This is the last of the bridal shower posts for Wedding Wednesday and it’s a fun one too! Games at bridal showers (or baby showers) are always a great way to get the guests involved and make a blended group of people come together. For my shower last month, my sister came up with a few games that were really fun and I hope they help you out next time you’re planning a shower too.
My sister picked up a number of fun prizes that fit in with the spring tea party theme. Candles and hand soaps in scents like vanilla cupcake, lemon meringue and strawberry tart. She picked them up at Bath & Body Works and then dressed them up with Bows and cello bags. There were also little hand sanitizers for a rapid fire game (more on that in a minute) and little silver pouches filled with makeup goodies like nail polish and lip gloss. She had plenty of prizes for each game so that there could be a few winners for each one.
Name Cards
This isn’t a game, but I wanted to include this in here because it turned out to be really helpful for our guests. It’s always hard when you go to these types of events and you don’t know everyone, so we thought this was an easy ice breaker. Guests picked the sticker for which family they’re from and then share their name and how they’re related to us. We picked the labels up from an office supply store, and then using word, we created a simple design with a little teapot image. We passed them around with markers as guests arrive.
Guess the Bride’s Age
This game was pretty fun to put together, as it meant going through our family photos together the night before. We picked 14 pictures that spanned my 28 years, printed them using my parents’ photo printer (super handy), and then attached them to a large piece of bristol board with double sided tape. We added little labels from A to N to each photo.
We created some little ballots for guests to make their guesses for each picture beside the latter it was labeled. I made a quick free printable word template that you can change into whatever font you like, and add more letters for more photos if you need to. This was a fun game that guests could play while everyone was arriving. They handed their cards into my sister and she slipped away to check them while guests helped themselves to food.
What’s In Your Purse?
Once everyone had enjoyed some of the awesome sandwiches and goodies, we gathered in chairs around the room and my sister hosted another game to get everyone in the celebrating mood. This involved all the ladies grabbing their purses, backpacks, diaper bags – whatever you take with you when you leave the house, really.
My sister would call out an item and the first person to hold it up won a prize. It was a rapid fire game and the prizes were some of those cute mini hand sanitizers in yummy scents, which are ironically perfect for toss in your purse.
Some of the items they had to find included:
- Penny (rare now that they’ve been phased out here in Canada!)
- Pen/Pencil
- Hairbrush
- Library Card
- Band Aid
- Snack
- Foreign Money (my flight attendant bridesmaid nailed this one)
- Lottery Ticket
- Mittens
- Sewing Kit
- Lipstick
- Nail Polish
- Safety Pin
- Tissue
- Glasses
- Passport
- Business Card
- Postage Stamp
The award for most hilarious find in a purse was a french copy of Harry Potter!
Bridal Shower Bingo
I’ve played this at showers before and it’s always a fun game to keep the guests involved while the gifts are being opened. Guests fill the card out with all the items that they guess the bride will open like dish towels, blender, pots, etc.
As the bride opens each gift, she calls out what is inside it and then the guests mark it if they correctly guessed it. If a guest gets a line finished, they yell out “BINGO”!
Photo Booth
The photo booth was a fun idea that my bridesmaid Courtney came up. We set up a “photo booth” in another room, with a box of fun props (hats, scarfs, etc.) and a camera setup on a tripod. Prizes went to the most creative photos.
It was fun to get a picture with all the bridesmaids…in an array of hilarious hats. See that one I’m wearing? It’s a family friend’s 1980’s hat and veil from her wedding!
I loved looking at the photos afterwards and seeing all the guests get in on the action, including my Great Aunt and Nana. I ended up printing out the photos and putting them in with the thank you cards I sent out.
This sweet photo of two of my pregnant friends was one of my favourites. So sweet…and crazy to think that they now have two little boys out here in this world.
My friend brought her daughters to the shower and they had such a blast playing with all the dress up goodies. You better believe that I saved this photo for us to share with her when it’s her turn to get married in 20+ years!
It was also a good way to take some nice photos with family, the bridesmaids and my sweet sister/maid-of-honor/hostess. She put so much work into making it a special day and I really appreciated it. The games were a blast and kept the afternoon light and fun. Thanks sis!
