SHOWER GAMES!

5: Name that Herb Be sure to have plenty of snacks for guests to sample while playing this game -- it's guaranteed to work up a serious appetite. Especially appropriate for kitchen-themed showers, Name That Herb is surprisingly easy to pull off. All you need are fresh aromatic herbs, such as basil, thyme and oregano, in numbered paper cups. The containers are then passed around the party as each guest tries her hand at identifying the mystery herb. Game purists might place a lid with holes over each cup or require guests to cover their eyes as they sniff, since some garden-savvy guests might know herbs by sight. The winner is the guest to correctly match the most unidentified herbs with their proper names. Be sure to keep an extra herb or two handy in case of a tiebreaker. 6: Pass the Bouquet Everyone's favorite childhood party game goes bridal when guests pass a bouquet (made from real flowers or the gift-bow variety) 'round the room in Musical Chairs fashion. Music plays while the bouquet is handed from guest to guest, and the music stops at intermittent points. The guest holding the bouquet whenever it stops is eliminated, leaving the rest of the guests to duke it out (in a friendly manner, naturally) until all but one lucky player is eliminated. 7: Bridal Bingo The beauty of bridal shower Bingo is that you can reformat it to suit the party's needs. Will many people be attending who don't know one another? Use Bingo as an icebreaker so everyone can meet and learn how they know the guest of honor. Simply create Bingo cards with phrases like "college friend," "relative," "also born in 1980" or "shares an unnatural passion for shoes." Each guest finds someone who fits the bill for the particular square and directs them to initial the spot. The first guest to fill the card wins a fabulous prize. (Scented body lotions are big at the showers we've been to.) 9: Clothespin/Safety Pin Game Topics of conversation at bridal showers typically revolve around the upcoming nuptials. So, how hard is it to talk about the event without actually saying wedding-related words? For this game, give each guest a predetermined number of safety pins (or clothespins, if you want to avoid poking holes in clothes). Announce a list of four or five wedding-related words that guests are forbidden to say for the duration of the shower, such as the groom's name, "wedding," "church," "love" or "honeymoon." If a guest catches anyone uttering a taboo word, she can commandeer all of the offender's clothespins and add them to her collection. The guest with the most impressive array of clothespins at the end of the shower wins a prize. Slight variation: To begin, choose a "buzz word" such as bride, groom, wedding, etc. When each person comes into the party, hand them a clothespin. Then, if someone hears another person saying the "buzz word," they get to take that person's clothespin. The person with the most clothespins at the end of the party wins. (Another variation is that a guest loses her clothespin when she crosses her legs, a hard task for a party full of women!) 10: Toilet Paper Dress and Veil Look no farther than the local drugstore for supplies to play this popular game! Kick it off by dividing shower guests into groups of three or four, with one member of each group selected to model a bridal gown, veil and even accessories made entirely from toilet paper. The guest of honor selects the winning

group, with each member of said team receiving a prize, bragging rights or both. This game easily boasts the most scrapbook -- and blackmail -- potential. Slight variation: Divide the group into two or more teams of at least three people each. The teams are given rolls of toilet paper, and each team chooses a "bride." Give the teams 20 minutes to create a wedding dress on their "bride" using the toilet paper. At the end of the allotted time, vote for the best wedding dress and the funniest, and give prizes to the winners. Who Am I? Bridal Shower Game Before the party, make a list of famous romantic couples These can be real: Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn, fictional: Fred and Wilma Flintstone, contemporary: David and Courtney Cox Arquette, or ancient: Antony and Cleopatra. Other famous couples: Grace Kelly and Prince Ranier, Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Robert and Elizabeth Browning, Romeo and Juliet, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. Choose couples that your guests are likely to know. Write each name down separately on name tags and as each guest arrives, put a name tag (without showing them) on their back. Their task is to go around the party and ask yes or no questions about their "secret identity." For example, "am I a fictional character?" "Am I a man?" Then, they have to find their "better half". The game ends when everyone has found their partner, award a prize to the first couple to do so. How Old Was She? Find pictures of the bride at a variety of ages. Pin them to a board, and hand out sheets of paper to each guest. As they mingle and eat, they can guess what age she was in each picture. Give a prize to the person with the most correct answers. Bridal Bingo (fun for personal shower-and easy-they can make their own boards, just need paper with squares) There are many fun variations on this game. The most popular is this one: the host pre-fills out bingo cards with things the bride likes, and then has her pull out either the items themselves (if they are small gifts) or slips of paper (if they are things like places she has visited, her favorite color, etc.). Variation two is that the guests fill the cards out themselves with presents they think the bride is likely to receive, putting their own present in the free square in the middle. When a guest has a matching square with what the bride has called (or opened), she can cross it off; five in a row, across or diagonally count as Bingo! Give a door prize to the first winner Arts and Crafts Activities Have a supply of papers, pens, paints, etc. and ask guests to write and illustrate either their favorite memory of the bride, their best marital advice, or a recipe. After present opening, ask each guest to read or explain their project, then have the maid of honor gather the pages into a scrapbook. Learn a New Skill If you know how to knit, arrange flowers, make jewelry, or paint pottery, why not teach it to the guests? They'll spend a fun afternoon learning a new skill, and leave with a project or give one to the bride. If you're not confident in your teaching abilities, look to local stores for group one-day classes that can be booked for the day. A favorite one of mine is the paint-your-own-pottery idea. Instead of bringing a gift, each guest paints a piece for the bride in her wedding colors.

Door Prize Sure your guests may not want to play involved games, but who doesn't love a present? As your guests enter, have them write down their birthdays and wedding anniversaries (if applicable). The guest whose date is closest to the wedding date wins a prize. The hostess can then copy down the birthdays and anniversaries in a nice birthday book for the bride, so she'll always know when to send a thoughtful card. How well does the bride know the groom? Before the shower, ask the groom questions about himself and carefully write down his answers. At the shower, ask the bride to predict what he said. If the answers match, she gets a prize. If the answers don't match, the first guest to call out the correct answer gets the prize. Sample questions include, What is his favorite color? Favorite band? Favorite thing to do on the weekend? Dream vacation? Where was their first date? A few questions for groom: What's brides favorite color? What's brides favorite ice cream flavor? Name one extracurricular activity bride did in high school? What's your favorite facial feature of brides? What was bride wearing on your first date? What kind of pets did bride have growing up? Whats brides favorite restaurant in city? Favorite restaurant in other city? What is brides nick name for groom? When did groom and bride first meet? How many kids does bride want to have? Name one of brides favorite singers/bands?