The Melted Candy Bar "Diaper" Game

What you'll need

• Eight assorted candy bars (Snickers, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Almond Joy, Mr. Goodbar, Twix, Baby Ruth, Reese's) a Walmart variety pack runs about $8
• A pack of clean newborn diapers Pampers or Huggies from Target, around $12 for a small pack
• Microwave-safe bowls and plastic spoons
• A serving tray to lay out the numbered diapers
• Printed answer sheets with eight numbered lines per guest design free in Canva
• A small named prize like a $15 Trader Joe's gift card (if you're going to run it anyway)

Before the shower (setup)

1. Before you do anything else, ask the mom-to-be in private if she actually wants this game at her shower. Most don't. Many guests refuse to play once they see the tray, and the social temperature of the room dips when even half the room sits out a game. If she says yes, fine run it. If she says no, swap straight to [[candy-bar-name-game]] (same candy bars, no diapers, no ick) and don't bring it up again. The asking-first step is the difference between a fun shower and a regret.
2. If you're going ahead, pick up your candy at Walmart or Target a variety pack of mini Snickers, Twix, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Almond Joy, Mr. Goodbar, Baby Ruth, and Reese's runs about eight dollars and has every common candy chocolate covered. Grab a pack of clean newborn-size diapers ($12 at Target for Pampers or Huggies). Newborn size is right bigger diapers look too dramatic. Print your answer sheets with eight numbered blank lines per page, one per expected guest. Stack everything on the kitchen counter the night before.
3. On the morning of the shower, melt the candy. Unwrap one candy bar at a time. Cut it into pieces. Drop it in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in ten-second bursts (stirring between bursts) until it's smooth but not bubbling about thirty seconds per bar total. Use a plastic spoon to smear the melted candy into one clean diaper. Number the diaper one through eight with a Sharpie on the outside flap. Lay the diapers on a tray in numbered order. Keep a master answer key on your phone so you don't forget which is which by reveal time. Refrigerate the tray covered with plastic wrap until guests arrive.

How to play

Walk the tray of diapers around the seated room and hand each guest an answer sheet and a pen. Explain the rule out loud, because the room is going to be quietly horrified for the first thirty seconds: "These eight diapers each have a different melted candy bar in them. The diapers are clean and unused the chocolate is from the wrapper. You're guessing the candy by smell, or by taste if you're brave. Write down which candy you think is in each." Give guests an easy exit too: "If you'd rather skip the tasting, go on smell alone nobody's keeping score."

Pass the tray slowly. Each guest holds it over their lap, sniffs each diaper, and writes a guess on their numbered sheet. Some will scrape a tiny bit with a plastic spoon and taste it. Most won't. That's fine. Pregnant guests, anyone with food aversions, and any guest who looks uncomfortable should be quietly skipped never push. The dad-to-be is sometimes the most enthusiastic about this game, which is the small running laugh that makes the round bearable for everyone else.

When every guest has guessed, reveal the candies one by one. "Number one was Snickers. Number two was Milky Way." Guests check their own sheets. Most correct wins. If two guests tie, the hardest one (usually Mr. Goodbar or Baby Ruth) is the tiebreaker whoever got that one right takes it. Hand the prize over quickly and move on. Don't let the tray linger after the round bag it up and out of sight before the next game starts.

Variations to try

• Switch to [[candy-bar-name-game]]. Skip the diapers entirely. Same eight candy bars matched to baby-themed riddles on a printable ("Oh Henry!" = the birth announcement, "100 Grand" = the cost of having a kid, etc.). All the candy fun, none of the gross-out factor. The variation most modern hosts pick.
• Bowl version. Serve each melted candy in a numbered clear glass bowl instead of a diaper. Same identification game, way less polarizing. Guests can taste freely because the chocolate is just chocolate in a bowl no visual block.
• Cup version. Pour each melted candy into a small clear plastic cup. Guests guess by color and smell only no tasting. Cleaner than the bowl version and good for crowds with food sensitivities.
• Smell-only round. Keep the diapers but skip the tasting. Guests sniff only. Reduces the gag factor; keeps the visual joke if the mom-to-be specifically wants it. Less polarizing than the full version but still divisive.
• Zoom version. Don't run this on Zoom. The visual works in person where guests can see each other react; over a video call it just looks gross and the social moment doesn't translate. Run [[candy-bar-name-game]] for video showers instead.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Running this without asking the mom-to-be first. She'll be the one apologizing to guests who refuse to play.
• Skipping the alternative versions. The bowl and cup versions are friendlier and get twice the participation there's no reason to default to the diaper version.
• Melting the chocolate too far in advance. Day-of is fine; day-before changes the texture and the smell goes flat.
• Pressuring guests to taste. Even one guest forced to gag through a bite of melted Milky Way kills the room for the next game.
• Letting the tray linger. The round should run in eight minutes, then the diapers go straight in the trash or back in the kitchen out of sight.

Best prize for this game

If you're running this game at all, keep the prize small and warm to balance the awkward energy of the round. A $15 Trader Joe's gift card is the easy hit. A Yankee Candle classic (Clean Cotton, ironically) lands well. A Bath & Body Works mini-lotion three-pack ($15) works. Skip wine pregnant guests playing is awkward enough without a wine prize at the end. For the bowl version (which is the version you should be running), the same prizes work without the apology baked in.

→ More baby shower prize ideas, by budget

The Melted Candy Bar "Diaper" Game FAQ

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