Although games at your bridal shower aren't a must by any means, they're a tradition for a reason—they help your closest friends and family members get to know one another while celebrating the happy couple. If you're searching for bridal shower game ideas ahead of your event, we've got you covered.
From tried-and-true games that never go out of style to creative takes, these bridal shower games offer a slew of fun for everyone during this special pre-wedding event, from the bridal party to family members to, of course, the bride and/or groom!
Ahead, find 31 games that we think will be approved by every generation in attendance.
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Where Were We?
Hang up roughly ten numbered pictures of the couple on various trips or in different locations. Guests can write down where they think each picture was taken, and the person with the most correct guesses wins a small prize.
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Find the Guest
Find the Guest is a game that also serves as an awesome icebreaker to get guests interacting. Each attendee receives a checklist of characteristics—like who has been married ten years or longer, speaks a foreign language, is wearing blue shoes, etc.—and must circulate the room to find a guest who matches each one. Everyone will have a ball chatting up the room and finding out more about your nearest and dearest!
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Musical Matching
Play a music-matching game that pulls wedding songs from the couple's extended families. At the shower, display wedding photos from the couple's parents, grandparents, aunts, cousins, and siblings. Then, have guests try to match the photo of each couple with their first-dance song. Play a slideshow with the correct songs (shortened, for time) and award the guest with the most matches a musically themed gift.
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Interactive Scavenger Hunt
An interactive scavenger hunt will get guests up and on their feet while getting to know one another better in a relaxed yet competitive setting. It's an especially good idea if you're hosting a coed shower. If the event is in the couple's hometown or an appropriate location, clues like "This is where the couple had their first date" or "This is where the couple shared their first kiss" are usually a fun place to start.
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Vow Mad Libs
Print out traditional vows and leave blank spaces for nouns, verbs, and adjectives. A bridesmaid or party host asks each guest for a word. At the end of the party, the bride reads the wedding vows.
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The Newlywed Game
One-half of the couple answers questions about the relationship ("Who paid on the first date?"), which their partner has responded to on a pre-recorded video. Then, someone plays the clip with their partner's answer to see if they match. Alternatively, if both halves of the couple are in attendance, they can write down their answers before their partner responds to the question.
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Paper Bride
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Guests divide into teams of three or four. One member of each team is the model; the others construct a wedding dress using toilet paper. The models strut; the bride picks their favorite look. Pro tip: Use triple-ply.
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Who Can Make the Best co*cktail?
Set up a full bar, label all ingredients with cards, and have teams compete to concoct the best wedding co*cktail. The bride can then choose their favorite drink, and the team chosen gets bragging rights at the bar.
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Whose Memory?
There are a ton of treasured memories within a room of BFFs. Have everyone write down one of their favorite memories they have with the bride. Put the memories in a basket and have the bride read them aloud. Then, the guests can guess who each memory belongs to.
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Who's That Couple?
Make color printouts of celebrity couples and leave one at each place setting. Ask guests to identify both people in the photo. Don't make it too easy—the less obvious the better.
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Wedding Word Scramble
List off scrambled words associated with the couple, the bride, and the wedding. Whichever guest can untangle the words the fastest wins.
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Charades: Wedding Movies Edition
Write names of wedding movies on cards and divide the party into two teams. Players act out titles to their own team members, who must guess the answer in three minutes or less. To really make this work, go heavy on the co*cktails. Here are some movies to get you started: 27 Dresses, Mamma Mia!, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Wedding Crashers, and The Wedding Singer.
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Why Do We Do That?
There are so many wedding traditions that we just do without really knowing why. This is one of those unique bridal shower games that's fun and also teaches you a thing or two. Make a list of wedding traditions, like having a designated ring finger or the bouquet toss, then have the players choose an answer from a corresponding answer bank and see who can guess the most correctly.
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Cold Feet
Place a bunch of toy rings inside buckets or bowls of ice water. Guests must plunge their feet into the icy water and pull the rings out with their toes. Whoever can get the most rings out in two minutes wins.
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Purse Scavenger Hunt
Make a list of common items people might carry in their favorite bags as well as less common—and racier!—things one might stash. Give a prize to whoever keeps the most items in their purse and reward them with something else they can stick in it, such as a gift card. Include items like a hair tie, a pen, red lipstick, or a fast-food receipt.
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Put a Ring on It
This is one of those fun bridal shower games that you'll play all party long. Each guest gets a plastic ring to wear at the start of the shower. Whenever a guest says "bride" or "wedding," another guest is allowed to steal that person's ring. Whoever ends the bridal shower with the most rings wins.
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Newlywed Trivia
Collect interesting—or ridiculous—information about the couple, then ask guests to guess the answers to your questions. Consider typing out a multiple-choice quiz you can grade as guests eat cake, or conduct a Jeopardy!-inspired live competition where guests vie to be the first to shout the correct answer. Questions can range from easy for fewer points to hard for more. Include questions like, "Where did the couple meet?" or "Who said 'I love you' first?"
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Celebrity Wives
Gather the names of your favorite celebrity wives and then write each name on a single index card. Ask each guest to tape a card to their forehead—no peeking!—and then have the other guests describe the person on the card until everyone guesses their celeb status. Who wouldn't want to be Beyoncé for a day?
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Fantasy Date
Each guest writes the name of their dream celebrity date on a card. Everyone tries to match the date with the guest. For a more advanced game, have guests fill the other side of the card with their celeb date from hell; you have to guess not only who wrote it but also which side is which.
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Tie the Knot
To round out our list of unique bridal shower games, we had to include a game of tying cherry stems into knots. Give each guest a little bowl of cherries and see who can tie the most knots with cherry stems in two minutes. For a little extra fun, soak the cherries in vanilla vodka overnight.
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How Well Does the Bride Really Know Their Spouse-to-Be?
Compile a list of tricky questions about the bride's other half. Have the guests guess how many questions the future Mrs. will be able to answer correctly. Whoever guesses the most questions correctly wins.
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Date-Night Ideas
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This is one of those fun and useful bridal shower game ideas. Have pretty card stock and glitter pens ready to go. Pass them out and have everyone write down their favorite date-night suggestion for the happy couple. After everyone reads their suggestion aloud, deposit them into a cute box that the bride can take home and use for future Friday nights.
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Pen a Poem
Grab a blank sheet of paper and ask a guest to write a single line of a romantic poem dedicated to the couple. Then fold the paper over, hiding the guest's phrase, and pass the paper to another guest with the same instructions. Make your way through all the guests; then, in your best dramatic stage voice, read the (disjointed) poem the brides' guests have dedicated to their great love.
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What's In Your Cell Phone?
For this game, guests will whip out their phones for a cellular scavenger hunt. They'll search their phones and get points for each item they can find. For example, allot one to five points for things like a selfie, a photo with the bride-to-be, the wedding date saved in your calendar, etc.
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Musical Bouquet
Think musical chairs but with a bouquet. Have guests sit in a circle and pass it around. When the music stops, whoever has the bouquet is eliminated. The last woman standing wins.
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Pictionary: Wedding Edition
Divide the guests into teams of two and settle in for a rousing round of Pictionary. Remember that classic? Each team writes down words on slips of paper and the other team must draw whatever the word is and get their teammates to guess it. In this edition, of course, all the words must be wedding-related.
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Telephone Wedding Toast
Playing Telephone is always funny—and it's made even more enjoyable when you start the "call" with a toast to the bride. Have each guest whisper well wishes to the bride and then sit back and listen to the funniest toast ever when the message reaches the last guest.
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Over or Under
Have someone gather intel from the bride on facts about their relationship or partner that pertain to numbers. For example, how many wedding venues they looked at, how many children they want, or how many years ago they met. Then print the questions as facts with arbitrary numbers and have guests guess if the numbers provided are too high, too low, or accurate.
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The Recipe Contest
Less of a game and more of a fun activity, each guest comes to the bridal shower with recipes printed or hand-written for the happy couple, and all of them get compiled for the soon-to-be-newlyweds to try cooking together!
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Pin the Veil
Similar to Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Pin the Veil involves placing a large photograph of the bride-to-be on the wall, and having guests
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The Wedding Shoe Game
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The wedding shoe game is a popular activity that allows wedding shower guests to test the couple’s knowledge of each other, making it ideal for a wedding shower where both partners will be in attendance. Guests will ask the couple things like who is the funniest and who is the best cook, and then the couple will have to answer a variety of questions without seeing one another’s answers.
FAQ
How many games should be played at a bridal shower?
Depending on the length of the bridal shower, most guests can expect to play anywhere from two to four games (or one game per hour).
Where can you purchase bridal shower games?
While Etsy has bridal shower game templates that can be printed and downloaded, party supply stores such as Party City are often stocked with budget-friendly bridal shower games to fit your theme.
What are things to do at a bridal shower without games?
From snapping photos in a DIY photobooth with playful props to mingling over co*cktails and mocktails from a bridal shower bar, there's no shortage of ways to keep guests engaged.
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