16 Bridal Shower Games, And How to Run Every One (Video)

Bridal games cover a lot of ground. At the calm end, a build-your-own bouquet bar or a paint-your-own canvas; at the other, Twerk Pong and a race to blow a wine glass across the table.

The ones below run that whole spectrum, from crafty to competitive, with a few classics like the toilet-paper dress mixed in. Each comes with how to set it up and play it, so you can pick what fits your crowd and skip the rest.

1. Dress the Barbie Bride

The toilet-paper-dress classic, shrunk down to something you can build on a tabletop. Here’s how it works:

Set Each Station: Give every guest (or small team) a Barbie and a pile of materials: tissue paper, tulle scraps, ribbon, tape, and a small pair of scissors.
Start the Clock: Set a timer for around fifteen minutes and have everyone build a mini wedding dress right on the doll.
Encourage the Details: Veils, trains, sashes, the fussier the better, since the tiny scale is half the fun.
Line Them Up: When time’s up, stand the dolls in a row down the middle of the table for judging.
Crown the Winner: The bride picks her favorite gown, and the guest who made it gets a prize.

2. Sketch the Dress

The bride knows exactly what she’s wearing down the aisle. Everyone else is guessing, and this game makes them commit that guess to paper. Here’s how it works:

Print the Templates: Hand each guest a blank dress template, basically a bride silhouette in a slip, ready to draw on.
Set Out Supplies: Lay markers, colored pencils, and crayons within reach, plus stickers or glitter if you want to encourage a little chaos.
Draw the Dress: Guests sketch what they think the bride’s real gown looks like: neckline, silhouette, length, veil, all of it.
Reveal the Designs: Once the pencils are down, each guest holds up her drawing for the bride and the room.
Pick a Winner: The bride chooses the sketch closest to her actual dress, and that guest takes the prize.

3. Twerk Pong

Loud, undignified, and impossible to play without laughing. Here’s how it works:

Rig the Boxes: Empty a rectangular tissue box for each player and drop in about ten ping pong balls, then strap the box to the small of her back with the opening facing out.
Set the Rules: No hands, ever. The only way to empty the box is to shake, bounce, and twerk the balls out.
Run the Round: Send two players head-to-head, or time each one solo, whatever fits your crowd.
Time It Out: First person to empty her box wins the round; fastest time wins if you’re going solo.
Play It Out: Run it best of three, or bracket the whole party into teams if everyone’s game.

4. Make the Dress She’d Never Wear

This is the toilet-paper dress game with the goal flipped: instead of the prettiest gown, you’re building the one that would make the bride run. Here’s how it works:

Split Into Teams: Break guests into teams of three to five and have each team pick one member to be the model.
Hand Out Materials: Give every team a few rolls of toilet paper or tissue paper, plus scrap fabric, ribbon, and (if you’re feeling generous) tape.
Set the Timer: Give teams around fifteen minutes to build a full wedding dress right on their model.
Aim for Awful: The worse the better, since the whole point is the gown the bride would never say yes to.
Judge and Reward: The bride crowns the most gloriously hideous creation, and that team wins.

5. Dirty Balloon Race

A partner game that looks ridiculous and gets loud fast. Here’s how it works:

Pair Everyone Up: Split guests into pairs and give each pair one balloon to blow up at the start.
Hands Behind Backs: Both partners keep their hands behind their backs the whole time. No touching the balloon.
Trap the Balloon: Each pair presses the balloon between their bodies and squeezes, grinds, and bumps to pop it.
Recover Drops: If the balloon slips out, they can reposition it and keep going.
First Pop Wins: The first pair to burst their balloon takes the round; run it as a relay if you want a longer game.

6. The Groom Drop-By Quiz

The idea is to pull the groom into the shower for ten minutes, and the game that fits that window is a how-well-do-you-know-each-other quiz. Here’s how it works:

Prep the Groom: Before the shower, send him a list of questions about himself, the bride, and the relationship, and have him write or record his answers.
Cue His Visit: When he stops by, sit the bride front and center with the room watching.
Ask the Bride: Read each question aloud and let the bride guess how the groom answered.
Reveal His Answer: Compare her guess to his real answer, read out or played back on video.
Tally the Matches: Count every match as a point and see how well she actually knows him.

7. Guess the Dress Prediction Cards

Same guessing instinct as sketching the gown, but this version does the drawing for you. Guests fill in a pre-printed card instead of starting from a blank page. Here’s how it works:

Pass Out the Cards: Give each guest a printed prediction card, usually a bride silhouette with detail fields around it.
Set Out Pens: Provide pens or colored pencils so guests can mark their picks and color the silhouette if they want.
Fill In the Details: Guests predict the specifics: neckline, silhouette, length, sleeves, veil, and any accessories.
Collect the Cards: Gather every card once guests have committed to their answers.
Score the Closest: Show the cards to the bride, and whoever nailed the most details wins.

8. Bridal Jeopardy

Trivia night, except every answer is about the couple. Here’s how it works:

Build the Board: Make three to five categories with about five questions each, on poster board, a slideshow, or a free Jeopardy site.
Write the Clues: Base categories on the couple: how they met, the groom, the bride, their pets, the wedding details.
Value the Questions: Assign points per row, easiest at the bottom and hardest at the top.
Split Into Teams: Divide guests into two or three teams, each with a captain and a bell to buzz in.
Keep Score: Read a clue, let teams answer in question form, add points for right answers, and crown the highest total at the end.

9. Disney Channel Games

A throwback to the mid-2000s Disney Channel Games, rebuilt as a team competition for the bride’s crew. Here’s how it works:

Draft the Teams: Split everyone into two or more color teams and hand out matching wristbands, bandanas, or shirts.
Plan the Events: Line up a series of short challenges: cup stacking, balloon relays, ball-transfer races, quick obstacle runs.
Name a Referee: Put the bride in charge of judging, or let her sit events out and cheer.
Score Each Round: Award points after every challenge and keep a running tally.
Crown the Champions: The team with the most points at the end wins, and the losers can owe a forfeit.

10. Paint Your Own Keepsake

The low-key option for guests who’d rather sip and create than compete. Here’s how it works:

Build the Stations: Set up one spot per guest with a mini easel, a blank canvas, acrylic paints, brushes, a water cup, and an apron.
Protect the Table: Cover everything in a disposable cloth, because acrylic paint does not come out.
Offer a Prompt: Put out a reference image, a stencil, or a loose theme, then pour the wine.
Let Them Paint: Guests work at their own pace with no timer and no winner. It’s an activity, not a contest.
Send Them Home: Everyone keeps her finished canvas and easel as a favor, or each paints a piece for the bride to keep.

11. Blow the Ball to the Wine

A breath-powered race that ends with a full glass at the finish line. Here’s how it works:

Set the Lanes: Line players along the table, each with a paper track and a wine glass at the far end.
Place the Balls: Put a ping pong ball at each player’s near end of the lane.
Blow, Don’t Touch: On “go,” players blow the ball down the lane toward the glass using only their breath, no hands.
First to Land Wins: The first player to land her ball in the glass takes the heat.
Add the Twist: For the party version, the winner drinks the glass, or the losers do. Your call.

12. Chopstick Candy Grab

A minute of pure fumbling that somehow turns competitive. Here’s how it works:

Set Each Spot: Give every player a pair of chopsticks, a pile of Hershey’s Kisses, and an empty cup beside it.
Start the Clock: Set a timer for sixty seconds.
No Hands Allowed: On “go,” players use only the chopsticks to move candies one at a time into the cup.
Drops Don’t Count: Any Kiss that hits the floor is gone; keep going with the pile that’s left.
Most Candy Wins: Whoever has the most in her cup when time runs out wins, with a rematch to break ties.

13. DIY Flower Bar

Part activity, part favor. Guests build a bouquet and walk out holding it. Here’s how it works:

Stock the Buckets: Fill buckets three-quarters with water and group flowers by type: focal blooms, line flowers, fillers, and greenery. Label each one.
Set the Supply Station: Lay out shears, kraft or tissue wrapping paper, ribbon, and flower-food packets.
Arrange by Role: Order the table so guests grab focal flowers first, then smaller blooms, then filler and greenery.
Build the Bouquet: Guests pick their stems, trim the ends, wrap the bundle in paper, and tie it off with ribbon.
Take It Home: Everyone keeps the bouquet she made. No judging, no winner, just flowers out the door.

14. Pilates and Wine Challenge

A balance game where the only rule that counts is keeping the wine in the glass. Here’s how it works:

Pour the Wine: Give each player a full glass of wine to hold.
Set the Routine: Pick a short sequence of pilates or exercise-ball moves, like balancing the ball, passing it back and forth, or a few squats and lunges.
One Hand Only: Players run the routine holding the glass the whole time, no setting it down.
Don’t Spill: The entire point is finishing the moves without spilling a drop.
Last Dry Glass Wins: Whoever spills the least, or is left with the fullest glass at the end, takes it.

15. Hot Bouquet

Hot Potato in a wedding dress. Same nerves, prettier prop. Here’s how it works:

Wrap the Bouquet: Use a tightly tied bouquet, ideally faux flowers, since real ones shed all over the floor by round three.
Form a Circle: Gather guests in a circle and hand the bouquet to one person to start.
Pass to the Music: Start a song and have guests pass the bouquet hand to hand while it plays.
Stop It Cold: Whoever runs the music faces away and cuts it at a random moment.
Last One Standing: The guest holding the bouquet is out; keep going until one remains, and she keeps the bouquet.

16. Group Relay Race

There’s no single named game here, just a relay, and the exact version is yours to pick. Every relay runs on the same bones, so here’s the format most showers use, with the task itself being swappable:

Two Even Teams: Split guests into two equal single-file lines at one end of the room.
Pick the Task: Choose one challenge per leg: pop a balloon at the far end, waddle with a balloon between the knees, or ferry an item in a bag down and back.
Run and Tag: On “go,” the first player completes the task down and back, then tags the next in line.
Reset on Fumbles: Drop the balloon or the item and that player restarts her leg.
First Line Done Wins: The first team to get everyone through wins. No points, just first across.