Birth Date Betting Pool - How to Bet on Baby's Arrival Day

"So, when are you due?" If you're pregnant, you hear that question ten times a day. What if, instead of answering it, you turned it into a game? That's exactly what a birth date betting pool is: everyone bets on the day baby arrives, and the sharpest guesser is crowned after the birth. Here's how to set one up without any hassle.

What is a birth date betting pool?

A birth date betting pool, sometimes called a due date pool or baby pool, is a prediction game around a baby's arrival. Family, friends and coworkers lock in their guesses before the birth. Once baby is here, you compare the predictions to reality and crown the big winner.

The birth date is the star question, but there is much more to guess:

• The birth date, obviously
• The time of birth
• The weight and length
• The gender, if you're keeping it a surprise
• Hair and eye color
• The name, for the truly bold

How to set up your bet in 4 steps

Forget the spreadsheet and the sticky notes that get lost: a birth date betting pool now runs entirely online. Here's how it works:

1. Create your pool: enter the parents' names and the due date, pick your questions, and personalize the page with a photo and your favorite colors. It takes about a minute.

2. Share the link: drop it in the family group chat, send it by email or post it wherever your people are. Nobody has to install anything: one tap and they're filling in their predictions.

3. Watch the bets roll in: see the predictions arrive live and find out who's betting on a ten-pound bruiser and who expects a surprise arrival three weeks early.

4. Reveal the winner: after the birth, enter the real stats. Points are scored automatically and the leaderboard reveals who knew your baby best.

The smart move: start from the actual due date

To bet well, everyone needs the starting line! Our free due date calculator estimates the due date from the first day of your last period. Fun fact to share with your players: only about 4 percent of babies are born on their exact due date. In other words, the bet is wide open.

What do you win?

Anything goes, as long as it stays light and festive:

• Glory: the official title of "family member who knows baby best", valid at every family dinner from now on.
• A small prize: a box of chocolates, a bottle to pop when baby arrives, a picture frame.
• An honorary job: the winner brings the cake to the first meet-and-greet, or gets to pick the baby's first stuffed animal.

Money really isn't the point: the joy of a birth date betting pool is the shared anticipation and the heated debates about the name.

Three little rules for a great bet

• Set a deadline: for example two weeks before the due date, so nobody "predicts" while the contractions have already started.
• One guess per person: even very confident grandmas only get one prediction.
• Kids play too: the cousins' guesses are often the funniest, and sometimes the closest!

Frequently asked questions

What if baby arrives before the deadline? No problem: you simply close the pool at the moment of birth. All predictions that are in still count, and the leaderboard is scored as usual.

Do people need to install an app? No. An online baby pool game runs right in the browser, on any phone. Your guests tap the link, fill in their predictions, and that's it.

How many people can join? As many as you want! From a cozy family circle to the whole office plus the soccer team: the more bettors, the merrier the wait. You can even add a boy-or-girl vote with the baby gender pool.

Let the betting begin

Nine months of waiting deserve a celebration. Create your birth date betting pool on MyBabyPool.com, share the link with your favorite people, and let the bets begin. See you after the birth to crown the champion!