Bridal Shower Games that Don’t Suck

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We are back with another installment of our bridal shower series! In case you missed our previous posts, we shared 15 bridal shower themes and how to plan a couple’s shower. Before you dive into this post, we do recommend reading both of those posts first as they provide a great foundation for any bridal shower. It’s helpful to know what kind of shower you’re planning before jumping into this post’s topic – bridal shower games!

Whether you’re a bride, the one who is tasked with planning a shower, or a bridal shower guest, it’s likely that you have very specific opinions about bridal shower games. Some people love them, others tolerate them, while other people would prefer that games are skipped altogether. In the end, the choice is up to you – a shower is still a shower whether you play games or not! If you’re on board with bridal shower games, we thought we would share 12 ideas that can act as a great way for guests to get to know each other while also offering fun insight into the relationship the bride shares with her love.

Bridal Shower Games That are Actually Enjoyable

Name the Lyric or Quote

The idea behind this game is guests are tasked with either naming the artist who sang a lyric or the movie where a line is said. You can opt to make the game harder by asking guests to jot down their guesses, or you can turn it into a matching game where the options are there for them to choose each one only once.

When you’re playing, you can opt to play one of two ways. One idea is to read the lyrics or quotes aloud with guests guessing or matching as you go. Another idea is to have the game and the prompts on a worksheet guests can complete at their tables while waiting for everyone to arrive. The second works well because some will opt to work together at their tables, and it does save time for more mingling later during the party.

They Said

The premise of this game is to ask the bride and her partner a series of questions separately. Each provides answers without the other one knowing, and the questions and answers are read aloud at the shower. Guests have to guess which partner gave which answer!

If you want to play this game live, invite the bride’s partner to the shower. Give the bride and her love signs to raise with each partner’s name on them. Then ask questions and ask each one to raise one of their signs to note who said what!

Where in the World?

If the couple loves to travel, print out and hang up photos from the destinations they’ve visited together. Then ask guests to guess where they are in each one – country, city, or specific landmark. The guest with the most correct answers wins!

Put a Ring on It

When guests arrive, they receive a ring (think: paper or plastic) to wear or hold. Each person is prohibited from saying words, like “bride”, “groom”, “wedding”, or “shower”. If they say the word and another guest catches them saying it, they lose their ring to the guest who caught them saying the code word. The person with the most collected rings at the end wins!

DIY Scattergories

Scattergories is one of the easiest games to create a DIY version. If you do have the game, you will want to use the lettered dice. But, the idea is to create your own categories that relate to the bride. Then roll the dice, reveal the letter, set the timer, and ask guests to jot down their answers for each category that start with the rolled letter before time runs out. The person with the most correct answers wins! This is a great game to play for a few rounds, especially because it tends to make guests laugh.

M.A.S.H.

Did you grow up playing MASH? It stands for Mansion, Apartment, Shack, and House. The premise of the game is it’s supposed to act as a fortune teller as it reveals where you will live. Then choose other categories, like the career you will pursue, how many kids you will have, where you will travel to next, etc.

To start, choose a partner. Write all four options for housing down. Then jot down four options in each of the other categories you choose. Ask your partner to choose a number at random. Count the four options in each category until you reach the number your partner chose. The one you land on in each category is the winner and tells the future you will live!

Play with the bride and her partner in mind or mix things up and ask guests to play with others at their table. It’s sure to get everyone talking and laughing!

Guess Our Age

Print out photos of the bride and her love at different ages. Then hang or frame them at your shower. Ask guests to guess how old they are in each photo. The person with the most correct answers wins!

As a note, this is a great game to play during lunch, especially if the photos are on a table. Guests can walk up to the table whenever they’re done eating and file their guesses, which we love because mingling is never interrupted.

Scavenger Hunt

If you’re hosting a couple’s shower, this is a great game to play! Set up a scavenger hunt in a backyard or around the town where the shower is located. If you’re playing at a shower hosted at a venue, consider turning the scavenger hunt into one that involves guests finding items in their bags or on their phones. The first team to finish or the person with the most items on hand wins!

Favorite Memory

If you’re looking for a more sentimental activity, ask each guest to complete a card with their favorite memory they have experienced with the bride. Compile all of the cards into a book and present it to the bride to read. If you want to turn this into a game, you can ask guests to guess who wrote each one. Warning: this is oftentimes a tearjerker!

Best Recipe

If the bride loves food or drinks, ask guests to bring their favorite item to cook, bake, or drink to the shower. Then have the bride or the bride and her wedding party taste each one and choose an overall winner! If you’re hoping to have guests bring something to the shower and assist with providing food and drinks, this is a great way to turn a favor into a fun competition.

Gift Bingo

Opening gifts is a highlight for the bride who has been wondering which items from her registry have been purchased (if she hasn’t been tracking online!), but it can sometimes feel less than exciting for guests. So, print out bingo boards and ask guests to fill in each space with an item they think the bride will receive. As she opens each one, she will want to announce what it is so guests can check off their boards. The first person to get Bingo wins!

Try an Activity

If traditional games are not quite your style but you still want to have an interactive element at the shower, consider turning the event into an activity. Take a cooking or baking class together, learn how to make a bouquet or centerpiece with a local florist, mix up your own drinks, try your hand at woodworking, host a backyard BBQ complete with games, spend the day by the pool, or go to the beach.

What games do you enjoy playing the most at bridal showers? Let us know your favorites in the comments!

PS– Need to plan a socially distanced shower? Check out our guide to throwing a Virtual Bridal Shower!