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The bridal shower has its roots in the traditional bridal dowry. In some countries, the bridal dowry still exists and is a necessary prerequisite for any young lady to becoming married. In years gone by, if a young woman found herself without an adequate dowry and the basic necessities to start her own home, her sympathetic friends would "shower" her with enough gifts to enable her to set up housekeeping.

The Bridal shower has come a long way from its early roots and, if anything, has grown into an occasion for young women (and sometimes even men) to share their creativity, loose their inhibitions and unleash some good healthy fun. The shower games which follows are just a few examples of the kinds of activities which give the prospective bride and her friends an opportunity to be just plain silly, a delightful digression from the wedding activities that sometimes become just too serious!

Toilet Paper Wedding Dress
Divide the guests into teams of three. Include the bride as well. Hand each team four rolls of white toilet paper. Give the teams twenty minutes to "design" a wedding dress. Each team chooses a "bride" and proceeds to design a gown by wrapping their "bride" in paper. When the time's up, each team bride models her gown front of the guests. A vote is taken to determine the prettiest bridal gown and a gift is awarded to the winning bride and her design team.

The designer version of this game is to have the guests make a bridal dress from newspaper. Each team is given scissors, tape, and a stack of newspapers and each team is assigned just one part of the wedding gown: e.g., sleeve, bodice, train, skirt, veil, shoes, etc. Concentrate on the main parts of the dress. "Assemble" the gown on the bride and don't forget to take a photo!

Scavenger Hunt (a new variation on an old theme)
Guests are divided into teams of two or three. Each team is given a list of items which might commonly be found in a woman's handbag. Items are assigned points, with the most likely to be found items (e.g., lipstick, mirror) assigned 20 points and uncommon items (e.g., cigar, hat pin) assigned a higher point value. The teams are given an assigned amount of time to find the items and them the points are tallied and a winning team declared.

Have You All Your Senses?
Put a small sample of a variety of white powders in small plastic bags. Number the bags and hand out sheets of paper with corresponding numbers. Use white powders such as sugar, flour, baking soda, baby powder, etc. Without smelling or tasting the guests must figure what kind of powder is in which bags. The bags are passed around during the shower and after everyone has had a chance to examine each bag, the correct answers are added up. The guest with the most correct answers wins a gift.

Wedding Word Scramble
Select between ten and twenty words which are wedding-related (e.g., bride, gown, groom, garter, rings, flowers). Scramble the letters in each word. Give guests about ten minutes unscramble the words. The guest with the most words spelled correctly is the winner.

Goodies In a Jar
Fill a large jar with candies, jelly beans gummy bears, cinnamon hearts, or any other edible goodies. Let the guests guess how many "candies" are in the jar. The guest who comes the closest to correct number, wins the jar.

Good Experience for in the Kitchen
Take a dozen spice or herb bottles and cover the labels. Let the guests guess what the spices or herbs are. Smelling is allowed! The guest with the most correct answers may keep the spices or give them to the bride to "outfit" her kitchen.

Do You Really Know the Bride?
Have the bride to leave the room. Have the guests answer "simple" questions about the Bride (e.g., What color is her hair? Her eye? What color of clothing she is wearing? What jewelry does she have on? )The guest with the most correct answers wins a prize.

The Guest Gets a Door Prize
As guests arrive have them fill out a piece of paper with their wedding date or, if they are single, their birthday. The person with the date closest to the bride's wedding date wins the prize.

Box of Recipes (Not really a shower game, but a lovely idea)
When shower invitations are mailed, include a card for each guest to write down a favorite recipe. At the shower, put all the cards in a recipe box and give them to the Bride as a gift from everyone.

Bridal Bingo
Make a blank grid to look like a bingo card. As guests arrive, have them fill out the grid with gifts that they think the bride will receive. Remember, the free space goes in the middle.) Guests may write down the gift they have selected (so at least they'll have one correct answer!) As the bride opens a gift, each guest crosses it off their bingo card. The first to have a row, across or diagonally, is a winner and gets a prize.

Guest Gift Giveaway
Before the shower, the hostess or hostesses buy several inexpensive gift items like lotions, a small frames, perfumes, notepaper, etc. While the Bride opens her gifts, a timer is set. Each time the timer rings, whoever's gift is being opened wins one of the small wrapped items.

How Good's Your Memory?
Have one of the hostesses "come out" in a robe with a variety of things attached to it. Use "odd" items like a napkin holder, placemat, hotpad, tongs, etc. Give everyone a minute or so to take a good look and then have her leave. The guests then can try to remember what she had on and write it down. Whoever has the most correct answers wins a small prize and all the items she is wearing go to the bride as part of her gift.

Less-Work-for-the-Bride Thank You Notes
The hostess or the bride buy thank you notes, prior to the shower. The envelopes are removed and each guest is asked to address the envelope to herself. All the envelopes are then put into a container. The bride draw one (or more) envelopes and the addressee gets a door prize.

Have a great time and enjoy the party!

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