✍️ Best Baby Shower Games Editorial Team · Updated May 2026

Old Wives' Tales: Boy or Girl?

A quiz of 15 old wives' tales about gender prediction. Sweet cravings mean girl? Belly carrying low means boy? Fast heartbeat means girl? The mom-to-be answers each one honestly; guests log boy or girl. Tally up at the end — and it doubles as the lead-in to a gender reveal.

🤝 Low-pressure
💝 Sentimental
🍷 Coed-friendly
📹 Works on Zoom

⏱ Prep: 15 min
👥 Best for: 6–25 guests
🍷 Coed: Yes
📹 Virtual: Works on Zoom

What you'll need

Printed Old Wives' Tales quiz sheets, one per guest (cardstock from Staples or Target, around $6 for 50)
A 12-pack of pens from Walmart
A clipboard with the host's master sheet
A small basket to collect filled sheets
One named prize for the closest tally
Optional: a pink or blue envelope (or a colored cake from a local bakery) for the reveal moment

Before the shower (setup)

Build the Old Wives' Tales quiz about a week before the baby shower. You want 15 prediction tales total — pull from multiple cultures so the quiz feels rich and respectful. Classics include: sweet cravings = girl, salty/savory = boy; carrying high = girl, carrying low = boy; fast heartbeat (over 140 bpm) = girl, slower = boy; good complexion = boy, breakouts = girl; weight gain on hips = girl, on belly = boy; the Chinese lunar gender calendar; the ring-on-a-string test; the Mayan formula (mom's age + conception year, even/odd); Mexican folklore (mom shows belly to a cat — friendly = girl); Korean dream prediction (dreaming of dragons = boy). Variety is what makes the game feel cultural, not gimmicky.
Open Canva or a Google Doc and lay out the sheet: a title at the top, 15 numbered prompts down the page, and two checkbox columns labeled "Boy" and "Girl" next to each. Print one per guest at Staples on cardstock — about $6 for 50 sheets. Cardstock survives a full shower; plain paper crumples by the gift-opening phase. Print a separate master sheet for yourself with space to tally guesses, and one for the mom-to-be to fill out privately with her actual answers (no sharing till game time).
Twenty minutes before the baby shower starts, stack the quiz sheets and pens on a side table near the seating area. If you're using the round as the lead-in to a gender reveal, prep your reveal moment — a pink or blue envelope on the side table, a sealed gender-reveal cake from a local bakery, or a balloon to pop at the end. Brief the mom-to-be that she'll share her honest answer to each tale during the round; let her know which questions might come up so she's not surprised mid-game by a "do you crave salty or sweet" question while everyone's watching.

Front-door setup for Old Wives' Tales: Boy or Girl? — 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

Once guests are settled with drinks, hand out the Old Wives' Tales quiz and pens. Explain the rule out loud: "Fifteen old wives' tales about gender prediction. The mom-to-be will share her honest answer for each one — you write down what the tale predicts, boy or girl. Tally up your guesses at the end. Closest to the predicted gender wins a prize, and after we tally everything, we'll do the reveal." Three sentences and the room gets it. The framing as folklore (not fact) is what makes the baby shower game land — even guests who think it's all nonsense play along.

Go through the 15 tales one by one. Read the prompt out loud ("Sweet cravings or salty cravings?"). The mom-to-be shares her honest answer ("Definitely sweet — I've eaten three jars of Trader Joe's cookie butter this month"). Guests log the prediction in the matching column on their sheet. The room laughs at each answer — grandma will absolutely interject with her own theories, the mom-to-be's mom will share her own pregnancy memory, and somebody always says "that's how I knew with mine." Don't rush. The conversations between tales are half the value of the round.

After all 15 tales, each guest tallies their own boy and girl totals. The higher number is their predicted gender. Collect the sheets. If the parents already know the baby's sex and you're using this as a gender reveal, run the dramatic reveal now — pull the pink or blue envelope, cut into the colored cake, or pop the balloon. Hand the prize to the guest whose tally matched closest to the real answer. Save the master sheet for the baby book — the mom-to-be will want to look at the predictions in fifteen years and laugh. Total runtime is about 18 minutes for a 15-question round.

A hand lifting a clothespin off another guest's shirt — the steal moment in Old Wives' Tales: Boy or Girl? — The moment of the steal — someone slipped, someone caught it, pin changes hands.

Variations to try

Live gender reveal version. Use the tally as the lead-in to the actual gender reveal. After every guest has guessed, the parents open a pink or blue envelope, cut into a colored cake, or pop a confetti-filled balloon. The buildup of 15 tales makes the reveal land twice as hard. Pair with [[baby-shower-pinata]] for a confetti finale.
Multicultural blocks. Group the tales by culture — 5 American/Southern, 5 Mexican/Latin American, 5 Chinese/Korean — and announce the culture before each block. Feels respectful and educational on top of fun. Grandmas of every background suddenly have stories to share.
Personal predictions only. Skip the tally. Each guest writes their own final prediction at the end with one sentence of reasoning. No competition, just discussion. Best for tiny intimate showers (under 10 people) where the conversation matters more than the contest.
Family superstition expansion. Print 5 blank rows at the bottom of the sheet for guests to add their own family superstitions ("if the cat sleeps on your feet, it's a boy — my grandma swore by it"). Adds a contribution layer and the mom-to-be ends up with a list of new tales she's never heard of.
Zoom version. Email the quiz as a Google Form before the call. The mom-to-be shares her answer live on Zoom; guests submit their predictions in real time. The form auto-tallies. Reveal happens on camera. Works fine for long-distance baby showers.

Pro tips from hosts who've actually run this

Pull from multiple cultures — Korean, Mexican, Southern US, Chinese, Italian. The breadth is what makes the quiz feel like real folklore instead of a Pinterest list.
Print extra blank rows so guests can add their own family superstitions. Grandma will have one nobody's ever heard of and she'll want it written down.
Keep the mom-to-be's master answer key for the baby book. She'll want to look back at the predictions in fifteen years.
Time this baby shower game for the middle of the shower — after appetizers, before gifts. Sentimental rounds work best when the room is warm but not exhausted.
If you're using it as a lead-in to a gender reveal, prep the colored envelope, cake, or balloon ahead of time. Mid-game scrambling for the reveal prop kills the moment.
Read the tales out loud with a tiny bit of drama — "...sweet cravings..." with a pause. The pacing is the difference between a fun round and a flat checklist.
Don't worry about the science. The predictions are statistically about 50/50, and that's the joke. The room takes them half-seriously and that's the whole point.

Common mistakes to avoid

Pulling all 15 tales from a single Pinterest blog. Half the room has seen the exact same list and the round feels rehearsed. Mix cultures and traditions for a richer set.
Asking the mom-to-be a question she's not comfortable answering publicly (weight gain, complexion changes). Run the tale list past her ahead of time so she can flag any she'd rather skip.
Rushing through the tales without leaving room for guest stories. The conversations between tales — "my mom said this when she was pregnant with me" — are half the value of the round.
Forgetting the master answer key. Mid-tally arguments about whether the mom-to-be said "sweet" or "both" derail the round. Write down her answers as she gives them.
Pairing the round with a sex-determination claim. Old wives' tales are folklore — never frame them as actually predictive, even as a joke. Some guests find that uncomfortable.

Best prize for this game

Match the sentimental vibe with something thoughtful. Strong picks: an Anthropologie candle, a Bath & Body Works "Aromatherapy" lotion set, a $25 Trader Joe's gift card with a Trader Joe's flower bouquet, or a small Yankee Candle in "Lemon Lavender." For a reveal-edition shower, hand the closest-tally winner a small framed photo of the mom-to-be's belly with the predicted color border. Avoid joke prizes — this round earns a real reward.

→ More baby shower prize ideas, by budget

Our verdict

Sweet, sentimental baby shower game that works perfectly as the centerpiece of a gender reveal shower. The folklore alone is fun; the actual reveal afterward is the photo every shower group ends up sharing in the group chat.

Old Wives' Tales: Boy or Girl? — FAQ

How accurate are old wives' tales for predicting baby's gender?

Statistically about 50/50 — they're folklore, not science. That's part of why Old Wives' Tales works as a baby shower game: half the room takes them half-seriously, half the room laughs them off, and the mom-to-be gets a record of the predictions for the baby book. Never frame them as actually predictive.

How many old wives' tales should the quiz have?

Fifteen is the standard. Less than ten feels skimpy; more than twenty drags. Fifteen covers the major cultural traditions — American, Mexican, Chinese, Korean — and gives the round a 15–20 minute runtime that fits between bigger games at the baby shower.

Can Old Wives' Tales work as a gender reveal at a baby shower?

Yes — it's one of the best lead-ins to a gender reveal. After every guest has guessed using the 15 tales, the parents open a colored envelope, cut into a pink or blue cake, or pop a balloon. The 15-tale buildup makes the reveal land twice as hard. Pair with [[guess-the-due-date]] for a full prediction-themed shower.

How long does Old Wives' Tales Boy or Girl take to play?

About fifteen to twenty minutes total — the mom-to-be answering each tale takes about a minute, and the cross-talk between guests (grandma's theories, family stories) adds another five. The reveal at the end, if you're running that version, adds two more dramatic minutes.

Is Old Wives' Tales appropriate for every baby shower?

Yes — the quiz is mostly cultural folklore, low-pressure, and gender-neutral in feel even though the topic is gender prediction. Even non-believers play along for the cultural stories. Skip any tales the mom-to-be doesn't want to answer publicly (weight, complexion); brief her ahead of time so she can flag those.

Can Old Wives' Tales run on Zoom for a virtual baby shower?

Yes — send the quiz as a Google Form ahead of the call. The mom-to-be shares her answer live on Zoom; guests submit their guesses in real time. The form auto-tallies the predictions. If you're using it as a reveal, the parents open the envelope on camera at the end. Works fine for long-distance showers.

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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.