✍️ Best Baby Shower Games Editorial Team · Updated May 2026

What’s in Your Purse?

Hand every guest a points checklist of things that might be hiding in their bag. A lipstick scores one point, a stray pacifier scores ten. Guests dig through their purses, tally their score, and the most over-prepared bag in the room takes the prize. It's the fastest icebreaker there is.

✅ Crowd-pleaser
🧊 Icebreaker
🤝 Low-pressure
⚡ Quick

⏱ Prep: 15 min
👥 Best for: Any size
🍷 Coed: Better not
📹 Virtual: Works on Zoom

What you'll need

A printed points checklist — 20–25 purse items with a point value next to each, one per guest; design it free in Canva and print at home
Ballpoint pens — a 10-pack from Amazon or Target runs about $5
A judge's master copy with your "does this count?" rules — hand it to the mom-to-be
Cardstock so the sheets don't crumple while guests dig — Michaels sells a 50-pack for around $8
A phone timer — the host's phone is fine
A named prize like a $20 Target gift card or a Bath & Body Works hand-cream set

Before the shower (setup)

A week before the shower, build your points list. The trick is a spread of values: common stuff scores low, rare stuff scores high. One-pointers are things almost everyone carries — a pen, keys, lip balm, a hair tie, gum, a coin. Three- to five-pointers are the maybes — hand sanitizer, sunglasses, a nail file, headphones, a granola bar, a gift card, a receipt older than a month. Ten-pointers are the deep-bag treasures that basically decide the winner — a safety pin, a sewing kit, a baby photo, a pacifier, a tape measure, a stamp. Twenty to twenty-five items is the right length. Weave a few baby-themed items into the high-point tier so the game still feels like a baby shower.
Type the list up in Canva (its free baby-shower templates take about ten minutes) or a plain Google Doc with the point value bold next to each item. Title it "What's in Your Purse?" so nobody opens it confused. One page per guest, and print on cardstock if you have it — flimsy printer paper folds in half the second a guest starts digging. Keep one master copy for yourself with quick rulings noted in the margin ("travel-size lotion counts; a photo on your phone does not — it has to be printed").
On shower day, stack the checklists and pens on a side table by the door or the food. This is an opener, so hand them out early — right as guests settle in with a drink, before anyone's deep in conversation. Tell the mom-to-be ahead of time that she's the official judge for close calls, because the "does a chapstick count as lipstick?" questions start within thirty seconds and half the fun is her ruling on them.

How to play

Once guests have a checklist, a pen, and their purse in their lap, read the rule out loud — "Go through your bag and check off every item you actually have in there. Each item is worth the points listed. No running out to your car, no borrowing from a neighbor — only what's in your purse right now." Give them five to seven minutes. The room immediately fills with the sound of zippers and people laughing at what they find.

Walk around with your master copy while guests dig. The questions come fast — "does a tampon count as a safety pin?" (no), "this is a dog treat, is that a granola bar?" (no, but bonus laugh), "I have three lipsticks, do I score it three times?" (your call — usually once). Be loose and quick with rulings, and send the genuinely tricky ones to the mom-to-be. Guests will start showing each other the weird stuff they've unearthed, and that cross-table "why do you have a single AA battery?" chatter is the whole point of the game.

When the timer runs out, have everyone add up their points and call out their total. Highest score wins. If two guests tie, the tiebreaker is whoever has the rarest high-point item — check whose ten-pointer the fewest other guests scored. Hand the prize over right away, then ask the winner (and a couple of runners-up) to hold up the strangest thing in their bag. That show-and-tell moment is what guests retell later — the game is really an excuse for it.

Variations to try

Coed — wallets and pockets. At a coed shower, swap the title to "What's in Your Bag, Wallet or Pockets?" and tune the list — add items like a multi-tool, a loyalty card, loose receipts, a guitar pick. The guys get just as competitive once their wallet counts. Pairs well with a coed crowd that would otherwise sit this one out.
Diaper bag edition. Run the same game but score a packed diaper bag instead — diapers, wipes, a spare onesie, a burp cloth, a pacifier, teething gel. Have the mom-to-be play with her actual baby bag so the game doubles as a gentle "did you remember everything?" check. Sentimental and practical at once.
Speed round. Cut the timer to ninety seconds and call out items one at a time — "lip balm… hand sanitizer… a coin older than you'd like to admit." Guests check fast as you go. Faster, louder, and great as a thirty-second filler between two bigger games.
Mystery bonus item. Don't reveal one item on the list. After scoring, announce the secret bonus — "anyone with a hair tie on their wrist right now gets fifteen points." It scrambles the leaderboard and gets a big reaction. Pick something common enough that a few people win it.
Zoom version. Share the checklist on screen at the start of a video shower. Guests grab whatever bag is nearby, dig through it on camera, and tally their own score in the chat. The host reads the totals out loud. Works cleanly for any group size — the show-and-tell just happens on webcam.

Pro tips from hosts who've actually run this

Spread the point values wide. If everyone scores within five points of each other, there's no clear winner — the rare ten-pointers are what create one.
Slip three or four baby-themed items into the high-point tier so the game still reads as a baby shower and not a generic purse game.
Five to seven minutes is the right timer. Three feels rushed; ten and guests are reorganizing their whole bag.
Hand the mom-to-be the master copy — she rules on close calls, and the rulings are funnier coming from her.
Print on cardstock or a postcard-sized card. Guests need one hand free to dig while they hold the sheet.
Run it as an opener while guests arrive — it gets quiet strangers talking faster than any other game. For a longer phone-and-bag block, follow it with [[whats-in-your-phone]].
Add one silly bonus line at the bottom — "five points if your bag has a single mystery crumb at the bottom" — and watch the whole room laugh and check it.

Common mistakes to avoid

Flat point values. If every item is worth one or two points, the scores bunch up and you get a ten-way tie with no winner.
Too many obscure items. If half the list is things nobody carries, most guests score near zero and the game feels like a loss instead of a laugh.
Running it with no timer. Without a deadline guests slowly empty their entire bag onto their lap and the round loses all its energy.
Forgetting a tiebreaker rule. When three guests tie, you'll be inventing a rule on the spot — decide "rarest high-point item wins" before you start.
Skipping the show-and-tell. The point isn't the score, it's the winner holding up the weird thing in their bag — always make a few guests reveal their finds.

Best prize for this game

A $20 Target gift card fits this game perfectly — the winner clearly knows how to come prepared, so reward them with a shopping trip. A Bath & Body Works hand-cream-and-sanitizer set (around $18) is a nice nod to the purse-essentials theme. A cute zip pouch or a small cosmetic bag from Marshalls (under $15) literally upgrades the bag they just won with. For an over-21 crowd, a mini bottle of wine from Trader Joe's. Whatever you pick, say it out loud when you start — "the fullest purse in the room wins this $20 Target card" — because "a little prize" gets a fraction of the competitive energy.

→ More baby shower prize ideas, by budget

Our verdict

The no-prep-for-guests icebreaker every shower needs — they just open the bag they already walked in with. Quick, funny, and the lifelong over-packers finally get rewarded for it.

What’s in Your Purse? — FAQ

How does the points system work in What's in Your Purse?

Every item on the printed list has a point value. Common things (a pen, keys, lip balm) score one or two points; rarer things (a safety pin, a sewing kit, a pacifier) score ten. Guests check off everything they actually have in their bag, add up the points, and the highest total wins.

How many items should be on the What's in Your Purse list?

Twenty to twenty-five. Fewer than twenty and the game ends in under two minutes; more than twenty-five and guests stop digging before they finish. Aim for a mix — about a third common, a third maybes, and a third deep-bag treasures.

Is What's in Your Purse good for a coed baby shower?

Yes, with one tweak. Retitle it "What's in Your Bag, Wallet or Pockets?" and add a few wallet-and-pocket items (a loyalty card, a multi-tool, loose receipts). The guys get competitive fast once their wallet counts toward a score.

How long does What's in Your Purse take to play?

About ten minutes total — five to seven minutes of digging and tallying, then a couple of minutes for scoring and the show-and-tell. It's a quick opener, not a main-event game.

Can you play What's in Your Purse on Zoom?

Yes — it's one of the easiest virtual baby shower games. Share the checklist on screen, guests grab a nearby bag and dig through it on camera, then drop their total in the chat. The host reads out the scores. It works for any group size.

What if a guest didn't bring a purse?

Have them play with whatever they did bring — a backpack, a tote, a jacket with pockets, even a wallet. If they truly have nothing, pair them with a friend and let them score that bag together. Nobody should be left sitting out.

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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.