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Dad Jokes Face-Off — baby shower game

✍️ Best Baby Shower Games Editorial Team · Updated May 2026

Dad Jokes Face-Off

Each baby shower guest draws a slip with a dad joke on it and reads it aloud to the room — straight face, no smile, no eye-roll. Crack and you're out. Last guest to keep a straight face wins. The dad-to-be will lose in the first round.

  • 🍷 Coed-friendly
  • 🤝 Low-pressure
  • 🧊 Icebreaker
  • 📹 Works on Zoom
  • ⚡ Quick
⏱ Prep
15 min
👥 Best for
6–25 guests
🍷 Coed
Yes
📹 Virtual
Works on Zoom

What you'll need

  • 20 to 25 printed dad jokes on individual slips of paper (Canva free template, or copy-paste from Reddit's r/dadjokes)
  • A small mason jar or kraft bag from Hobby Lobby ($3) to hold the joke slips
  • A timer on your phone for 30-second rounds
  • One named prize for the stone-faced winner — a $20 Trader Joe's gift card, a candle, or a six-pack of fancy beer
  • Optional: a wooden spoon or hairbrush as the host's pretend mic (sells the comedy-club energy)

Before the shower (setup)

  1. Three days before the baby shower, write or pull together 25 dad jokes. The cheesier, the better — the worse the joke, the funnier the room's failure to stay stone-faced. Free sources: Reddit's r/dadjokes, BoredPanda's "100 dad jokes" lists, or your dad's group text. Aim for baby-shower-tilted picks plus general dad humor: "Why did the baby cookie cry? Because his mom was a wafer so long." "What did the daddy buffalo say to his kid? Bison." "Why don't babies trust stairs? They're always up to something." Print each joke as one slip in a readable font.
  2. Cut the slips into individual strips so they fit in a small jar or kraft bag. The slip-format matters — fanning out a sheet of 25 jokes feels less like a game. Pull one slip yourself and read it cold to make sure the font is big enough; if you squint, bump it up to 16 point and reprint. Skip any joke that touches anything sensitive (death, weight, divorce, religion). Pre-test the deck with one friend by phone the night before — they'll flag the duds.
  3. Set up a small "comedy stage" spot at the front of the room — anywhere with everyone's sightline. Park the jar of joke slips on a side table. Stash the prize behind it. If you've got a wooden spoon or a hairbrush, tuck it next to the jar — the player can hold it up as a pretend mic during their read. Optional but it sells the bit. Tell the mom-to-be ahead of time she's both player and the head judge — anyone she calls out for smirking is officially out.
Front-door setup for Dad Jokes Face-Off — 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

Get guests into a circle or arc so everyone can see the player's face. Read the rule once: "Pull a slip, walk to the front, read it loud and slow. No smiling. No laughing. If you smirk before the punchline lands, you're out for this round." Set a 30-second timer per guest so the round keeps moving — slow readers eat momentum. Start the dad-to-be first if he's willing; he sets the bar and the room gets the laugh out early.

Each player draws one slip, walks to the front, reads the joke aloud, and waits for the punchline reaction. The host watches the player's face the whole time. A visible smile, a chuckle, an eye-roll, even a quick lip-bite — all count as cracking. If the player makes it through three jokes without breaking, they advance to the next round; if they crack on slip one, they sit. Other guests can absolutely laugh — they're the audience, and their reaction is half the test for the player.

Go around the circle until you've narrowed to two finalists. Hand them five fresh jokes each. Whoever makes it furthest without cracking wins. If both crack on the same joke, run a sudden-death round with the corniest joke you've got in reserve. Hand the prize over within two minutes of the win, photograph the winner with their stone-face still intact for the shower album. The dad-to-be usually finishes last and laughs about it for weeks.

A hand lifting a clothespin off another guest's shirt — the steal moment in Dad Jokes Face-Off
The moment of the steal — someone slipped, someone caught it, pin changes hands.

Variations to try

  • Solo to crowd. One guest at a time reads jokes to the whole room. Whoever in the audience laughs first is out. Less pressure on the reader, more pressure on every audience member. Best when you have an outgoing dad-to-be who wants to be the lone reader. Round wraps in eight minutes for a group of 15.
  • Two-team comedy showdown. Split into two teams of 4 to 6. Each team takes turns sending one reader to face the other team. The opposing team is the audience — if any member of the team laughs, that team loses the round. First team to four points wins. Pulls in the competitive coed crowd.
  • Zoom version. Each guest gets the joke slips ahead of time via a shared Google Doc. On the call, each guest reads one joke on camera. Anyone else who unmutes to laugh is out for the round. The Zoom angle actually makes this funnier — facial close-ups catch every micro-smirk. Strong virtual baby shower game.
  • Worst-joke wins. Skip the no-smile rule entirely. Each guest reads one joke, then the room votes by show of hands on the worst (most groan-worthy) joke of the round. Lighter, low-pressure version. Good for tea-party showers where putting guests on the spot would land wrong.
  • Pair with [[baby-shower-catchphrase]]. Run [[baby-shower-catchphrase]] first to warm the room with shouted clue chaos, then Dad Jokes Face-Off as the quiet-but-impossible finale. Two-game comedy block fills about 25 minutes and lands hard with coed crowds.

Pro tips from hosts who've actually run this

  • Cheesy beats funny. The worse the joke, the harder the room cracks. Save your best jokes for last — they're easier to read straight-faced.
  • Print on real slips, not a single sheet. Pulling from a jar is half the bit. A folded-paper sheet feels like a quiz; an individual slip feels like comedy roulette.
  • 30-second timer per player. Long pauses kill the round — set the timer and call it out so the next player gets up while the room is still laughing.
  • Pre-screen for sensitive content. "Where do moms go on vacation? To their breaking point." lands fine; jokes touching weight, divorce, or death do not. Cut anything that gives you pause.
  • Get the dad-to-be in first. He's the obvious early loser and the room laughs harder when he's first. Bonus: the rest of the dads relax once he's been roasted.
  • Use a wooden spoon or hairbrush as a pretend mic. It's silly, it sells the bit, and shy guests hold it like a real prop.
  • Audio-only jokes only. Anything that needs a drawing or a setup card breaks the rhythm. Skip puns that depend on spelling — they don't read aloud well.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Letting the player re-read after smirking. The first read is the read — a do-over removes the pressure and the round collapses. One slip, one read, that's it.
  • Printing the jokes too small. Guests squint, lose the punchline timing, and the joke flatlines. Use 16-point font minimum and print on white paper.
  • Including any joke that touches a sensitive topic. Even one risky joke in the deck means somebody's auntie ends up uncomfortable. Pre-screen the full deck and cut anything questionable.
  • Skipping the timer. Without a 30-second cap, slow readers stretch their turn to ninety seconds and the room loses focus. Set the phone timer loud enough that everyone hears the beep.
  • Running the game with the wrong crowd. Tea-party showers with three grandmas and the mom-to-be's college roommate don't want the on-the-spot pressure. Switch to the Worst-Joke-Wins variation instead.

Best prize for this game

Lean into the comedy. A $20 Trader Joe's gift card pairs with the silly tone. A bottle of decent wine or a six-pack of local craft beer matches the dad-leaning energy. For coed showers, a Yankee Candle in something cozy (Vanilla Cupcake, Sun & Sand) works for everyone. Wrap the prize with a handwritten "stone-faced champion" tag — sells the bit before the prize even opens. Add a small wooden spoon as a callback to the pretend-mic moment.

→ More baby shower prize ideas, by budget

Our verdict

Cheap, fast, zero physical movement, and the laughs come entirely from watching how badly guests fail. The dad-to-be cracks in round one and the room never lets him live it down.

Dad Jokes Face-Off — FAQ

What are the rules of Dad Jokes Face-Off at a baby shower?

Each guest draws a slip from a jar and reads the dad joke aloud to the room. They have to stay completely stone-faced — no smiling, no laughing, no eye-rolling. If they crack, they're out. Other guests can laugh freely; only the reader has to hold the line. Last guest to crack wins.

How many dad jokes do I need for this game?

20 to 25 jokes for a circle of 8 to 15 guests. Fewer than 15 and you run out before the round ends; more than 25 and the deck starts to feel like a worksheet. Print each on its own slip and put them in a small jar.

Where can I find dad jokes for a baby shower?

Reddit's r/dadjokes, BoredPanda's joke lists, your dad's group text, or any "top 100 dad jokes" search result. Aim for cheesy over clever — the cheesier the joke, the funnier the failure to stay straight-faced. A few baby-shower-tilted jokes wedged in lands well.

Is Dad Jokes Face-Off good for a coed baby shower?

One of the strongest coed picks. Dads, uncles, and brothers actually fight to play this one. It's also the only game where the dad-to-be losing first is part of the ritual. Strong for any coed shower size.

Can you play Dad Jokes Face-Off on Zoom?

Yes, and the Zoom angle makes it funnier. Facial close-ups catch every micro-smirk. Send guests the joke deck ahead of time via a shared Google Doc, then have each guest read one joke on camera per round. Audience guests who unmute to laugh are out. Works smoothly for groups up to 20.

How long does Dad Jokes Face-Off take to run?

About 10 to 15 minutes for a circle of 8 to 12 guests. Each guest takes 30 seconds per turn; one round per guest plus a two-finalist sudden-death wraps under 15 minutes. Quick filler game between heavier activities.

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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.