✍️ Best Baby Shower Games Editorial Team · Updated May 2026

Heads Up! Baby Edition

Phone on your forehead, screen facing out. A baby word appears that your team can see but you can't. Your team has sixty seconds to make you guess it without ever saying the word themselves. The Heads Up baby shower edition is the loudest, fastest game on your shower's whole roster.

🏃 Active
✅ Crowd-pleaser
🍷 Coed-friendly

⏱ Prep: 5 min
👥 Best for: 8–25 guests
🍷 Coed: Yes
📹 Virtual: In person

What you'll need

A smartphone with the Heads Up! app from the App Store or Google Play — free Kids deck is enough; the $4.99 Plus version adds custom-deck options
Optional: printed baby-themed flashcards from index cards at Walmart ($3 for 100) if you'd rather skip the app
A phone timer set to 60 seconds — built into the Heads Up! app or use a separate timer phone
A scoresheet or a small whiteboard from Target for tracking team points
Phone chargers ready — running the app for thirty minutes drains battery fast
Two named prizes — a $25 Target gift card for the winning team and a Yankee Candle for the MVP solo player

Before the shower (setup)

A few days before the shower, download the Heads Up! app on your phone. It's free on both the App Store and Google Play. The free version includes a Kids deck that works perfectly for a baby shower — most of the words are family-friendly and the deck has enough variety for thirty minutes of play. The paid Plus version is $4.99 and lets you build a custom deck of baby-themed words (pacifier, swaddle, lullaby, breast pump, colostrum, baby monitor, stroller) which is the better pick if you want the game to feel shower-specific. Build the deck the night before. Charge your phone to full.
If you'd rather skip the app entirely, write thirty to forty baby-themed words on index cards from Walmart ($3 for a 100-pack). One word per card. Mix easy (pacifier, bottle, diaper, stroller) with medium (swaddle, lullaby, gender reveal) and hard (colostrum, baby monitor, postpartum) for difficulty variety. Stack them in a small bowl or basket. The card version takes a little more prep but works for any crowd that doesn't want phones at the shower.
On shower day, clear a stretch of living-room floor or push back the coffee table so the actor has room to mime without tripping. Have two phone chargers nearby — phones running the Heads Up app for thirty minutes drain fast. Set up a small scoresheet on the side table for tracking team points. Decide ahead of time how you'll split teams. Easiest method: split by which side of the room people are sitting on, or by family side for coed showers. Six to eight per team is the sweet spot. Tell the mom-to-be she can play, judge, or just heckle from the couch.

Front-door setup for Heads Up! Baby Edition — basket of clothespins and a chalkboard rule sign by the entryway — Set up at the front door so the game starts the second guests walk in.

How to play

Split the room into two teams of six to eight, seated on opposite sides of the playing space. Pick a starting player from the first team — usually whoever volunteers fastest. They hold the phone (or a card) to their forehead, screen facing out so their team can see the word but they cannot. Their team has sixty seconds to make them guess as many words as possible. The team can describe, act, mime, or hint at the word any way they want, with two hard rules: they cannot say the word itself, and they cannot say any rhymes that obviously give it away.

Hit start on the timer. The Heads Up baby shower game gets loud fast — six people shouting clues at one person trying to listen. The holder guesses out loud. Correct guesses tilt the phone DOWN to log a point; impossible words tilt the phone UP to pass and skip to the next word. After sixty seconds, the timer buzzes, the team's total scores get logged, and the phone hands off to the next player on the same team. Each team gets three to four rounds of sixty seconds across all their players. Watch the back row of the team get into it by round three.

Switch to the other team after the first team's three rounds. Run the same format. After both teams have had equal turns, tally totals. Highest team total wins. Hand the team prize — small gift bags work for everyone on the winning side. The MVP prize (a $25 Target gift card or Yankee Candle) goes to whoever drew the biggest laugh of the night for a single guess or charade. The room knows who that was. The whole Heads Up baby shower game runs about fifteen to twenty minutes for two teams of six. After the prize, transition into cake or the next thing on your timeline.

A hand lifting a clothespin off another guest's shirt — the steal moment in Heads Up! Baby Edition — The moment of the steal — someone slipped, someone caught it, pin changes hands.

Variations to try

Couples teams. Each couple plays as a team. One partner holds the phone, the other gives clues. Adds a "do they actually know each other" tension that's funny when one partner accidentally describes a word in a way only their spouse would understand.
Custom pregnancy-only deck. Build a deck of pregnancy, labor, and newborn-care terms only — colostrum, mucous plug, swaddle, latching, contractions. Medical comedy. Best for a friend-group shower without grandparents who might find some terms uncomfortable.
Silent charades round. Force no talking at all for one round. The team mimes the word entirely. Hardest version of the game and the funniest version because guests panic when they can't shout.
Speed round (30 seconds). Cut the timer in half. Thirty seconds per round instead of sixty. Brutal. Most teams get two or three words instead of seven. Best as a tiebreaker.
Pair with [[baby-charades]] or [[baby-pictionary]]. Three performance-based games in one games block. Different mechanics, same kind of laughs. Forty-five-minute block total — Heads Up first as the warm-up, charades and pictionary after.

Pro tips from hosts who've actually run this

Run two rounds — clean (grandparents-friendly) and edgier (after cake, with the friend group). The dual-round format lets every guest play comfortably at some point.
Charge phones in advance to full. Heads Up baby shower games die mid-round if the phone drops below twenty percent.
Set a points cap, not a time cap, for shorter rounds — "first team to twenty points" instead of fixed minutes. Stops one talkative team from hogging the game.
Use the free Kids deck on the Heads Up app for the safest coed-friendly play. Paid Plus is only worth it if you want a custom deck.
Use the same phone for both teams to keep app behavior consistent. App versions and deck order can vary between phones.
Pair with [[baby-shower-catchphrase]] for a longer word-games block — both fast-paced, both phone-friendly.
Designate one non-player as the "word judge" who calls out when a team accidentally says the word or a rhyme. Without a judge, every team self-polices and arguments start.

Common mistakes to avoid

Forgetting to charge phones. Heads Up baby shower drains battery fast — running the app for thirty minutes without a charger nearby is asking for a mid-round death.
Skipping the no-rhymes rule. "It rhymes with diaper" gives away "viper" or "piper" too easily. Enforce the no-rhymes rule.
Picking a deck that's too easy or too hard. The free Kids deck is the sweet spot for coed showers. Custom pregnancy decks are funnier but harder.
Skipping the word-judge role. Without one neutral non-player calling fouls, every team accidentally cheats and arguments fill the round.
Running it as the opener. Heads Up baby shower works best as a mid-shower round when the crowd is warmed up. Cold openers fall flat.

Best prize for this game

Two prizes is the right structure for Heads Up baby shower. Team prize: small gift bags ($10 each from Target) for every player on the winning team, filled with a $5 Starbucks card, mini Hershey's bars, and a small Bath & Body Works hand sanitizer. MVP solo prize: a $25 Target gift card, a Yankee Candle classic, or a Trader Joe's gift bag with chocolates for the single funniest performance of the night. Wrap visibly so guests see what's at stake from the first round.

→ More baby shower prize ideas, by budget

Our verdict

High-energy, almost-zero prep, instantly recognizable to anyone who's used the app at a party. The Heads Up baby shower game is the closest thing to a guaranteed laugh for a coed crowd.

Heads Up! Baby Edition — FAQ

Do I need the paid Heads Up! app for the Heads Up baby shower game?

No. The free Kids deck on the Heads Up! app is enough for a baby shower. The paid Plus version ($4.99) adds custom-deck capability if you want to build a pregnancy-themed deck, but it's not required. Most hosts run the free version and have plenty of variety.

How many cards should be in the deck for Heads Up baby shower?

At least thirty, ideally fifty. Repeats kill the energy fast — once players see the same word twice, they check out. The free Kids deck has well over fifty words. A custom deck should hit fifty minimum with a mix of easy, medium, and hard prompts.

How long does the Heads Up baby shower game take?

About fifteen to twenty minutes for two teams of five players with three rounds each at sixty seconds per round. Add five minutes if you're running couples teams or the silent-charades variation. Plan it as a mid-shower round, not an opener.

Can older relatives play Heads Up baby shower?

Yes — the rules are simple and the Kids deck is age-appropriate. Grandparents may be slower at acting things out; pair them with a younger teammate who can pick up the slack on physical clues. Keep them away from custom pregnancy decks that might include uncomfortable terms.

Is Heads Up baby shower good for a coed shower?

Yes — it's one of the easiest coed wins. The Kids deck is gender-neutral, the format depends on group energy not body knowledge, and the dad-side of the family usually competes hard. Skip custom pregnancy decks that might feel pointed in a coed setting.

Can Heads Up baby shower run on Zoom?

Not cleanly. The game depends on the holder seeing nothing while teammates shout clues — that breaks down when teammates are on separate camera frames. Run [[baby-charades]] or [[whats-in-your-phone]] for a Zoom shower instead. Heads Up is an in-person game by design.

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About the author

Best Baby Shower Games Editorial Team — Party planners, parents & writers. We’re a small team of party planners and parents who’ve hosted — and been guests at — dozens of baby showers. Every game here is sorted by what actually lands in a real room, not by what just looks cute on a Pinterest board.