Are you planning to organize your best friend’s bridal shower? Is it your first time to do it? Don’t fret because you can find several references online or collect ideas from published materials such as books, magazines and brochures. If you are not yet familiar with the concept of a bridal shower, here is a brief description and history of the pre-wedding practice.

Bridal showers are commonly defined as a gift-giving party for the bride before her wedding day. It is believed that the custom originated in 1890s and observed in several countries such as Canada, United States and Australia. Bridal shower’s history reveals that the custom rooted from providing financial assistance and goods for the wedding to take place.

Perceived to have grown out of the dowry practices, bridal showers are also believed to have originated when women who were not given dowries gathered together to bring gifts to compensate for the dowry, hence, allowing the woman to marry the man she had chosen.

The close friends of the bride or the bridesmaids usually host the bridal shower. Immediate family members are not allowed to hold showers because it is considered greedy and rude for the family to ask gifts for their family member. When it comes to the guests, the bride’s personal friends, family and other well-wishers are invited. It is also important to note the absence of men at bridal showers. People who are invited to attend the bridal showers are also invited to the wedding.

When preparing, planning and executing a bridal shower, you need to think about a lot of things—the theme, venue, decorations, food menu, Invitations, guests and the program itself. Many bridal shower organizers include some games to make the atmosphere lighter and more fun. Though some don’t want to play games because they believe their time with friends and family will be reduced, others still opt to make the occasion livelier.

There are several bridal shower games you could include on your shower program. The following are the three most popular bridal shower games based on the number of showers which have used these.

The Toilet Paper Wedding Dress

Indeed, this is a popular game among women because they can grab the chance to become a fashion designer even for just a night. Your guests can enjoy creating their masterpieces with the use of the unassuming toilet paper. Of course, they can add their unique styles to their designs to make the bride happy.

How to Play:

Divide the group into teams that have at least three people each. Give each team some rolls of toilet paper and have them select their “bride”. Give the teams 20 minutes to create a wedding dress on the “bride” using only the toilet paper. When the allotted time has ended, choose the best wedding dress through voting and also choose the funniest dress. Give prizes to the winning teams.

The Clothespin Game

This is a very exciting and fun game chosen by shower organizers to give life to the special event. Some conditions are set before the start of the party and the guests must adhere to these in the entire duration of the shower.

How to Play:

Choose a buzzword for the party such as “groom”, “bride”, “wedding” or the name of the bride’s husband. Before your guests come in, hand them a clothespin. If a guest hears another guest mentioning the buzzword, he or she takes the clothespin of the person who had spoken the word. The person who has the most clothespins at the end of the bridal shower is the winner.

The Bridal Bingo

Bridal Bingo is a classic game that everybody can play. It is similar to regular bingo but you need to create a card template and customize each card with bridal gifts and other things related to the wedding.

How to Play:

Give each guest a Bingo sheet and items that will be used to cover the bingo squares. The host will call out an item which may be listed on the bingo cards of the guests. When someone has 5 items in a row, he or she is the winner of the game.

A game will be more fun if you will give special prizes to the winners. Some of the best prize ideas are day planners, special soaps, bath salts, ring dishes, bottles of wine, a pound of gourmet coffee beans, scarfs, movie passes and many more