Baby Shower Bingo (Free Printable + Custom Card Generator)

On this page

1. How baby shower bingo works
2. What’s on the printable
3. How to play, step by step
4. How many cards to print
5. Winning patterns that stretch the game
6. Three other ways to play
7. Quick fixes for the usual hiccups
8. The full word list
9. Prize ideas
10. More shower games to pair with bingo
11. Questions hosts ask

How baby shower bingo works

Gift opening is often the slowest half hour of a shower. Bingo gives everyone a reason to watch each box come out of the bag.

Each card has 24 baby items and a free center square. Guests mark an item when it shows up, and because every card is shuffled differently, two people sitting side by side won’t finish on the same gift. The first guest with five in a row wins a small prize. Then you play on for a harder pattern, so the game lasts as long as the presents do.

Not opening gifts at the shower? Some hosts skip it. Cut up the calling sheet and draw words from a bowl, or use Play mode to call them from a phone or TV. It’s classic bingo with bottles and burp cloths instead of numbers.

What’s on the printable

• Bingo cards: a 5 by 5 grid with a free center square, filled from a bank of 45 baby gifts. Every card is different. Print one or two cards per page.
• Her name and the date across the top of every card, if you add them in the maker.
• A calling sheet listing every word, for the no-gifts version and for checking a winner’s card.
• Your own words, if you’d like them. Swap in items you know are on her registry and the cards will match what she actually opens.

The default look is soft sage and cream. If the shower has a color scheme, pick a different theme in the maker before you print.

How to play, step by step

1. Print one card per guest, plus a few spares for late arrivals.
2. Hand out cards and pens before the first gift is opened. If food comes first, tuck a card under each plate.
3. As the mom-to-be opens each present, someone says out loud what it is. Guests mark every square that matches. A bag with diapers and wipes counts for both.
4. The first guest with five in a row (across, down or corner to corner) calls out “Bingo.” Check the card against what’s been opened so far.
5. Hand over a prize, then keep playing for four corners, then a full card, until you run out of gifts or prizes.

How many cards to print

One card per guest who wants to play, plus about 10% extra. Say you’re hosting 25 guests: print 28 cards, which is 14 sheets if you print two to a page.

Children at the shower can play as well. Pair a young child with a grown-up, or give them their own card and a sheet of stickers to mark with.

Think about how many gifts there will be. A small pile of presents may never fill a line on anyone’s card, and the game fizzles. Two easy fixes: play for four corners instead, or finish by drawing words from the calling sheet once the gifts run out.

Winning patterns that stretch the game

Start easy and get harder, so the first prize comes quickly and the last one takes a while.

• Five in a row: any row, column or diagonal. The usual first round.
• Four corners: quick, and handy when the gift pile is small.
• Postage stamp: a 2 by 2 block in any corner.
• The big X: both diagonals. Takes a good number of gifts.
• Blackout: every square. Only realistic in the calling version, since it needs nearly every word.

Three other ways to play

Guessing bingo with blank cards

Instead of printed words, guests fill an empty 5 by 5 grid with the gifts they think she’ll get. It takes about five minutes at the start of the shower and rewards anyone who studied the registry. A sheet of paper and a ruler works fine for the grid. Play then runs exactly like gift bingo.

Find the guest bingo

This one is an icebreaker, and it’s good for the first 20 minutes, when the mom-to-be’s coworkers haven’t met her college friends yet. Each square describes a person (“has changed a diaper this month,” “was a babysitter as a teen”). Guests walk around, find someone who fits, and get that person to sign the square. Each person can sign a card only once.

Called bingo for a virtual shower

For a video-call shower, email each guest a different card as a PDF a few days ahead so they can print it or mark it on screen. On the day, share your screen in Play mode and call the words one at a time. Ask winners to hold their card up to the camera.

Quick fixes for the usual hiccups

Two people call bingo on the same gift. Both win, if you have the prizes. If not, the tiebreaker is whoever’s birthday is closest to the baby’s due date.

A gift isn’t on any card. Nothing gets marked. That’s part of the luck.

She gets three swaddle blankets. A word counts once. Guests mark it the first time and enjoy the rest.

A guest arrives halfway through. Hand them a card anyway and let them mark from that point on. Their odds are worse, and they’ll know it.

Someone isn’t sure a gift counts. The host decides, quickly and cheerfully. A sleeper counts as pajamas; a bath robe doesn’t count as a hooded towel.

The full word list

These are the 45 gifts our cards draw from, handy for checking against the registry or making cards by hand: diapers, wipes, onesie, bib, burp cloth, pacifier, baby bottle, swaddle blanket, receiving blanket, hooded towel, washcloths, baby shampoo, diaper cream, rattle, teether, board book, stuffed animal, socks, baby hat, mittens, sleep sack, crib sheet, changing pad cover, baby monitor, stroller, car seat, bouncer, play mat, baby carrier, nursing pillow, bottle brush, sound machine, night light, nail clippers, thermometer, nasal aspirator, baby bathtub, diaper bag, high chair, sippy cup, gift card, something handmade, footie pajamas, bath toys and a drying rack.

Big-ticket items like a stroller or car seat often get bought by a group or shipped to the house, so they may never be opened at the shower. That’s fine. They keep a few squares hard to fill.

Prize ideas

Keep bingo prizes small, since you’ll hand out several. A candle, nice hand soap, a bag of good coffee, a small plant, a pair of fuzzy socks or a box of chocolates all work. If you’d rather not shop for each winner, fill a basket and let them choose.

One more option that costs nothing: the winner picks which dessert gets cut first.

More shower games to pair with bingo

Bingo covers gift opening. For the rest of the party, our free printable baby shower games include a price guessing game with real store prices, a word scramble and advice cards, all personalized the same way. Planning a wedding shower too? The bridal shower printables include a gift bingo with kitchen and home items, and our he said she said game also works as a mom-versus-dad quiz for a coed baby shower.

For more ideas, from icebreakers to games for a coed crowd, browse our baby shower games.

Questions hosts ask

By the Party Game Book editors. Every game here is free to print for personal, classroom and non-commercial use. How we make and check our games.