Who Knows the Baby Best? 30 Prediction Questions for Your Baby Shower

Every baby shower has them: the aunt who is certain it's a girl, the grandpa who swears the baby will arrive two weeks early, the best friend who already knows the exact birth weight "just by looking at you". Lovely opinions, but opinions without a scoreboard are just chatter. Hand your guests these 30 prediction questions and suddenly it's a game, with a winner to crown once the baby is here.

How the game works

1. Before the birth, every guest writes down their predictions, at the shower itself or in the weeks around it.
2. The baby arrives and does whatever the baby wants, as babies do.
3. Compare the guesses to reality and crown the person who knew the baby best.

Pen-and-paper cards work fine. An online baby pool saves you the chasing: guests fill in their guesses from a link, everything is stored in one place, and the scoring happens automatically. Here's how that works, but the questions below fit any format.

The classic eight

The heart of every baby pool. If you only ask eight questions, ask these:

1. On which date will the baby be born?
2. At what time of day: night owl or early bird?
3. Boy or girl? (Especially fun if you're keeping it a surprise.)
4. What will the birth weight be?
5. How long will the baby be?
6. Will the baby arrive before or after the due date?
7. What letter will the name start with?
8. On which day of the week will the birth be?

What will the baby look like?

9. What hair color will the baby have?
10. A full head of hair, or beautifully bald?
11. What eye color, and will it stick?
12. Mom's nose or dad's nose?
13. Dimples or no dimples?
14. Who will the baby resemble most in the first photo: mom or dad?

The big firsts

Nobody can know these, which is exactly why the guesses get bold:

15. What will the first word be: "mama", "dada", or something nobody saw coming?
16. In which month will the baby take the first steps?
17. At what age will the baby first sleep through the night? (Optimists reveal themselves here.)
18. When will the first tooth appear?
19. Which food will get the biggest smile at the first bite?
20. Who will get the very first real laugh?
21. What will calm the baby every single time: singing, a car ride, or the vacuum cleaner?

The parents, under scrutiny

The baby isn't the only one being predicted:

22. Who changes the very first diaper?
23. Who cries first in the delivery room?
24. Who gets up most often during night one at home?
25. Which parent takes the most photos in month one?
26. Who is first to claim the baby "did that on purpose"?

Wildcards for the whole group

27. How many guests will guess the sex correctly?
28. Which grandparent manages to visit first?
29. How many minutes will the trip to the hospital take?
30. And the boldest prediction of all: who is going to win this game?

Tips for running it

• Set a deadline. Guesses close before the due date, so no last-minute "predictions" from the maternity ward.
• Pick a prize. It doesn't need to be big: bragging rights, a framed "I knew the baby best" certificate, or babysitting privileges.
• Keep the answers. This is the secret superpower of the game: a year later, the list of predictions is a time capsule. Grandpa guessed 4 kilos, your best friend called the birth date to the day. Those answers become part of the baby's story.
• Let everyone play. Colleagues, cousins abroad, the neighbors: a baby pool game travels well beyond the shower itself.

The baby will ignore every single prediction, of course. That's the point, and it's exactly what makes comparing the answers afterwards so much fun.