You’re bound to have a few questions when it comes to deciding which, if any, wedding shower games to play (we know we did!). The truth is that no two bridal showers are alike, and the rules that apply to one may not apply to the other. However, some best practices have been established, and we’ve answered the four most frequently asked questions about bridal shower games to help you make sense of it all.
How many games should be played at a bridal shower?
There is no correct or incorrect answer to this question because it is determined by two factors: the length of the bridal shower and the bride-to-preferences. be’s Our basic rule of thumb is to play one game for every hour spent. Because most batteries are three hours long, the average number of games played at a bridal shower is three. Check out these Magic Men’s hens party ideas to help you plan your next get-together.
If you’re concerned about making the wrong decision, consult with the bride-to-be and base your decision on her advice. After all, it’s her wedding shower, so whatever she says is legally binding!
What kinds of games do you play at a bridal shower?
There are usually two types of games at a bridal shower: interactive and non-interactive, or multiplayer and single-player.
While playing interactive games, also known as icebreakers, guests are required to mingle with one another. Here are some examples of classic “multiplayer games”:
Find the Guests in the Ring Game
Brides’ Mad Libs
Non-interactive games, which are typically found in print, necessitate more actual thought than socializing. A classic “single-player” game is How Well Do You Know the Bride.
“Would she rather?” he inquired. “Yes,” she replied.
To encourage guests to socialize, we recommend a balanced mix of both game styles, as well as single-player to keep things competitive.
Is it required to take part in bridal shower games?
In our honest opinion, the answer is no; you do not have to play bridal shower games. There is no hidden manual stating that they are necessary. It’s not even considered taboo if you don’t. We’ve attended a number of modern bridal showers that lacked games but were still a lot of fun.
The real question is whether you should play them at all. And we don’t have a conclusive answer. Once again, it’s all about your future bride’s preferences. If she wants a traditional wedding shower, play some games. If she’s a nontraditional bride, forget about traditions! That’s the only thing there is to it.
What do you do at a bridal shower if there are no games?
In reality, a bridal shower is still a bridal shower if there are no games. In other words, guests are expected to mingle while the bride-to-be visits everyone in turn.
If you’re confident that playing games isn’t necessary to achieve this goal, you don’t need to plan anything to take their place. If you’re unsure or concerned, try one or two of these alternatives to the traditional bridal shower games.
Bridal Shower Icebreakers and Games
Of course, games aren’t required at a bridal shower, but consider this: you’ll have an all-ages crowd, and the majority of the guests will have never met before the event. Incorporating a few of these traditional bridal shower games is a great way to start the party.
Even though games aren’t required at a bridal shower, they are a big hit. Games allow guests who may not have met before to get to know one another. These creative activities will both honor the bride-to-be and entertain guests of all ages.
Bridal Shower Games Passed Down Through Generations
You’ve probably seen these before, but there’s a reason they’re so popular: they’re entertaining!
Toilet Paper Gown for a Wedding
Divide the group into two or more teams of at least three people each. The units are given rolls of toilet paper, and each team chooses a “bride.” Allow each group 15 minutes to make a wedding gown out of toilet paper for their “bride.” At the end of the time limit, vote for the best and funniest wedding dresses.
Clothespins is a game played with clothespins
Begin by selecting a popular buzzword such as “bride,” “groom,” or “wedding.” As each person enters the party, give them a clothespin. If they hear another person say the buzzword, they get to take the clothespin from that person. Whoever has the most clothespins at the end of the party wins.
This story contains two truths and one lie
Everyone introduces herself and shares three facts about herself, two of which are true and one of which is false, with the group. The audience is then asked to write down or shout out which one they believe to be a lie.
What exactly am I? Before the party, make a list of famous romantic couples that your guests are likely to recognize. They can be real (Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn), fictional (Fred and Wilma Flintstone), contemporary (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie), or historical (Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn) (Antony and Cleopatra). Make a separate name tag for each guest and place one on their back (without showing it). Their mission is to go around the party asking yes or no questions about their “secret identity.” For example, “Am I a fictional character?” “Do I appear to be a man?” They must now find their “better half.” The game is over when everyone has found their partner. Give a prize to the first couple who does so.
Games to Help You Get to Know the Bride
Do you have a good idea of what the bride’s favorite color is? Each card should be a little different from the others, but they should all have some squares in common. Then, on a separate sheet of paper, list each item. Fold the papers in half, combine them, and put them in a bag or bowl. The guest of honor should then read aloud to the group one piece of paper at a time. When a guest has a square that corresponds to what is said, she is allowed to mark that square. Fill a bag with small gifts that she will enjoy, such as a bottle of nail polish or a favorite magazine. Every now and then, remind the bride to select a gift rather than a slip of paper. Make sure to include these gifts on the cards so that guests can participate. Make sure there are door prizes for the first person to get five in a row and yell “Bingo!” Have you run out of hens party suggestions? There’s no need to look any further because Magic Men has you covered.
Brides-to-Be Trivia
Begin by requesting that the honored guest leave the room and stand just out of sight but within hearing distance. Ask guests what she is wearing, how her hair is styled, and so on before moving on to more difficult questions like how the bride and groom met or her favorite animal. The first person to shout out all of the correct answers wins.
How well does the bride know her future husband?
Ask the groom a few questions about himself before the shower and take careful notes. Request that the bride predict what he will say at the battery. If her answers are correct, she receives a prize. If the answers aren’t the same, the person who calls out the correct answer first wins. Consider the following questions: What is his favorite color? Which band is your favorite? What’s your go-to weekend activity? What would be your ideal vacation? Where did they go on their first date?
How old was she?
There are photographs of the bride from various eras available. Pin them to a board and provide each guest with a piece of paper. As they mingle and eat, they can guess her age from each picture. Give a prize to the person who correctly answers all of the questions.
Bridal Shower Games in the Twenty-First Century
When you’re entertaining a younger crowd made up mostly of the bride’s friends, traditional bridal shower games won’t cut it. Try these slightly risqué but entertaining games instead.
Stick and Toilet Paper is an excellent game for those who don’t mind a little risqué fun. Divide the guests into teams and assign a captain to each. Give each captain a broomstick or pole and have them stand against a wall with the stick between their legs. Toilet paper rolls should be distributed to the team’s other members. The object of the game is for each team member to cross the room with toilet paper registration between their legs and reach their team’s pole (no hands). The first team to fill their captain’s bar with all four rolls wins and receives a door prize. This game is hilarious and offers great photo opportunities.
The Groom’s Skivvies
Tell each guest that the goal of the game is to draw a picture of the groom in his underwear while keeping the drawing pad on top of the artist’s head the entire time. The bride selects her favorite drawing to win a prize.
Gossip: The party’s host and bride write a gossipy question about each guest on index cards, such as “Who did Lisa have a date with two weeks ago?” or “Who was Maggie’s first kiss?” or “When was the bride’s mother last time she bought lingerie?” When guests arrive, they are given an index card and a time limit (30 minutes to an hour) to respond to the question. They should try to avoid asking the person directly. At the end of the period, each guest comes to the front of the room and shares their gossip with the rest of the group.
Attach the Groom’s Lips
Purchase a traditional pin the tail on the donkey game as well as a donkey picture for the wall. Remove the donkey’s head and replace it with a picture of the groom’s face. Prepare a tube of gaudy, low-cost lipstick and have blindfolded guests apply it, spin around, and kiss the groom. Whoever gets the closest to his mouth.
Bridal Shower Activities & Games That Aren't Like Anything You've Seen Before
If you’re throwing a shower for an artistic or unusual bride, you won’t want to invite her friends to sit around drinking tea and swapping stories. Look for other wedding shower games and activities to participate in instead.
Arts and crafts-related activities
Using a variety of papers, pens, paints, and other materials, ask guests to write and illustrate either their favorite bride memory, their best marital advice, or a recipe. Following the presentation, have the maid of honor collect the pages into a scrapbook and have each guest read or explain their project.
Spa days are becoming increasingly popular for pre-wedding gatherings. The maid of honor or organizer finds a nearby spa and book a private room, or sometimes the entire facility. If the maid of honor is feeling generous, she may cover the cost of minor treatments for all of the guests. However, it is more common for each guest to pay for her own treatments as well as contribute to the bride’s.
At-Home Spa Day
If you’re on a tight budget, there’s no reason you can’t have a spa in your own home. Bring any fun lotions, nail polishes, and beauty products you and your bridesmaids have lying around. Make sure you have plenty of clean fluffy towels, magazines, and a large plastic basin in which each guest can soak their feet. Make sure you have nail polish remover, as well as some tasty snacks and soothing music on the stereo. Make everyone chip in for a spa gift certificate as a bridesmaid gift.
Learn a New Skill
If you know how, why not teach your guests how to knit, arrange flowers, make jewelry, or paint pottery? They’ll have a great time learning a new skill and will either take a project home with them or give one to the bride. If you’re unsure about your teaching abilities, look for one-day group classes at local stores that can be scheduled during the day. Painting pottery and taking a group cooking class are two of my favorite activities.
Include a printed card with your invitation that says, “Please write your favorite bride or groom memory.” During the current opening, each guest stands and reads the card she brought with her. Some are funny, while others are sad, but they are all enjoyable to listen to. Purchase a photo album to keep track of the memories and photos from the party.
At the door, a prize is given away.
Your guests may not want to participate in difficult games, but who doesn’t appreciate receiving a gift? As your guests enter, have them write down their birthdays and wedding anniversaries (if applicable). The guest whose wedding date is closest to the wedding date wins a prize. The hostess can then keep track of the bride’s birthdays and anniversaries in an excellent birthday book, ensuring that she never forgets to send a thoughtful card.
Bridal Shower Games for a Fun Time
TABOO CUSTOM MADE TO ORDER
What exactly is it?
The first bridal shower game does require some planning, but if you’re a fellow Taboo fan (everyone, right? ), it’ll be well worth it. It’s similar to charades, but with words rather than actions, resulting in a lot of shouting and a fast pace. What are our ploys? Making cue cards for the couple so that the game includes a question about how well the players know the couple. If you know the couple’s first date was at the movies to see Mad Max: Fury Road, you’ll learn to look for it in the cue cards.
A team member will draw a card with a word or phrase on it and then attempt to get their teammate to shout out the name without saying the word/phrase or any of the card’s common “no-go” words. In Mad Max: Fury Road, for example, no-go terms include Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, Australia, Science Fiction, or Apocalyptic.
Prep
You’ll need to create and print some cue cards, but we promise it’ll be simple. Consider going back to a favorite restaurant, a honeymoon location, or a previous date location.
Pros It’s lively enough to get your heart racing, but it’s not too taxing. You have the option to stop whenever it becomes tedious.
PASS THE PRESENT TO LOVE SONGS
What is it exactly?
We had a rotating roster of games at our birthday parties as kids, but one was always on the agenda, regardless of the theme or age: Please hand over the gift. You can make it a bridal shower game by playing funny or upbeat love songs, or songs that the couple likes or has liked in the past, and that will make the guests laugh. (Britney is invincible.)
Players pass a wrapped gift around a circle while music plays. When the music comes to an abrupt halt, whoever has the present opens it. Inside each wrapping, they’ll find a small gift—and another wrapped present, which will be passed around to music until the final round, which will feature the best talent.
Preparation You’ll need to collect a variety of small gifts and wrap them matryoshka-style. After that, create a playlist of songs. You’re finished. Assign someone to the task of stopping the music.
First and foremost, giving gifts is always pleasurable. Second, you need to take a break from all the competition and hard work every now and then and play something a little more relaxing.
AT A WEDDING, BINGO
What is it exactly?
Is it even possible to have a bridal shower without playing bingo? This human version of bingo is a popular option at team-building workshops, and while it may sound horrible, it’s actually a great way to get strangers to mingle and break the ice. “I put a series of questions for the bride-to-be in a bowl (such as “how did you first meet” or “tell us about the proposal,” said event planner Rebecca Wright.
After everyone receives a 55 bingo card with unique numbers in the grid, the bowl is passed around the group. Someone draws a question, reads the number first (which corresponds to the bingo cards – whoever has that number on their card covers it up), and then asks the bride one at a time. The first person to cover five numbers in a row on their bingo card wins a prize. Even if someone has already called “bingo,” everyone usually wants to finish asking all of the questions because hearing all of the answers is entertaining.
It keeps everyone entertained and gives the bride-to-be the opportunity to share some personal experiences. It also works well with a wide range of group sizes. Make the game prizes something that everyone wants to win, and you’ll have everyone’s attention and participation. ” Do you want to throw the best Melbourne hens party? With Magic Men, you’re in good hands.
Rules
Fill your bingo sheet with characteristics of other party members that, of course, relate to the bride or the wedding instead of numbers. Guests must collect signatures from people who share those characteristics. They could be “someone who speaks French,” “a member of the bride’s family,” or “someone who enjoys corn dogs,” the groom’s favorite food, if the honeymoon is in Paris.
Prep
You’ll need to design and print the bingo cards, as well as conduct some research into how everything relates to the couple. Remember to bring enough pens for everyone!
Pros This one is easy to explain because almost everyone has played bingo at some point in their lives. And it only takes a few minutes to put together!
WHAT EXACTLY ARE WEDDING CRASHERS?
This is a wedding-themed version of Mafia, which isn’t yet a thing (call me Hasbro), but I’m going to make it one now because Mafia is a lot of fun and I’ll take any excuse to play it. In this role-playing game (read: no prep required) of deception, mystery, and revelations (!) a moderator typically designates part of the group as mafiosos and part of the group as innocents. We’ll instead watch Wedding Crashers and The Betrothed. We can see how bright it is!
To begin, select a moderator. Based on a secret card drawing, everyone is assigned to one of two roles: Wedding Crasher or Betrothed (or straws, or whatever is easiest). Everyone in the room has their eyes closed. The officiant orders all of the Crashers to silently identify themselves to one another before selecting a Betrothed’s wedding to crash. The moderator then announces who has been hit in the marriage, and everyone opens their eyes. Following that, anyone can accuse another player of being a Crasher, and the group will vote on whether or not to “throw out” that person. Rounds continue until the Crashers are eliminated or they have taken over the majority of the party.
Pros There is no need to prepare for this game, and the element of suspense and mystery adds to the fun.
GROG FOR THE BRIDAL SHOWER
What exactly is it?
This is more of an excuse to be silly and drunk than a game. The true story is as follows: My wedding had a grog-themed activity, which was a lot of fun.
Rules There is a grog ceremony in the military where liquors are ceremoniously added to a punch bowl, each representing something about the unit or troop (“Red wine for our time in France during World War II!” “Sake for our service in the Pacific Theatre!”), and then everyone toasts with it. It can get a little gross at times, but that’s part of the fun. At our wedding, each member of our wedding party added one ingredient to the bowl. They gave a brief speech about how that particular ingredient represented love, marriage, or their relationship with us, the couple. While we cheated and used a predetermined punch recipe for our wedding and asked guests to make the metaphor work, you could use the hodgepodge juice approach for the bridal shower.
Prep
Invite each guest to bring a Lil something to the party to add to the punch bowl, and explain how it represents their relationship with the couple. (Note: Depending on the number of guests, a very small something.) After that, everyone raises a glass to the couple! Here are some ingredient ideas: Champagne will be served as a toast to the bride’s bubbly personality. Because the honeymoon is in Milan, Aperol is the drink of choice. Strawberries are an aphrodisiac fruit for the couple because they make their own kombucha.
Pros Sharing difficulties, such as drinking from a tub of unknown booze, brings people together. Who doesn’t enjoy tinkering with their food (and drink!)? This definitely puts a new spin on bridal shower games.
CRAFT-A-THON... BRIDAL SHOWER
What exactly is it?
Although it isn’t quite a game, we enjoy living on the outskirts… That is, on the outskirts of a craft store! Exploring your creative side with your friends is a fun and relaxing way to spend an afternoon.
Extra points for originality.
Guests may leave with a memento of the event that they created with their own two hands. Decoupaging teacups with brightly colored tissue paper, indigo-dying tea towels, decorating cookies (surprisingly relaxing!! ), and, of course, making flower crowns, which I’m always looking for an excuse to do.
Prep
The best part about craft parties is that you have access to all of the necessary tools and materials, allowing you to let your imagination run wild while sipping champagne. (There will be no searching through jumbled drawers for your scissors or that dreaded glitter glue you purchased last summer.) Make sure everyone has a base (a teacup, blank tea towel, cookie, or wire for their flower crown base) and tools (frosting tips, glue, gloves, floral tape), then provide a variety of crafting options that will ensure each guest’s creation is unique, such as a variety of sprinkles or frosting colors, tissue paper shades and patterns, or greens or flowers. You don’t want every guest’s masterpiece to look the same because of a lack of resources!
Pros
You’re putting together something really nice, guys. It’s also entertaining, and you won’t have to worry about a) everyone getting bored halfway through the game or b) cousin Linda having one of her crazy, scary-as-hell competitive outbursts during the game. Linda is a typical person.
