How baby shower bingo saved my life 
… I’ve had the fortune/misfortune to host 11 different baby showers in the past three years thanks to co-workers, friends, and family members getting pregnant (when you’re at the age, everyone is doing it). One thing I’ve learned is that games are absolutely essential to keeping the party moving forward and making sure everyone is having a good time. I know of almost no other time when people will be coming together for such an intimate party, yet having so many people possibly not knowing each other. My last baby shower I held had mother-in-laws trying to talk with 18-year-old office friends of the mommy-to-be, talking with cousins from across the state. It was awkward. That is, until…
Until I got the games out, everyone was just standing around making really bad small talk. But then I opened up a few bottles of wine (none for the mommy-to-be) and started a game of Baby Shower Bingo. Everyone knows how to play so we went straight into the game. And after the ladies saw that they could win some nice prizes (top prize was a $30 gift certificate to Victoria’s Secret, but we had lots of $5 gcs to Starbucks).
The wine helped a lot too, and a few of the ladies started getting pretty animated and at one point, someone fell out of her chair trying to be the first person to yell BABY SHOWER BINGO! We all had a great laugh.
I’ve found the best way to do baby shower bingo is to just buy the pre-made cards online. There are lots of places to get free ones, but they looked terrible when I downloaded them, and I just didn’t have time to make my own for the last party. I’d made my own in the past, but after just buying some, it was so easy that I’ll never go back.
I hope this helps a few of you out there, games are the key and can be lots of fun with the help of a little wine and some fun prizes.
By: Marisa Meidle
Most people have played bingo at some point in their lives, but even those of us who have never played the game, generally do know how to play the game.
Traditionally bingo is played using cards containing a grid of squares (usually but not always a grid of 5 X 5 squares), with each square containing a different number. Each player is given one of these bingo cards, and the objective of the game is to mark off a row, column or diagonal of squares (in some versions, the objective is to obtain multiple lines, another square, or even get all squares marked off). Squares on the cards are marked off by the players when the bingo caller (who also acts as referee) calls out the corresponding number.
Bingo has undergone something of a renaissance in popularity in the last few years. While the traditional game remains popular, new variants of bingo are reaching new audiences. In each case, these variants of the game are played using bingo cards containing custom items related to a particular topic, rather than the standard numbered bingo cards.
Some examples include:
- Holiday bingo, using bingo cards with words and phrases themed around a particular holiday be it New Year, Valentine’s Day, July 4th, Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas.
- Wedding and baby shower bingo is a popular activity on these social events. Bingo cards containing items related to brides, weddings, or babies, are used as applicable.
- Educational bingo is getting more and more popular with teachers. Versions of the game can be produced for almost any type of class including English (including K12 and ESL), math, science, history, geography or even religious studies. Game play may also be varied by the teacher, so for example in math bingo, cards containing math problems may be used and students must write in the answers to these problems rather than simply tick off the squares.
In order to play any of these variants of the game, you will of course need bingo cards printed with the appropriate themed items. These are not always easy to obtain for every possible topic, and even when available can be expensive. Therefore the best option for most people is to simply print them using a computer and appropriate bingo card generator software.
By: Sunil Tanna
At some point in their lives, most people have played the game of bingo, but even those who haven’t probably do know how to play the game. Even if you don’t know however, it’s very easy to learn!
1. One person acts as the bingo caller and referee.
2. The other participants are all players.
3. Each of the players is given a bingo card containing a grid of squares, each square containing a number.
4. The bingo caller calls out numbers in a random order, and the players mark off any square on their cards which matches the number.
5. When a player gets a complete line across his card (vertical, horizontal or diagonal), he calls out “Bingo!”. The first player to call bingo is the winner.
6. If you prefer a longer game, instead of a single winning line you can require two or more complete lines, or even players to mark off every single item on their bingo card.
So far so good – you’re probably already familiar with all the above. Today however, variations on the standard game, most frequently using bingo cards containing customized items based around a particular theme (instead of numbers), are growing in popularity.
Some examples include:
- Bingo has become very popular with teachers. This is because it can be adapted to almost any lesson or subject, and thus become a fun as well as educational classroom activity.
- Holiday bingo is played using cards relating to a particular holiday. For example a Christmas-themed game would be played using cards containing words like “angel”, Bethlehem or “shepherds”. Of course there are many other holidays around the year which can be used to inspire specially themed bingo games, including New Year, Valentine’s Day, July 4th, and Halloween.
- Wedding and baby shower bingo are also growing in popularity. As you might expect, these variants are played using words relating to weddings or babies.
If you fancy playing any of these versions of bingo, you will of course need bingo cards relating to your chosen theme. While it may be possible to obtain preprinted cards for certain (not all!) themes from a specialist publisher, the cheapest and most flexible option is almost certainly to print them yourself using your computer. If you use some bingo card creator software, you can simply put in a list of the possible items, and the software will generate as many different cards as you want.
By: Sunil Tanna
