Source: The Knot
Hosting an engagement party doesn’t mean just having delicious food and drinks at a fun location—it also means having plenty of enjoyable (and sometimes hilarious) engagement party games on hand too. Why? Well, traditionally speaking, an engagement party is a celebration that’s hosted early on in a couple’s engagement by the bride’s parents to announce and celebrate their impending nuptials, and to introduce family members and friends to one another. But now, either or both sets of parents, or other family members and friends, can host an engagement party. One of the best ways to have guests (who may not know each other) mingle and get acquainted is to play a few engagement party games and icebreakers. Of course, playing engagement party games definitely isn’t mandatory engagement party etiquette, but it can only add to the fun. Below, 10 of our favorite engagement party games.
Engagement Party Game 1: How Well Do You Know the Couple?
What you’ll need to play: Pads of paper, pens or pencils, prizes
How to play: This versatile trivia engagement party game is fun, foolproof and all about the couple. Create a list of 10 to 20 questions (or as many as you want) about either the couple individually (like their favorite band, food or season) or their relationship (like the date of their first kiss, date or dance). Have the to-be-weds answer the questions beforehand so you have a correct set of answers. Read each question out loud and have guests write down their answers, then call out the right answers at the end, counting one point for each question answered correctly. Whichever guest knows the couple best wins an engagement party favor.
Engagement Party Game 2: Picture Match
What you’ll need to play: Photos of the couple, scissors, envelopes
How to play: If you’re inviting guests from all over the map, whose only thing in common is their connection to the couple, this picture-matching engagement party game helps jump-start the chitchat. Ask the couple for an assortment of photos of the two of them or print them from online. (You’ll need half the number of photos as there are engagement party guests, so if there are 30 attendees, you’ll need 15 photos). Make sure there are copies of these snapshots if they are prints, since they won’t be returned in one piece! Cut the photos in half and place each half in an envelope to be handed out randomly to guests when they arrive. Guests have to talk to one another to find their picture’s other half—which can lead to some pretty funny mismatches along the way.
Engagement Party Game 3: Wedding Bingo
What you’ll need to play: Homemade Bingo boards for each guest (you can make them out of paper or cardboard), Bingo chips, pennies or other small markers, prizes
How to play: Who doesn’t love an old-fashioned game of Bingo? It’s a throwback that’s perfect for personalizing, especially for an engagement party game. Instead of standard Bingo boards with letter and number combinations (for example: B5), create a board with fun images and phrases related to the couple’s relationship (their wedding date, meeting spot, honeymoon location and so on). As the Bingo caller, you can opt to play the traditional way in which anyone who gets five spaces in a row horizontally, diagonally or vertically wins, or switch it up after a few rounds to one direction only to make it a little more challenging. Whichever guest wins each round gets an engagement party favor.
Engagement Party Game 4: Guess the Famous Couples (20 Questions Style)
What you’ll need to play: Pads of paper, pens or pencils, bowl, prizes
How to play: For this surprisingly tricky engagement party guessing game, have each guest write down 10 famous romantic couples (alive or dead, real or fictitious, together or divorced) and place them in a bowl. Split guests into pairs. With each team going one at a time, one partner (the clue giver) picks a famous couple out of the bowl and must get their partner (the guesser) to guess the right couple—20 questions style. The guesser can ask up to 20 questions to determine who the mystery couple is, and the questions will be answered with either a “yes” or a “no” from the clue giver. For a little excitement, set a timer for a minute or two for each pair’s turn, and see how many famous couples each team can get through before the time is up! Tally and score at the end, and whichever pair got the most couples right gets an engagement party favor.
Engagement Party Game 5: Couple’s Names
What you’ll need to play: Pads of paper, pens or pencils, prizes
How to play: Fast and festive engagement party word games like this one are ideal for Boggle and Scrabble lovers. Have guests list all the words they can make using individual letters of the couple’s first names—depending on name length and difficulty, add last names too, and potentially middle names and nicknames. The person with the longest list of actual words wins an engagement party favor. Consider rewarding points for categories like the longest word, the most wedding-relevant terms and the funniest word about the couple.
Read about more fun game ideas here.
Photo: 25Karats
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