If you're in charge of planning baby shower entertainment, there are several variations of the baby name game which are sure to have all your guests laughing in short order, and each only requires a pad of paper per guest, a pencil, and a watch with a second hand. Results are always entertaining, and might even give the parents-to-be some great ideas to help them choose a name for the new little addition to their family.
The object of the baby name game is to take a word or set of words, scramble up the letters, and use them to create new baby names. Here are some ideas for words to start with:
Use the names of the mother-to-be and father-to-be. You can use just first names, first and last, or even throw in middle names if you want to give people lots of letters to choose from.
If the baby's sex is known, but not its first name, use Baby Girl Jones or Baby Boy Jones.
Randomly select 10 consonants and two vowels and see what guests can come up with by using them.
If the baby's name is known, you could use that.
Another variation is to start with the baby's name and create as many baby-related words from it as each guest can come up with.
Still another way to play is to create a list of baby names and scramble the letters, then see who can figure out the most names correctly. Examples could be hasar=Sarah or hgmean=Meghan. For this variation, you could print out the list beforehand to give to each guest instead of using pads of paper.
All the variations are simple, involve creativity, and are fun to do. If you have several guests who don't know each other, creating teams could also be a great ice-breaker.
Directions:
Read the names or letters aloud and have everyone write them down, being careful that each guest is spelling the words the same way.
If the baby's sex is known, you could specify that all the names should be either boys' or girls' names.
If using both parents' names, specify if each letter can be used only once or multiple times.
Set a time limit, for instance 5 minutes. The time-keeper says "Go!" and guests begin brainstorming.
Once time is up, go around the room and ask each guest to share some of their best names with everyone. Prizes can go to the names voted most unique, funniest, or most likely to be an Oscar winner. If the parents-to-be actually think they might choose one of the names, a special prize should go to the name's creator. Another prize can go to the person with the greatest number of names.
Here's another way to choose a winner. Have each guest read their list aloud. Any names that are duplicated must be crossed off everyone's list. Go around the circle until all the guests have read their names. Whoever has the most names remaining that no one else thought of will be the winner! Guests will be amazed at all the unique names they didn't think of.
Whichever variation you pick, the baby name game is sure to be a hit with your baby shower guests.
