stewart Gardener)
2. Protagonist of the Twilight series (Isabella "Bella" Swan)
3. Third wife of Juan Perón, whose second wife was immortalized in the musical Evita (Isabella Perón)

Ethan

1. Title of a famous Edith Wharton novel (Ethan Frome)
2. American actor of Dead Poet's Society and Training Day fame (Ethan Hawke)
3. North American furniture chain (Ethan Allen)

Sophia

1. American actress staring in pop television drama One Tree Hill (Sophia Bush)
2. Prolific Italian actress with more than 50 years worth of films (Sophia Loren)
3. Police officer character on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Sofia Curtis)

If the mom-to-be hasn't chosen a baby name yet, consider playing the Famous Name Game using the baby's last name instead.

For more unique baby shower games, read 3 easy baby shower games that require little or no prep work.

3 easy baby shower games that require little or no prep work

Planning a baby shower is a wonderful way to honor a mom-to-be. And while games can help liven up a baby shower, there's nothing worse than having to uncomfortably participate in some of the cheesier baby shower games like Guessing Mom's Tummy Size. For easy baby shower games that won't be an embarrassment and require less than 15 minutes of preparation, read on!

Baby Shower Bingo
To keep guests from getting antsy while the mom-to-be is opening gifts, try playing Baby Shower Bingo. Unlike a traditional bingo game where someone calls out numbers or words that are then marked off the bingo cards, Baby Shower Bingo includes items that a new mom is likely to receive at the shower such as diapers, bibs, and teddy bears. You can find easy-to-use templates online, or create bingo cards of your own. The first person/people to get bingo win a prize!

Helpful hints:

1. You can personalize your Baby Shower Bingo cards by looking at the mom-to-be's gift registry. In addition to general baby supplies like bottles and booties, use spaces on the bingo cards to add some specific items that have been purchased from the registry like a Diaper Genie, a certain storybook, or bedding that matches the nursery theme.
   
   
2. Make sure you have a few variations of the bingo cards, or all of your guests will win at the same time!

Peruse Your Purse
Baby showers are often ladies-only events; if the shower you're planning will be made up of women, try playing Peruse Your Purse. This is a simple but energetic game that requires no prep work.

To start, make sure everyone has her purse. Then, call out an item; the first woman to retrieve the item from her bag wins a raffle ticket. You can play this game as long as you like and can make the items as generic or specific as you'd like. Most women, for instance, are likely to carry a pen, but only a few women are likely to have a red pen or one from a hotel. If the game is going too quickly, simply make the items more specific -- ask for cinnamon gum, Cover Girl makeup, or a license proving an August birthday, rather than the generic alternatives.

Helpful hints: It's easy to generate ideas for this game on the spot, but if you'd rather have some items prepared, you can write yourself a quick list before the party begins.

Additionally, at the end of the game you have two options to declare a winner:

1. Whoever has collected the most raffle tickets wins a prize.
   
   
2. You can call out raffle ticket numbers throughout the party and give away small gifts to whomever has the matching tickets.

What's Missing?
To play What's Missing you'll need a decent-sized tray (or a small toy box) and a variety of baby items. Try for about 12 or 15 items, and make some of them nearly identical (e.g. use two pacifiers – one blue and one green – and two different jars of baby food). Place the items on the tray and give everyone 15 or 30 seconds to study them. Then, walk into another room, rearrange the items and remove an item or two. When you get back into the room, give everyone another minute to figure out what is missing. Make sure your guests are specific! Then you'll know who noticed the different-colored pacifiers or the two flavors of baby food.

You can play this game just for fun or can give prizes to either the person who is most often correct, or the woman that notices what’s missing the fastest.

Helpful hints: If you're the tricky sort, show your guests the tray of items without telling them that the tray will be part of a game. Instead, just casually talk about the cute things the mom-to-be has been gathering for the baby's arrival. After everyone has seen the tray, leave the room to remove an object or two, then return and announce the purpose of the game. It'll be fun to see who can figure out what's missing!