Here are a few ideas for games and fun when throwing a bridal shower:

Create a Sideshow: Organize a slide show of the bride. Have everyone give you pictures of her with friends and family dating back to when she was a baby. This will create a touching, beautiful and intimate tribute to the bride.

Bridal Tea Shower: Elegant brides and guests will love a Bridal Tea. Invite guest to wear fancy hats and gloves, or search flea markets and antique shops for hats guests can wear during the tea. Serve properly brewed tea, along with fancy tea sandwiches and desserts. Gifts can be from any general category. Use lace tablecloths and napkins, crystal vases and silver serving dishes. Use your finest china for serving and rent silver tea services for the tea. Decorate with lacy parasols and bouquets of fresh flowers. Guests can go home with assorted packets of tea or pretty tea cups or teaspoons.

Throw a shower for the bride that will make the bachelor party look dull! Have a girls' night out shower. Give the bride an unusual list of items she has to collect by the end of the night. Ask guests to give the bride things that will remind her of her girlfriends. For instance: daily calendars with quotes on friendship, gift certificates for lunch with a good friend, etc. To decorate, borrow friends' wedding veils, or create inexpensive "veils" yourself out of white netting and ribbon, and ask for management's permission to hang them around the shower venue. Give each guest a gift certificate for one free soft drink or cocktail from the bar as a favor, pre-arranged with management, of course.

Gift Certificate Shower: Have guests purchase gift certificates from local shops in the bride and grooms hometown so that they can utilize them throughout their first year of marriage!

Honeymoon Shower! Have guests bring gifts for the couples honeymoon. This shower will be a party everyone will love!

Have a Calendar Shower! Assign each guest a month of the year (or a week if you're having more than twelve) and have them fill their calendar with different events they would both enjoy: Certificate to a golf course or an invitation to a wine tasting party. If you're the host make sure to bring an oversized calendar so you can record their upcoming events.

Have a Pampering Shower! Have every guest bring something to soothe the bride before her big day! Gift ideas include: massage gift certificate, robe and slippers, bubble baths and lotions. Serve comfort foods at her shower.

Have a Couple's Shower! Ask each guest to share stories of their biggest challenges and to give advice for keeping a marriage loving and exciting. Play a dating game for laughs. Make the menu interactive, such as create your own pizzas or submarine sandwiches. Bring gifts the couple can use together, such as his and hers matching bathrobes and/or towels, outdoor games, indoor board games or books. Find old movie posters or prints of famous couples throughout history and display them at the party.

Don't Say "Bride" or "Wedding" Game: Each guest receives a clothes pin as they arrive and it is explained to the guests only once: If you catch someone saying the words "bride" or "wedding" you can take their clothes pin. At the end of the shower, the guest with the most clothes pins wins a small favor or gift.

The Wedding Alphabet Game: The host starts with a sentence using the letter "A" to describe a wedding item or tradition. In the sentence she describes that she went to a wedding and brought an album. The next guest must repeat this sentence and add another item at the end of the sentence, and it starts with the letter "B", such as "I went to a wedding and brought an album and bubbles." And so on. Anyone unable to add a wedding related item must drop out of the game. The person who stays alive the longest wins the prize.

Second Wedding Shower: Since this is a second wedding for the bride, groom or both, they no doubt have a fully supplied household and don't need the same items a couple just starting out would need. Make the shower a night out for couples. Go for the unusual in gifts! Have guests pool their money to buy the couple something fun, such as a gift certificate to dinner at a classy restaurant. Registering them for ballroom dancing or a couple's massage class are also great ideas.

"Penny For Your Thoughts" Game:  Introduction Game - Have two pennies from the same year, with a different year for each guest. Example: 15 guests, 30 pennies, 15 different years. When the guests arrive they are given a penny and the other penny is put in a jar. When all the guests have arrived, the bride-to-be selects a penny and the person with the penny with that corresponding year tells a little about herself, how she knows the bride, and maybe a little story about the bride. After everyone has spoken the bride-to-be puts her pennies back into the jar and selects one to win a prize.

"Who Am I" Game: Prepare index cards with the names of famous people written on them. When the guests arrive, attach a card to each guest's back so that the guest cannot see the name, but someone else can. Each guest must then ask the other guests for clues to the identity of the famous person. To prevent cheating by clever guests trying to read it in a mirror, place a 2nd index card over the title to hide it.

"Songs of Love" Game: Make a list of 15-20 words that represent marriage. Pass out copies for each guest, then give them 10 minutes to identify a popular song that has the word in it. The guest with the most songs listed wins. Note: the guest must know some of the words to the song she has listed.

Who knows the bride and groom game: Come up with as many questions about the bride and groom and/or their upcoming wedding you can think of and write about 10-15 questions on a sheet of paper. Photocopy enough for all guests and have them answer the questions in 3-5 minutes. Sit the couple in the middle of the room and read the questions. Have them answer the questions and award a small prize to the guest who gets the most right.

Strawberries 'n Cream Punch:  Add 1 gallon vanilla ice cream to a punch bowl. Next, add 1 2-liter bottle of strawberry-flavored seltzer or sparkling water and 1 package of frozen strawberries, thawed. (Hint: Modify the amount of soda you add depending on how thick you would like your punch.)

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