Betting Ideas for a Baby's Birth Date

Setting up a baby betting pool is a way to get your friends and family involved with your pregnancy 1. The baby betting pool works like other betting pools, such as for sports game, but the participants are betting on the baby's actual birth date and possibly other information -- such as the sex, length, weight and time of birth 1.

Betting Categories

Choose which categories the participants will be betting on. Aside from the baby's birth date, you might want to have guesses for the time of birth, weight, length and sex. Other categories include the total hours of labor, eye color and hair color.

Awards And Bets

Choose the awards to be given to the winners who come closest to the correct answer. For instance, the winners of each category can get all of the money in the pool or there can be gifts for each category while the betting money goes to the parents-to-be as a baby gift 1. Typically if the award is the pool money, then each participant will have her choice of how much money to bet with to increase the pool and urge others to bet high as well. Set a maximum bet amount for the bets. Gifts include gift certificates, movie tickets, gift baskets, gadgets or others. There can be one gift for the winner of each category or a 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-place winner for each.

Preparations

Set up the betting pool before the day of betting so it is ready to go 1. Using a pen or marker and a ruler, write the categories on a large piece of poster board as well as columns for the participant's name and how much they bet. This is where you will decide how the betting will take place. Make up betting cards for the players to fill out and tape to the board or each person can write his bet directly onto the board.

The Day of Betting

Betting should take place during an event when all of the participants will be together. A couple's baby shower is an appropriate time to do this as everyone will be celebrating the upcoming arrival of the baby, and it adds another baby shower game to this event. Designate a time for betting to take place and choose a person to organize the bets. This person will also be the one to announce the winners after the baby is born.

Announcing Winners

After the baby is born, the designated person who organized the pool will announce the winners for each category. The winner will be the person whose guess was the closest to the actual birth date or other category in the pool. The winners can be rewarded individually or at a party or get-together to celebrate the new baby.