Baby Photo Match

Set up

A week or two before, ask each guest to send one baby or early childhood photo to one organizer. Print them at a similar size, number each one, and keep a private answer key. Pin the photos to a board or clip them along a string. Make an answer sheet with the numbers down one side and space for a name beside each.

Ask permission before displaying anyone’s photo, and return or delete the pictures afterward.

How to play

1. Give every guest an answer sheet and a pen.
2. Guests study the photos and write a name next to each number. No conferring.
3. Allow about ten minutes, or leave the board up for the first part of the party.
4. Collect or swap the sheets.
5. Reveal the answers one photo at a time. Let each person step up beside their picture.
6. The guest with the most correct matches wins.

Making the reveal count

Do not just read out the key. Hold up each photo, ask for guesses from the room, and then have the real person stand. If people are willing, ask them for one sentence about the picture: where it was taken, who is holding them.

Ways to change it

• Baby shower version: include baby photos of both parents-to-be and ask guests to find them among the rest.
• Then and now: a second board of recent photos with the faces partly covered.
• Family version: at a reunion, mix photos from several generations. The oldest photos are the hardest.
• Office version: keep it optional and offer the choice of a school photo or a picture of a first pet.
• Small groups: with fewer than six, add photos of well-known people as children.

Who it suits, and who it doesn’t

This is a gentle, standing-around game for showers, reunions and team parties, and it gets people who have just met talking to each other. It needs organizing in advance and a group of at least six. Not everyone has baby photos or happy memories attached to them, so keep taking part optional.