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Pacifier Hunt — baby shower game

✍️ Best Baby Shower Games Editorial Team · Updated May 2026

Pacifier Hunt

Hide thirty pacifiers around the room before guests arrive, then announce the hunt at a slow stretch of the baby shower. Guests scatter, kids absolutely lose it, and five minutes later somebody walks back with twelve pacifiers in their cupped hands. Most found wins.

  • 🏃 Active
  • ⚡ Quick
  • 🧒 Kid-friendly
  • 🤝 Low-pressure
  • 🍷 Coed-friendly
⏱ Prep
15 min
👥 Best for
Any size
🍷 Coed
Yes
📹 Virtual
In person

What you'll need

  • 30 mini plastic pacifiers (Amazon party-favor 50-pack runs about $9) OR silicone candy pacifiers (Hobby Lobby or a candy shop, about $14 for 24)
  • A small basket or bowl for collected pacifiers at the end
  • A phone timer (5-minute alarm)
  • Optional: a Sharpie if you're running the numbered variation
  • One named prize for the winner

Before the shower (setup)

  1. Pick up your pacifiers a few days before the baby shower. The cheap plastic ones come in 50-packs on Amazon for around $9 — search "mini plastic pacifier baby shower favors" and you'll find them in every pastel color. If you want zero leftover plastic, candy pacifiers from Hobby Lobby or a local candy shop run about $14 for a tray of 24, and guests eat what they find. Both versions work; the candy ones are less wasteful and a little more delightful.
  2. About thirty minutes before guests arrive, hide the pacifiers around the main party room. Aim for thirty hiding spots — one per expected guest plus a few extras. Mix three difficulty levels: ten obvious (sitting on a bookshelf, on top of a picture frame, perched on a candle), fifteen medium (tucked behind a couch cushion, inside an open magazine, on the windowsill behind a curtain), and five hard (inside a vase with flowers, taped under a chair seat, on top of the ceiling fan blade if you have a stepstool handy). Skip any spot where reaching for a pacifier could break something — no antique vases, no top-shelf glassware, no fragile photo frames.
  3. Write down where you hid the harder five somewhere only you can see (notes app on your phone is fine) so you don't end the game with three pacifiers still hidden in the house. Pull the basket out and set it next to your seat — when guests bring pacifiers back you want a clear collection point. Cue your 5-minute timer on your phone. Tell the mom-to-be ahead of time that she's not hunting; she gets to watch and call out cold or warm if anyone gets close to a hidden pacifier.
Front-door setup for Pacifier Hunt — 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

Announce the Pacifier Hunt at a slow moment of the baby shower — usually after appetizers but before gifts, when the room is settling into small talk and could use a jolt. Stand up, get attention, and say the rule out loud: "Thirty pacifiers are hidden around this room. You have five minutes to find as many as you can. Most pacifiers wins. No moving furniture, no opening drawers, and stay out of the kitchen." Start the timer right then.

The next five minutes are pure chaos. Adults usually treat it as a casual social romp — they wander, chat, glance up at shelves. Kids treat it like the Olympics — they bolt around the room, dropping pacifiers on the floor, scrambling on hands and knees behind couches. The mom-to-be can play "hot or cold" if she wants, calling "warmer" or "colder" when guests pass close to a spot. The room gets loud. That's the whole game.

When the timer dings, call "hands off!" and have everyone bring their pacifiers to the basket on your seat. Count each guest's pile out loud — the running tally builds suspense. Most pacifiers wins. If a hard-to-find one is still missing, reveal the spot and let everyone applaud. Hand over the prize on the spot. If you used candy pacifiers, guests eat their winnings; if you used plastic, scoop them into a gift bag for the mom-to-be — she'll cycle through three or four shapes before she finds one the baby actually likes.

A hand lifting a clothespin off another guest's shirt — the steal moment in Pacifier Hunt
The moment of the steal — someone slipped, someone caught it, pin changes hands.

Variations to try

  • Candy pacifier edition. Use silicone candy pacifiers from Hobby Lobby or a candy shop instead of plastic ones. Guests eat what they find — less waste, more reward, zero cleanup for the host. The clear winner of the two versions if your guest count is over fifteen.
  • Numbered pacifiers. Sharpie a number on each pacifier (1 through 30). Pacifiers numbered 25–30 are worth 3 points; 11–24 worth 2 points; 1–10 worth 1 point. Adds strategy — the harder-hidden pacifiers should be the high-number ones. Slows the game from 5 minutes to 8 but the room gets more competitive.
  • Outdoor egg-hunt style. Run Pacifier Hunt outside in a backyard. Tuck pacifiers in plants, on patio furniture, under chairs, in flowerpots. Better with kids in the group — it becomes a mini Easter egg hunt. Pair with [[baby-shower-hot-potato]] for an outdoor games block.
  • Team race. Teams of two hunt together. Cuts the chaos in half and adds a teamwork layer. Best for groups under twenty, especially coed showers where couples can team up. Each team's total pacifier count wins the prize, split between the two teammates.

Pro tips from hosts who've actually run this

  • Hide one pacifier per guest plus 5 extras. Less than that and the game ends in two minutes with kids walking away angry.
  • Skip fragile zones entirely. Guests will reach into anything for a pacifier — vases tip, picture frames fall, glass coasters crack. Hide only in robust spots.
  • Five minutes is the right timer. Three minutes is rushed; ten and the adults give up halfway. Five hits the sweet spot for both kids and adults.
  • Candy pacifiers beat plastic for guest count over fifteen. Less leftover material, more guest delight, and the kids inhale the candy before they're allowed in the car home.
  • For kid-heavy showers, hide ten pacifiers at kid eye-level (under three feet) and twenty at adult eye-level. Otherwise tall adults clean up and the kids end up empty-handed and pouty.
  • Write down where you hid the hardest five. Two months from now you'll vacuum the living room and find one in a houseplant — better to know now.
  • Pair with [[pin-the-pacifier]] back-to-back for a fifteen-minute pacifier-themed baby shower games block.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Hiding pacifiers in fragile spots like antique vases or top shelves of china cabinets. Something always breaks. Always.
  • Hiding all pacifiers at adult height. Kids get shut out and the round ends with crying instead of laughing. Mix the heights.
  • Letting the hunt run too long. Past five minutes, adults check phones and the energy drops. Keep it tight.
  • Forgetting to track the hard hiding spots. You end the round with three pacifiers still hidden and find them weeks later. Notes app on your phone — five seconds of typing saves a real headache.
  • Picking pacifiers that look like the real baby pacifier the mom-to-be is planning to use. Guests sometimes pocket them thinking they're keepsakes. Get the obvious decorative kind — pastel mini versions or candy.

Best prize for this game

Pacifier Hunt is a quick game, so a quick prize works fine. Strong picks: a $15 Starbucks gift card, a Bath & Body Works hand cream, a small Yankee Candle, or a $20 Trader Joe's gift card paired with a tea-and-cookie bundle. If kids are likely to win, default to a small toy or a $10 Target gift card with a candy bar taped to the back — kid-appropriate and parent-approved.

→ More baby shower prize ideas, by budget

Our verdict

Filler-tier baby shower game best run as a five-minute reset during a slow stretch — the kids love Pacifier Hunt more than the adults, and that's exactly the point. Skip if the guest list is all childless friends in their 20s; lean in if there's a cousin pile of kids in the room.

Pacifier Hunt — FAQ

Where do I buy mini pacifiers in bulk for a baby shower?

Amazon is the easiest source — search "mini plastic pacifier baby shower favors" for a 50-pack around $9. Hobby Lobby and Michaels both stock them in their party-favor aisle. For the candy version, try a local candy shop or Amazon's "silicone candy pacifier" listings — about $14 for a 24-pack.

How many pacifiers should I hide for Pacifier Hunt?

About one per expected guest plus 5 extras — so 30 for a typical 25-person baby shower. Less than that and the game wraps in two minutes with most kids walking away empty-handed. Round up rather than down.

Is Pacifier Hunt safe for toddlers or babies at the baby shower?

For toddlers and under-3s, use only the candy version or have an adult supervise. Cheap plastic mini pacifiers have small parts that could be a choking hazard for very young children. Stick to candy if there's a baby in the room.

What do you do with the plastic pacifiers after Pacifier Hunt?

Hand them to the mom-to-be in a small gift bag — most newborns cycle through three or four pacifier shapes before settling on one they like, so a starter stash is genuinely useful. Or donate any unopened extras to a local diaper bank that accepts new baby supplies.

How long does Pacifier Hunt take to play at a baby shower?

About ten minutes total — five minutes of hunting plus five minutes of counting, prize-giving, and the reveal of the hardest hiding spots. It's the perfect five-to-ten-minute reset between bigger games like [[baby-trivia-game-show]] or before gift opening.

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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.