Holiday Bridal Shower Games

Sunday, November 28, 2021

As there were others closer by, the logistical planning of this Bridal Shower was left to others: determining the [outdoors-ish] location, the menu, the decor, ordering the cake, etc. It was left to me to plan the games and emcee (as well as do all the calligraphy).

We ended up with some very festive nonsense. Each place setting had the calligraphied name tag (so we could assign seating how people would be comfortable), a disposable holiday face mask, a Christmas cracker, a set of game cards, a pencil, a paint marker, and two wooden puzzle pieces to serve as the guestbook.

The games were a mix of classics, with some creative additions. We start with the classic, He Said, She Said, so that everyone can get to know a little about the couple. The only planning I had to do ahead of time for this one was contact the groom for his responses, and create the cards (including a silhouette of each of the couple!).

APracticalWedding helped me decide on the second game: a personalized Taboo game! With the help of the bridal party, I generated 22 "guess" words, and with the assistance of J, his sister, and her fiance, we brainstormed 5 "taboo" words for each guess word. This game, as you can imagine, required considerable people-coordination. I also don't think this crowd was quite the group to fully appreciate the game of Taboo, but I can see it working swimmingly with a different social circle!

The last pair of games included a twist on a game that my sister-in-law had at my Bridal Shower, The Memory Game. The guests are shown a box/tray of items for 1-2 minutes, and then have to try and recall all the items they saw. In our case, I knew the couple did not have many Christmas ornaments, so I purchased a bunch of ornaments that were relevant to the couple. I also made a few (like the sea salt glob, the money confetti globe, Starbucks Apron), and put together a few felt flowers to holiday it up.

After the winner of the Memory Game was determined, we used the box of ornaments again for a second game, in which everyone had to guess whether each ornament related more to the bride or the groom (I asked the bride to generate the answer key for this one).

Winners of each game got to take home one of the centerpiece lanterns, and the bride got to take home a bunch of new holiday ornaments for her tree!