Bridal showers are not just about good eats and showering the bride-to-be with gifts, they’re also about having fun. And nothing brings more laughter and merriment than the right bridal shower games.
Not just any game will do, however. The key to a successful and fun bridal shower is to choose games based on your guest list. Do you have a lot of older ladies joining you? Avoid games with a lot of action. Do some of your guests have dietary restrictions? You may want to pass on games with food.
Once you know who you need to amuse, it’s time to find the right games for your event. From traditional activities to more modern games to several unique options, our guide of 45 games truly has something for every party.
In This Article
Traditional Bridal Shower Games
If you’ve been to at least a few showers, we’re willing to bet you’ve played one or more of these tried-and-true bridal shower games. Here are four classic activities to consider for your event.
What’s in the bag?
Preparation — Fill a large purse or tote bag with items 15 to 25 items that would be useful for a honeymoon. Items could include basics like toothpaste, deodorant, makeup and sunscreen. If you want to make the game a bit more racy, add some slinky lingerie, a box of condoms and some edible panties. Next, design or download a ready-made ‘What’s in the Bag’ game cards for each guest.
How to play — The bride takes each item out of the bag to show the guests. Once all items are back in the bag, hand out a card and pen to each guest. Give them one minute to write down as many of the items as they remember. The guest with the most correct answers wins a prize. The bag and its contents are then given to the bride-to-be as a gift.
Say yes to the (paper) dress
Preparation — Have lots of toilet paper or newspapers on hand.
How to play — Divide your guests into teams of three or four. Each team then chooses one member to be the model. The remaining members design a wedding dress using the toilet paper or newspaper they’re given. The models then get to strut their stuff for the bride, who chooses her favorite gown.
Purse scavenger hunt
Preparation — Make a list of items women carry in their purses such as a wallet, keys, a pen and gum, as well as some more unusual items like a cigar, eating utensils or hot sauce.
How to play — As you read the list aloud, the guests have to retrieve the items from their bags. Whoever has the most items left in her purse is the winner.
String game
Preparation — Purchase a ball of string. Yarn or ribbon are also suitable substitutes.
How to play — As your guests arrive, instruct them to cut as much string as they think they’ll need for a secret activity. Whatever you do, don’t tell them what the string is for! When game time comes, go around the room and have each guest offer congratulations, advice or random thoughts to the bride-to-be while wrapping their piece of string around a finger. The longer the string, the longer they have to talk. This game can get pretty silly, especially for the guests who cut off a long amount of string.
Bridal Shower Games for Large Groups
Planning bridal shower games for a large group may seem daunting, especially if you’re worried about having enough space for games that require action or a lot of props. These low-maintenance games are easy to play and are still a lot of fun.
Bingo gift game
Preparation — Download blank bingo cards off the Internet and be sure to print enough for each guest. Also have lots of pens and pencils on hand.
How to play — Once each guest has a card, ask them to fill in the blank squares with wedding gifts they think the bride will receive at the shower. As the gifts are opened, ask the guests to mark off their bingo cards. The first guest to mark five in a row wins.
The ring game
Preparation — Buy some cheap novelty rings.
How to play — Similar to the clothespin game played at baby showers, this game can get pretty competitive. As each guest arrives, have them choose one ring from a bowl or bag. Once everyone has arrived, explain that anyone who says the word bride can have her ring stolen. The guest with the most rings at the end of the shower is the winner.
Find the guest
Preparation — Create a checklist of characteristics of different people attending the shower. Characteristics to include are things like who has been married 20 years or longer, who has five kids, who plays the piano or who drives a minivan. You can even make them funny or keep it more conservative based on your guests.
How to play — If you’re hosting a large shower where a lot of people won’t know each other, then this game is a great icebreaker. Each person is to receive a checklist and then circulate the room to find a guest who matches each category.
Wedding catch phrase
Preparation — Provide paper and pens.
How to play —Guests will be divided into teams. They have two minutes to think of as many wedding words or phrases as possible — such as ‘here comes the bride’ — before time runs out. The team with the most words or phrases at the end of two minutes wins.
Show and tell
Preparation — Next up, is a quick way to help guests get to know each other. Ahead of the event, ask each of the guests to bring an object that is meaningful to them and the bride. For example, the maid of honor might bring a necklace she wore the first time she met the bride.
How to play — Have each guest take a turn showing the object she brought to the shower and then have her tell the story behind it. To add a little spice to this game, you could offer an award for the best anecdote. Have the guests take a vote on who wins a prize.
Bridal Shower Trivia Games
Whether you choose bridal shower trivia games about the bride and groom or opt for other love-themed activities, these games are always a crowd-pleaser.
Name that tune: love song edition
Preparation — Create a playlist of 12 love songs. Have paper and a pen/pencil for each guest.
How to play —The hostess plays a few lines of each song and the guests have to guess the song title and who sang it. The guest with the most correct answers, wins.
Romantic movie quotes
Preparation — Create a game sheet that lists quotes from popular romantic movies.
How to play — Give a game sheet and a pen to each guest and ask them to jot down the movie title that goes with each quote. Whoever has the highest number of correct answers wins.
Bride and groom trivia
Preparation — Download a bride and groom trivia page like this and print out enough for all of your guests. Have the bride and groom provide you with the answers ahead of time.
How to play —Challenge the guests to see who knows the bride and groom best. The person with the most correct answers wins.
Guess who game
Preparation — Grab the Guess Who Newlywed Game from David’s Bridal to test the knowledge of your guests. Questions include ‘Who popped the question’ and ‘Who is better in the kitchen.’
How to play — How much do the guests know about the soon-to-be newlyweds? Here’s a way to find out! Hand the cards out to the guests and have them answer the questions during the bridal shower. The guest who gets the most answers right (according to the bride) wins a prize.
How well does the bride know her spouse?
Preparation — Put together a list of tricky questions about the guest of honor’s future spouse.
How to play — The guests are given an opportunity to guess how many questions the bride will answer correctly. Whoever is the closest wins a prize.
Bridal Shower Guessing Games
No shower would be complete without at least one guessing game. Here are some great options that will get your guests thinking.
What’s the Bride Wearing?
Preparation — All you need is the bride.
How to play — Roughly half an hour into the bridal shower (this gives everyone a chance to greet the bride), have the her leave the room and then hand each guest a piece of paper and a pen. Ask your guests to write down everything they can remember about what the bride is wearing. Whoever has the most accurate list wins.
He said/she said
Preparation — A few weeks before the shower, ask the bride and groom to answer a series of questions. You’ll use their answers to generate quotes for a document that will be printed out for each guest.
How to play — Once each guest has a document, ask them to guess who said what. Tally up the answers to see who has the most correct answers.
Over or under
Preparation — Gather information from the bride about her relationship that pertains to numbers such as how many years they’ve known each other, how long they’ve been engaged, how many guests have been invited to the wedding, etc. Next, print the questions as facts with random numbers as answers.
How to play — Have guests guess if the numbers you’ve used are too high, too low, or accurate. Then read out the bride’s answers to determine who got the most right.
Guess the bride’s age
Preparation — Let’s take a trip down memory lane with the bride-to-be! For this game, you will need to get some throwback pictures of the bride ahead of time. You might have a couple of childhood photos, some photos from college, and so on. Pin all of the pictures up on the wall with a sheet of paper and a pen below each of them.
How to play — When the guests arrive, tell them to circle the room, guessing how old the bride is in each picture. They can write their name and guesses on the paper. Once all of the guests have had a shot, the bride comes into play. Have her reveal her age in each scene in a dramatic way.
Celebrity Bridal Shower Games
If you want a game that is different from the norm, why not bring some celebrity glitz and glamor to your event? Here are four amusing ways to get your guests giggling.
Celebrity date
Preparation — Purchase paper to cut up into small cards.
How to play — Hand out a card to each guest. Ask them to write the name of their dream celebrity date on one side of their card and their nightmare celeb date on the other. The cards are collected and put in a bowl. The bride pulls a card out to read one-at-a-time. The guests then guess not only who wrote the card but which side is which.
Celebrity wives
Preparation — Write down the names of your favorite celebrity wives, one per index card and have lots of tape handy. Some celebrities to include are: Beyoncé, Blake Lively, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cindy Crawford, Chrissy Teigen, Gisele Bundchen, Goldie Hawn, Kristen Bell, Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Victoria Beckham and Viola Davis.
How to play — Have guests sit in a circle. Then have each guest tape one of the cards to their forehead without peeking. One at a time, the guests must ask questions to try to figure out who they are. Make sure each guest has a set amount of time to guess who they are ie: 15-20 guesses each.
Charades: wedding movies edition
Preparation — Write names of wedding movies on index cards. Here are some movies to get you started:27 Dresses, Bride Wars, Mamma Mia!, My Best Friend’s Wedding, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Big Wedding, The Wedding Planner, The Wedding Singer and Wedding Crashers.
How to play — Divide guests into two teams. Each guest will take turns acting out the titles to their own team members, who must guess the movie title in three minutes or less.
Married or not married
Preparation — Compile and then print off a list of celebrity couples.
How to play — Give each guest a list and a pen and ask them to guess if the different celeb couples on your list are married or not. The guest with the most correct answers wins.
Active Bridal Shower Games
If you have a younger crowd, or a lot of guests who like higher-energy activities, these five games will get everyone up and moving.
Wedding ring toss
Preparation — For this version of ring toss, you’ll need glass bottles, metal rings and two or more wooden crates. Arrange bottles in the various crates so they can’t fall over.
How to play — Take the ladies (and gents if they’re also invited) outside to play this classic game. Have the guests square off against each other, taking turns tossing rings to see who can land the most on the bottles.
Ball and chain game
Preparation — Use foam balls and string to create the balls and chains. You can spray-paint the balls to make them look more authentic.
How to play — Have the guests pair up and use their knees to transport the foam balls and chains from one bucket to another. The team with the most balls in the bucket at the end of a minute wins.
Musical bouquet
Preparation — Put together a bouquet with real or fake flowers.Arrange chairs in a circle.
How to play — Just like musical chairs, have guests sit in a circle and pass the bouquet around while music plays. When the music stops, whoever has the bouquet is eliminated. Keep going until the winner is determined.
Pin the veil on the bride
Preparation — Purchase a cheap veil. Have a picture of the bride blown up and taped to the wall.
How to play — Similar to ‘pin the tail on the donkey,’ with this game, blindfolded players must pin the veil on a photo of the bride. This game can be played indoors or outside.
Flower Arranging
Preparation — Looking for wedding shower games that are perfect for guests of all ages? Flower arranging could be the answer. Make sure you have plenty of flowers, scissors, vases and ribbons ahead of time.
How to play — This creative and fun activity is easy to grasp and will entertain all of the guests. If you’re completely new to this art form, do yourself a favor and invest in a flower arranging book. You don’t need to be an expert but getting the basics down is a must. That way, if any guests need help with their flower arrangement, you will have the knowledge to guide them.
Unique Bridal Shower Games
If you’re looking for an activity or two that will surprise your guests, any of these games is a good option.
Favorite date idea cubes
Preparation — Purchase small wooden cubes and permanent markers.
How to play — Hand each guest a cube and a marker and ask them to write their favorite ideas for fun dates on the blocks. Once done, place the cubes in a cute jar or container and give it to the bride as a unique shower gift.
My favorite memory
Preparation — Create a pretty card with lines for writing for each bridal shower guest.
How to play — Have each guest fill out a card with a favorite memory about the bride. The bride will then read each memory out loud to see if she can guess who wrote it. Although there isn’t a winner in this game, it will take your guests on a fun walk down memory lane.
Memories and advice game
Preparation — Purchase a pretty book with lined paper. Provide pens. Have someone available to take photos in a designated area.
How to play — Have each guest visit the “photo area.” After taking a photo with other guests or the bride, each person will offer congratulations or write a piece of advice for the bride and groom. Make sure each guest uses a different page. You can have the photos printed and add them to the book under the message from each guest. It’s a great memento to give the bride to remind her of her shower.
The newlywed game
Preparation — Ask the groom questions about his relationship and video record his answers.
How to play — Ask the bride the same set of questions at the shower. After each answer from the bride, play the video of the groom to see if he said the same thing. Remember to match the questions you ask to the guests. For instance, if the bride’s mom, grandmother and aunts are there, don’t make any of the questions too risqué.
Bridal Makeup 101
Preparation — Are you searching for a quick wedding-related game to play? Bridal Makeup 101 is the way to go. Before the event, print out a bunch of pictures of the bride with no makeup on at all and have some brightly colored pens on hand.
How to play — Give a photo to each guest along with a selection of colored pens. Give all of the guests 15 minutes to ‘makeover’ the bride as best they can using the pens as makeup.When the time is up, the judging begins. The bride will be the judge and award titles to some of the creations. For example, she might want to give a prize for the funniest makeover, the classiest makeover, the most creative makeover, and the worst makeover. Who knows… She may even get some makeup inspiration ahead of her big day!
Funny Bridal Shower Games
If your goal is to get your guests laughing, then any of these games is a safe bet. Not only do they allow everyone to get creative, they can be downright hilarious if your guests really get silly with their answers.
Telephone wedding toast
Preparation — Have chairs set up in a circle or a straight line.
How to play — Just like the old-fashioned kids game, this version of ‘telephone’ can be pretty funny. Make up a toast to the bride and then pass it on. Have each guest whisper the toast to the next guest until it gets to the final person who must recount it aloud. Be prepared for afunny rendition of the original toast — and a lot of laughter.
Pass the love story
Preparation — Have paper and pens on hand.
How to play — Start off with the host writing one line at the top of the page about how the couple met and fell in love. Then pass it to the next guest and so on until each guest has added their contribution. It’s a great chance to exaggerate the “story” with silly details. As each person writes a line, they must fold the paper so only their sentence is revealed to the next player. Once completed, the bride can read the story aloud to the group.
Vow collaboration
Preparation — Have paper and pens on hand.
How to play — Just like the game above, the group collaborates to create a narrative — this time wedding vows. The paper starts off with the header “I (bride’s name) take you (groom’s name) and promise to…” Each guest then writes a vow phrase under the header, folds the paper to cover what they wrote and passes it to the next person until all of the guests have had a chance to write something. The sillier the vows, the better. Once the vows are done, the bride reads them out loud.
Two truths and a lie
Preparation — All you need is a poker face.
How to play — This game is easy and a lot of fun. Each guest introduces herself and then reveals three experiences she’s had with the bride. The kicker is, one of these experiences never happened. The person next to the one speaking must guess which memory is a lie. The best part of this game is that some of the craziest memories are the ones that are actually true — making the guessing difficult, but fun.
Wedding vow mad libs
Preparation —Have you ever played mad libs? Here’s a fun twist on the classic game that is perfect for a wedding shower. You can get mad lib cards on Etsy! Each card will have a vows template with some choice words missing.
How to play — Hand these out to the guests and let them go wild. When everyone has filled in their answers, mix up the completed cards and read them out.
Delicious Bridal Shower Games
Your guests will definitely expect some tasty treats at the shower, so why not make dessert or drinks into a game? Here are four fun, food-themed activities to try:
Candy in a jar guessing game
Preparation — Buy a cute jar and candies like chocolate kisses. Count the candy and then fill the jar.Print and cut out guessing game cards and have a few pens on hand.
How to play — Ask each guest to take a stab at guessing how many candies are in the jar. The person with the closest guess takes the jar of candies home.
Taste the cake
Preparation —Set up a cake bar for your guests.Cut-up bite-size pieces of cake and write out the flavor of each type on an index card. Place the cards face down behind the bite-size pieces. Have blindfolds for the guests.
How to play — Once a player is blindfolded, she walks down the table with help from one of the hosts, and samples the cakes. After each bite, she should guess the flavor. Another helper will write down each guest’s guesses. In between bites, offer a sip of water or champagne to cleanse the palate. Whichever guest gets the most flavors right wins.
Who can make the best co*cktail?
Preparation — Set up a bar with varying types of alcohol and accompaniments. Label all ingredients with cards.
How to play — Have your guests compete against one another to create the best wedding co*cktail. If you have a lot of guests, divide them up into teams. The bride acts as the judge and will choose her favorite drink. The winner(s) receive a prize.
Cupcake mitt challenge
Preparation — Set out cupcakes, frosting and decorations. Buy some sets of oven mitts from the Dollar Store.
How to play — Each guest gets 10 minutes to decorate a cupcake but, here’s the kicker, they must be wearing oven mitts while they decorate. Once everyone’s creations are complete, the group will vote on the winner.
Prosecco Pong
Preparation — Set up some plastic Prosecco glasses on a table and fill each of them up. Also have ping pong balls on hand.
How to play —You’ve heard of beer pong… but have you heard of Prosecco pong? If you’re looking for some entertaining activities, don’t miss this one. Have the guests take turns trying to bounce a ping pong ball into the glasses. For every shot a guest makes, they can choose someone to drink up.
Bridal Shower Games FAQs
With 45 amazingly amusing games to choose from, you may be feeling overwhelmed by your choices. Our FAQs can answer any questions you might have.
How many bridal shower games should you plan for your event?
If you’re planning a wedding shower, it’s a good idea to have at least three games planned with a maximum of six. If you do plan to play more than three games, be sure to choose activities that don’t take as much time.
Remember, it’s always better to be safe than sorry and have more ready than you’ll actually need. Having a variety of activities lined up means that you’ll never be at a loss for something to do during the party.
What are the best games to play at a bridal shower?
When you’re choosing what games to play at a bridal shower, keep in mind that they should be fun and easy to understand. You don’t want to bamboozle your guests with complicated games that take time to learn.
Also be sure to keep the games age appropriate. You definitely don’t want to play anything risqué or involving alcohol if there will be guests under the age of 21 present — or if the bride’s older relatives will be in attendance.
What do you do at bridal showers instead of games?
Aside from games, you’ll need to serve a meal or a variety of hors d’oeuvres and leave lots of time for the bride to open her gifts.
