Traditionally, shower games are corny, silly, and embarrassing – both for the bride, and the participants. Rather than subject yourself (or your friends) to the usual humiliation, why not organize some fun, fresh, and unique bridal shower games? You could spend hours devising them yourself, of course. Or you could read this article and save yourself some time!
“Watch Your Words”
This game is not an event, but rather an ongoing exercise that – with any luck – should make the shower a little more interesting.
The first step is to write down a list of words that are overused at bridal showers and in general wedding discussion. Words like “bride,” “wedding,” “awwww,” “beautiful,” “flowers,” “gorgeous,” “romantic,” etc. are all good candidates. Once you’ve decided on a list of 10-15 words, write the list on enough notes to hand to each of your guests. Along with the note, hand each guest a little favor or token – bracelets, pins, and other wearable trinkets work particularly well. Whenever a guest hears another guest using one of the forbidden words, she is entitled to steal that guest’s trinket. At the end of the party, whoever has collected the most trinkets wins a prize – plus, they get to keep the trinkets!
“Spinning a Yarn”
For groups who don’t know each other well, this is the perfect icebreaker game. Buy some spools of nice ribbon or yarn, and when the guests arrive, invite them to cut off “as much as they think they’ll need.” Just don’t tell them for what! Then, when everyone’s gathered around, ask everyone to talk about themselves and how they know the bride, but only for as long as it takes them to wrap the piece of ribbon around their finger.
If you like, you can establish rules about how fast or how slowly guests may wrap, or you can do the wrapping yourself to maintain a steady pace. Either way, it’s a fun way to get to know everyone.
“Cake Contest”
For this, all you’ll need is a batch of undecorated cupcakes – enough for each guest to have at least one, although extras are always a good idea! You’ll also need decorating supplies – icings, frostings, edible decorations – anything you can find. Invite all the guests to take a cupcake and decorate it. Give out prizes for cutest, most elegant, ugliest, most unique, etc – and to spice things up even more, you can invite the guests to vote on different categories. Remember to take pictures before everyone digs in!
Photographic Memory”
For this one, prepare the bride by having her wear a complicated outfit. The more items, the better – a scarf, jewelry, mismatched socks – anything she’ll agree to! Then, once the guests have settled in to the party and spent a little time with the bride, have her leave the room. Then, give all the guests pen and paper and have them write down everything they can remember from her outfit. For an even more difficult twist, gather some colored markers or crayons and ask them to draw it! The most accurate list/drawing wins a prize.
(After the game is over, the bride should feel free to take off an extraneous accessories!)
“Who Knows the Groom?”
To prepare for this, write up a list of questions for the groom, Newlywed Game-style. You can either make up your own, get ideas online, or refer to one of the many books that is geared towards helping couples learn obscure things about each other. Some of the classic questions include:
“If he could change one thing about himself, what would it be?”
“Who does he think is the ‘better catch’ in your relationship?”
What is his dream job?”
“What was his first car?”
“What color is his toothbrush?”
You get the idea! Have the groom submit his answers in plenty of time before the party, and keep them secret from the bride and all the guests. Then, gather everyone together and have them write down their answers as you read the questions to the group. Find out if the bride knows the groom best, or if one of the guests comes through as the surprise winner!
(If this game sounds like it has the potential to cause some drama, you can eliminate the aspect where guests are also allowed to answer. You may want to consider this if an old friend or girlfriend of the groom is in attendance, since it might not sit well with the bride if she loses to someone with whom the groom has a history. Use your own best judgment! Another fun version of the game involves only the bride answering, and she must chew a piece of gum every time she gets an answer wrong. If she keeps getting answers wrong, she’ll soon have a sizable jawbreaker forming in her mouth!)
Sources
“Top 20 Unique Bridal Shower Games.” Beau-Coup.com.
