The custom of presenting a bride with a dowry has long been out of practice in this country, although it remains very much part of the culture of many countries around the world. The tradition of the bridal shower presumably dates back to a Dutch legend. It tells us that the first bridal shower was given for a Dutch bride whose father had refused to give her a dowry because she intended to marry a man from a poor family. As romance would triumph, the lovers married despite the threat of poverty, and the groom's friends all chipped in to "shower" the bride with gifts of household necessities for their new home. The bridal shower, we are told, mended the bride's heart and stocked the young couple's pantry.

That very delightful, generous practice has become a wedding tradition. The number and the elaborateness of the shower depends on the friends, bridesmaids, business associates and families of the bride and groom. Whatever the number, a shower is a time for bonding, celebration and, most of all, good, clean fun. It is perhaps of the last strongholds of places where silliness and gitchiness are perfectly acceptable. In keeping with that concept, what follows are ten shower games, all to be taken lightly. Let your hair down and Enjoy!

1. Wedding Dress Fashion Show
Divide the shower guests divided into teams. Give each team scissors, tape, and a stack of newspapers. Assign them the task of creating just one part of a wedding gown (sleeve, bodice, train, skirt, veil, shoes, etc.) If the number of guests is small, concentrate on the main parts of the dress. If it's a large shower, the teams will be larger and assignments can be made accordingly. The bride gets to wear the gown that results (over her clothing) and posing for some pictures (include a Polaroid picture for her). You will be amazed how creative people can be.

2. Make the Connection
Divide the guests into teams and give all but one a roll of toilet paper to hold between her legs. The remaining guest on each team puts a broomstick or pole between her legs. The two guests with the pole stand next to one another on one end of the room while each of their team members stands in a single file on the other side of the room in front of their respective "pole" person. The goal of the game is for each member to walk/waddle to her respective team's "pole" with the toilet paper roll (between her legs) and place the toilet roll onto the pole, without using her hands. The first team to place all the rolls onto its respective team's pole wins and is awarded a prize.

3. Bridal Shower BINGO
Make up cards with grids to look like a bingo card. A "free" space goes in the middle. As guests arrive, give each a card and ask them to fill in the grid with gifts that they think the bride will receive. Each guest may write in the name of the gift she has brought. While the bride opens a gift, gifts are crossed off the bingo cards. Five in a row, across or diagonally is BINGO! Give a prize to the first winner!

4.Wonderfully Wise Words of Wisdom
To keep guests from getting bored while they wait for the bride to open her gifts, try this. It's nice to "warn" guests about this activity in the invitation. Somehow the advice is sounder that way. Tell the guests that they will offer some "words of wisdom" to the bride. As the bride opens each gift, the gift-giver reads her "tip to the bride" and offers advice tp the bride on ways to a long and happy marriage. The cards can be put into a scrapbook for safe-keeping and memories.

5.No Illegal Substances, Please
See how much we depend on taste and smell to identify our surrounding. Put several different samples of white powders in small plastic bags. Number the bags. Give each guest a pencil and a pad of paper with numbers to correspond to the number of bags. The white powders can be sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, talcum powder, etc. Without smelling or tasting, the guests must guess what's in each bag. These bags are passed around during the shower. Once everyone has had a chance to examine each bag, the correct answers are totaled and the one with the most correct answers wins a gift.

6.Proper Posture or "Don't Cross Your Legs"
Each guest gets a clothespin which she clips to the end of her skirt, dress or slacks. The purpose of the game is to not get caught crossing your legs at any time throughout the bridal shower. Should another guest catch you crossing your legs, she can grab your clothespin. The guest who collects the most clothes pins, wins the game and gets the "Best Posture" award.

7.How Good is Your Estimate?
Fill several jars with candies, jelly beans, gummy bears, chocolate kisses, peanuts and any other small edible. Have each guest estimate the number of candies there are in each jar. The guest closest to the right number wins the jar.

8. Someone's in the Kitchen
Provide ten bottles or tins of herbs or spices. Cover the names with the labels. Allow each guest to smell the contents of each jar and try to guess what the herb or spice. The guest with the most correct answers may keep the spices or give them to the bride as part of her gifts. This is fun and good training. It's particularly pleasant when combined with a gift to the bride of a spice rack!

9. Do You Really Know the Bride?
Have the bride leave the room and then ask the guests to write down ten or so things about the bride. Ask questions such as the color of her hair, the color of her eyes, the color of the clothing she's wearing, what kind of jewelry she is wearing. To make the game more interesting, but a bit more difficult, try some of these questions: How old is the bride? What's her mother's (maiden) name? What college/university/high school did she attend? What's her favorite soft drink? What are the names of her brothers/sisters? What size shoe does she wear? What's her favorite color and favorite TV show/soap? And so on. The guest with the most correct answers wins a prize.

10. Box of Recipes - Let's Get Her Started
When invitations to the shower are mailed, include an index card and ask each guest to write down her favorite recipe. At the shower, all the cards may be placed in a recipe box and given it to the bride as a gift.

Keeping alive this charming tradition, not only gives family and friends an opportunity to gift the bride, but also to share some personal, intimate moments while the bride ends her single life and begins on her road to marriage. It is a joyful way to loosen up and laugh a lot.