Missing Ingredients
Great for: Traditional crowds
How to play: Select 10 simple, standard recipes (examples: brownies, gazpacho, angel food cake, tuna salad). Type them up, leaving out one ingredient per recipe. Photocopy them (each guest gets one copy of each recipe). At the start of the shower, supply each guest with the recipes and instruct them to a) write their name on each recipe and b) indicate what they think the missing ingredient is. While the bride opens her gifts, one of the maids can collect the recipes and tally up points (whoever could correctly name the most missing ingredients wins). Award a small, cooking-themed prize such as a wooden spoon, a potholder, or an apron.
Pointers: Turn this tame activity into a devilish drinking game -- use cocktail recipes instead and serve up some bold beverages.
Two Truths & a Lie
Great for: Breaking the ice
How to play: Each guest must introduce herself and then tell the group three things about herself -- two are true, one is a lie. Then the remaining guests must each guess which statement was false. When each guest has placed her bet, the "liar" must confess to her lie. The truths are often way wackier than the made-up lies -- which creates opportunities for story swapping (and is generally hilarious).
Pointers: Shy guests needn't freeze with indecision when it's their turn. Advise them to theme the three statements. For example, "My first car was a navy Saab, I've been in five car accidents, and I got my driver's license when I was 26." In certain circles, this good-natured game can take a sexy turn. If you think this won't be appropriate, be sure to lay down some ground rules beforehand.
Fold Over
Great for: Entertaining guests while the bride opens her gifts
How to play: On the first line of a long sheet of paper, write a sentence referring to the bride as if you were beginning a poem (example: "Tess and Toby met at the office"). Attach the paper to a clipboard and pass it to a guest, instructing her to compose a line right below the first, continuing the verse ("She was fair and he was swarthy"). This guest folds the paper so that only the newest line shows, and passes the clipboard to the next guest, and so on. When the paper has circulated to every guest, the maid of honor should retrieve the paper, unfold it, and read the zany, haphazard poem to the bride when she has finished gift-opening.
Pointers: The lines of the poem needn't rhyme. Also, try to theme the game around the bride and her upcoming marriage (but don't let on to the bride). When you read the poem aloud you can say something like, "Tess, we wrote a poem about you and Toby -- we think it really captures the true story of your love."
Analogies
Great for: Intimate bridal showers, where guests know each other well
How to play: A guest starts thinking of one of the other guests and keeps her choice a secret. The other guests take turns guessing who's on her mind. The guessers must determine the answer through creative questions such as, "If she were a fabric, what kind of fabric would she be?" and "If she were a television show, what show would she be?" or "If she were a cocktail, what cocktail would she be?" The more imaginative the questions, the more intriguing the the clues that help guests determine the identity of the mystery woman. If a guest thinks she can identify her, she may say so when it's her turn. If she's wrong, she's out of the game for that round. If she's right, it's her turn to choose a person and field questions.
Pointers: You'll need at least 10 guests to keep this game interesting -- otherwise it's way too obvious who the woman in question is.
I Never
Great for: Adventurous, women-only crowds; couple showers
How to play: Players take turns completing the phrase "I never...." Example: "I never had sex at the zoo." Anyone who has done the deed must drink while the rest of the crowd whoops and demands to know the gory details. The seasoned guest must only give the detailed story if he/she is the only one who drank.
Pointers: At a women-only shower, go all out and make the honoree blush as every raunchy detail of her once uncommitted love life comes back to haunt her. At a couple shower, keep the tone a little tamer so no one lets harmful skeletons out of the closet.
Black Magic
Great for: Laughs
How to play: Conspire with the bride before the shower. At an appointed time, casually mention to the crowd that you two have an uncanny spiritual connection and, through the years, you've even been able to read each other's mind. The bride can nod in agreement. Ad lib as much as needed to convince your audience. Offer to prove your psychic powers: the bride should volunteer to leave the room. You and the rest of the bridal shower party should select an object in the room -- the bride will have to guess what the object is using her ESP talents. To do this, you will point to various objects in the room saying, "Is it this pen?" "Is it this chandelier?" "Is it this cocktail napkin?" The bride will respond "no" until you point to the correct object, whereupon the bride will gleefully shout "Yes!" The catch? The bride will know what the correct object is because the object you point to just before it will be the color black. Meanwhile, guests will be totally freaked out.
Pointers: Don't mess up. Practice your poker face -- in order to successfully dupe the crowd, you'll have to seem sincere. And you don't have to explain the trick to them unless you really want to. Keep them in suspense!
Words of Wisdom
Great for: Sentimental crowds
How to play: Tuck a pretty blank card into the shower invitations and include a note asking guests to inscribe the card with their advice for a happy marriage. They should come to the shower prepared to read their card to the group. Their words of wisdom, encouragement, and well-wishing can be in the form of a recipe, a poem, a humorous anecdote, and so on. Encourage guests to be creative. After all the cards have been read, the maid of honor can compile them in a scrapbook for the bride. This sweet activity goes especially well with dessert!
Pointers: This is a great activity for crowds who might be prone to pooh-pooh shower games. Want an alternative plan? Have a beautiful blank book on hand at the shower, and invite each guest to write messages in the pages. Have a bridesmaid keep tabs on who signs, so that no one's excluded.
Arts & Crafts
Great for: Breaking the ice; artistic crowds
How to play: Pretend you're a camp counselor again, and plan a calm, laid-back arts-and-crafts project. Buy enough Play-Doh, paper, fingerpaint, or collage materials for all of your guests. Ask them to create mementos or visual messages that remind them of the bride or couple.
Pointers: Don't plan anything too messy. Guests might grumble about marring their manicures or staining their clothes. Consider providing smocks.
Wedding Night Preview
Great for: Laughs
How to play: While the bride opens her gifts, a bridesmaid secretly takes note of the bride's exclamations. For example, "Oooohh it's so beautiful!" or "You'll have to show me how this works, okay?" When all the gifts have been opened, the mischievous maid will come forward and read the bride's comments to the group as the (sexy) things she'll be shouting out on her wedding night.
Pointers: We know it sounds corny, but trust us -- this party trick is a hoot every time.
Bridal Bingo
Great for: Traditional crowds
How to play: Create bingo cards, but instead of BINGO, write BRIDE along the top margin. Instead of numbers, list miscellaneous items relating to weddings. Example: All the items listed in Column B could be "Places the bride wanted to honeymoon." The items in this row could be Tahiti, Fiji, Jamaica, etc. The maids should spend a Saturday afternoon brainstorming to create a list of items to call from. When playing the game, follow regular bingo protocol. The first guest to mark off a line horizontally, vertically, or diagonally wins. Award prizes to the winner(s).
Pointers: Facilitate card-making by using Microsoft Excel. And think about using candy hearts as markers! >> Or find a version of Bridal Bingo on The Knot.
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