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Guess the Baby Food Jar (Smell-Only) — baby shower game

✍️ Best Baby Shower Games Editorial Team · Updated May 2026

Guess the Baby Food Jar (Smell-Only)

Line up 10 baby food jars with the labels covered. Guests smell each one and write down what they think it is. No tasting, no spitting into a napkin, no awkward faces. Most correct guesses wins the prize.

  • ⚡ Quick
  • 🤝 Low-pressure
  • 🍷 Coed-friendly
  • 🧒 Kid-friendly
⏱ Prep
15 min
👥 Best for
8–20 guests
🍷 Coed
Yes
📹 Virtual
In person

What you'll need

  • Ten jars of Gerber, Beech-Nut, or Earth's Best baby food from Target ($12 total) — pick a variety pack with savory and sweet flavors
  • Painter's tape and a Sharpie to cover the labels and number each jar 1–10
  • Printed answer sheets (kraft cardstock from Office Depot — $8 for a 50-pack)
  • Click-pens or fine-tip Sharpies (one per guest)
  • A small printed answer key for the host
  • Optional: a soft sleep mask from Amazon to use as a blindfold

Before the shower (setup)

  1. The guess the baby food jar baby shower game runs on one Target trip. Buy 10 different small jars of baby food in the baby aisle — Gerber, Beech-Nut, and Earth's Best are the easiest to find. Mix sweet (banana, mango, apple) with savory (sweet potato, peas, butternut squash) and at least one curveball (prunes, chicken-and-rice). Avoid extremely strong flavors like curry or beets — they overpower the room and the rest of the game.
  2. The night before, peel or tape over every label so guests can't read it. Number each jar 1 through 10 with a strip of painter's tape on the lid. On a single answer key card that only you can see, write which numbered jar holds which flavor. Tape that key to the back of your phone or hide it in a kitchen drawer — guests will absolutely try to peek if you leave it out.
  3. Morning of the shower, line the jars up in numbered order on a small side table. Set a stack of answer sheets and a jar of pens next to them. Open each jar's lid 5 minutes before the game starts so the smell can breathe — sealed jars right out of the fridge barely smell like anything. Place a small bowl of coffee beans at the end of the line if you want a real palate-cleanser between sniffs.
Front-door setup for Guess the Baby Food Jar (Smell-Only) — 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

About an hour into the shower, gather everyone and announce the guess the baby food jar baby shower game. Hand each guest an answer sheet with numbered blanks 1–10. Walk one guest at a time past the table — they smell each open jar in numbered order and write down what they think the flavor is. Give the group 10 minutes total to cycle through. If anyone wants the blindfold for drama, hand it over.

While guests sniff and scribble, the mom-to-be can play too if her first-trimester nose isn't too sensitive. Pregnant guests with smell aversions can sit this one out without making a thing of it — they're the judge instead. Half the room will swear jar #6 is mango when it's actually pumpkin; that argument is half the entertainment.

When everyone has finished, gather the answer sheets and read the correct answers out loud one jar at a time. Pause for groans and "I knew it!" reactions after each reveal. Highest score wins. If there's a tie, the first one to correctly name the brand on the jar wins. Hand the prize over on the spot, and donate the unopened jars to a local food bank — most jars hold up unopened for a year or longer.

A hand lifting a clothespin off another guest's shirt — the steal moment in Guess the Baby Food Jar (Smell-Only)
The moment of the steal — someone slipped, someone caught it, pin changes hands.

Variations to try

  • Smell-then-taste combo. Run half the jars smell-only and half taste-only. Smell-only jars stay sealed-but-open; taste jars get small plastic spoons. The smell round is shockingly harder, so this combo keeps confidence levels up.
  • Pair with the full taste test. Run [[baby-food-taste-test]] right after this game with the same jars. Guests guess first by smell, then taste to confirm. Two rounds, one set of materials.
  • Visual round for kids. Skip blindfolds. Let kids look at each jar without the label and guess by color and texture. Easier than smell-only and works beautifully for cousins at a shower.
  • Mystery jar. Swap one jar with something unexpected — bone broth, prune juice, unsweetened applesauce. Closest guess wins a bonus prize. Adds a real laugh-out-loud reveal moment.
  • Coed showdown. Dads-versus-moms team round. The team with the highest combined score wins. Works great for coed baby showers where everyone wants to compete.

Pro tips from hosts who've actually run this

  • Pick distinctive flavors. Five fruit-only jars and everyone guesses "apple" for half of them — the round flattens.
  • Open the jars 5 minutes before the round starts. Cold, sealed jars barely smell like anything.
  • Tape over the labels, don't peel. Sticky residue on the jar tells half the room which brand it is.
  • Bowl of coffee beans between jars is the trick smell-test professionals use. It resets your nose in 3 seconds.
  • Skip beets, curry, and anything with garlic. Strong jars contaminate the smell of every jar after.
  • Donate the unopened jars to a food bank after the shower. Local food banks usually accept unopened baby food year-round.
  • Have the mom-to-be play if her nose is steady. If she's first-trimester sensitive, she's the judge instead — way more fun than smelling pureed prunes when you're already nauseous.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Buying all sweet jars. If 8 of 10 are fruit, the savory ones are obvious and the sweet ones blur. Mix it up.
  • Forgetting to open jars before the round. Sealed cold jars barely smell — the round becomes random guessing.
  • Leaving the answer key on the counter. Guests will peek. Hide it on your phone or in a drawer.
  • Skipping the palate cleanser. After jar 5 every fruit puree smells the same. Coffee beans solve it instantly.
  • Forgetting to brief pregnant guests. Smell aversions in the first trimester are real — give them an opt-out before the game starts so it's not awkward.

Best prize for this game

Stick to gentle prizes that match the food theme. A $20 Trader Joe's gift card, a Bath & Body Works hand cream gift set, a nice candle (Yankee Candle Vanilla Cupcake or Bath & Body Works lavender), or a $25 Target gift card all work. For a clever on-theme touch, gift the winner a small tin of fancy chocolate truffles — "adult baby food" — wrapped in a clear cellophane bag.

→ More baby shower prize ideas, by budget

Our verdict

The cleaner cousin of [[baby-food-taste-test]]. Same comedy, none of the gagging — works for picky eaters, pregnant guests with food aversions, and any crowd that still wants the baby-food bit without putting it in their mouth.

Guess the Baby Food Jar (Smell-Only) — FAQ

How do I play the guess the baby food jar baby shower game?

Cover the labels on 10 baby food jars, number them, and let guests smell each one. They write down what they think each flavor is. The host reveals the answers at the end. Highest score wins. Total game time is about 15 minutes.

Why play the smell-only version instead of the full taste test?

Smell-only solves two real problems — picky eaters who refuse to taste baby food, and pregnant guests with first-trimester food aversions. It keeps the comedy of the bit without the gagging. It's also faster to run and easier to clean up.

How many baby food jars do I need?

Ten is the right number. Fewer than 8 finishes in three minutes; more than 12 drags past the attention span. A mix of 4 sweet, 4 savory, and 2 curveballs gives the best variety.

What flavors should I include?

Distinctive ones — sweet potato, banana, peas, butternut squash, mango, prunes, chicken-and-rice, pear, carrot, apple-and-blueberry. Avoid plain apple (too generic) and anything with curry or beet (overpowering).

Is the smell-only baby food jar game good for a coed baby shower?

Yes — it's one of the more coed-friendly baby shower games. No tasting means dads-to-be and uncles play without complaint. Run it early in the shower before food is served — sniff fatigue is real and a full stomach makes savory jars harder to identify.

Can pregnant guests play this baby shower game?

Most can, but first-trimester guests often have strong smell aversions and may want to opt out. Brief everyone before the game starts so no one feels singled out. The mom-to-be should sit it out and judge if her nose is sensitive — saves her a queasy 10 minutes.

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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.