Planning your engagement party? An engagement party is a perfect time to bring together your friends and family to announce your upcoming wedding. It's also a chance to let your hair down and encourage your friends – including the wedding party – to get to know each other. Planning some activities throughout the evening will help to keep the fun flowing.
Games don't have to be complicated or costly to make sure everyone has an amazing time. And you don't have to stick to just one game. Having a few games planned for throughout the day or evening will help to keep all of your guests happy and entertained.
This is also great news for anyone who isn't drinking, as it prevents things from being too focused on alcohol. And let’s not forget, you might have children at your engagement party that will appreciate some fun activities while the adults are catching up. Here are some great games and activities to make your engagement party a fun and memorable event.
Ring hunt
Just like an easter egg hunt, but with a twist. Your guests are looking for plastic engagement rings instead! This is a great way to get everyone moving and mingling. You can hide the rings around the party venue or even outside if the weather is good. Give everyone a list of clues to help them find the rings. The person who collects the most rings by the end of the party wins a prize.
Wedding dress guessing game
Let your guests get creative with this fun game. All you need is some craft supplies and old bridal magazines. Let guests draw or collage their vision for the wedding dress and then display them all on a wall in your wedding venue. You can select prizes for the most elegant, the most trashy, and the most daring dress.
Create a photo booth
You'll want to document the occasion, and a photo booth is a great way to achieve this. You can buy or hire props, backdrops, and even costumes to make things more fun. And don't forget to have a guest book for everyone to write a little message beside their picture.
The nearly wed game
Like the newlywed game, but slightly different. This game is for those who are newly engaged. The happy couple gets a dry wipe board each and sits back to back. Ask them questions about each other, and then one gives the correct answer while the other one tries to guess what they wrote. It's a great opportunity to learn more about the couple and how well they know each other.
Couple's trivia
Put together a quiz all about the happy couple. It can be made up of easy questions that everyone knows the answer to, or you can make it more challenging by including obscure facts and inside jokes. Give prizes to the winners, and make sure everyone gets a copy of the quiz to take home with them.
Memory lane
This is a great opportunity for all of your guests to reminisce. Invite all of the guests to write down a memory about the happy couple and roll them up. Place them in a jar and mix them up. You can then read them out and have the rest of the guests try to guess who the memory belongs to. This can be great fun if all of your guests know each other quite well, but it's also an opportunity for them to get to know each other better.
Engagement-themed charades
Just like the regular game of charades but with a twist. Whatever book, play, movie or song you choose has to be engagement or wedding themed. Think: Bridesmaids, Wedding Crashers, Meet The Parents.
Build the wedding playlist
Get to know your guest's musical tastes and start planning for the wedding reception by asking them to collaborate on a playlist. You can leave notecards around the engagement party venue, inviting them to share 4-5 songs they'd like to hear at your reception. Then you can put these on a playlist, or you can hand the suggestions to your wedding DJ.
The shoe game
This is another game that is popular at weddings but also works at engagement parties. The couple sits back to back, takes off their shoes and swaps one shoe. They are then asked questions, such as "who made the first move?" Each partner then holds up either their own shoe or their partner's shoe. The answers rarely match up, and this can be very entertaining for their guests.
Giant lawn games
If you're hosting your engagement party outside, you can set up giant lawn games like noughts and crosses, chess and connect four. These are great for keeping adults and children entertained.
Jenga
Set up a Jenga game at your engagement party but include a small twist. Leave a permanent marker by the game and invite your guests to sign a block. At the end of the night, you'll have a special Jenga game signed by your nearest and dearest.
Find the guest
You know your guests the best, but do they know each other? To encourage everyone to mingle and get to know each other, write down a list of facts that correspond to each guest. Print these out, and then let your guests search for each other. The first person to get all of the names correct wins a small prize like a bottle of prosecco. To make it more challenging, your guests aren't allowed to ask each other flat out; it has to come up naturally in conversation.
Make a couple's quilt
Another crafty game that will create a lasting memory for you to cherish. Set up a decorating station and encourage guests to decorate a square of fabric. You can then turn these squares of fabric into a quilt to decorate your home.
Wedding bingo
Create a custom bingo card with classic words or phrases that people might use. Hand these out to guests when they arrive and invite them to listen out for them in conversation. Once they have a complete row or a complete card, they can shout "Bingo".
Don't say wedding
When your guests arrive, give them a bracelet with a plastic ring on it. They wear this throughout the night, but if they say the word "wedding" or any other forbidden word", anyone around them can demand their bracelet. The aim of the game is to collect as many bracelets as possible. At the end of the night, the person with the most bracelets wins a prize.
Mini golf
A mini golf course is a perfect addition to your engagement party. You can DIY the course or hire a company to create one for you. Guests can then work their way around the course and keep score on custom scorecards. Make sure you include a leaderboard to see who has the best golf game.
Casino games
Turn your wedding reception into a mini-casino by hiring a blackjack and roulette table. Even if you can't afford to fly all of your guests to Vegas, they'll have a great time gambling for fake money in your engagement party casino.
Taste test
If you and your partner are foodies, then this is the perfect game for your engagement party. Set up a table with different foods, drinks and snacks. If you're from different parts of the world and have unique cuisine, this is a perfect chance to let your guests sample some of your favourite items. They can guess what they are with a blind taste test, or you can get guests to rate them out of 10. Make sure you include some less popular foods to get some strong reactions.
Message in a bottle
This isn't so much a game as a fun activity for you and your guests. Ask everyone to write a short note on a piece of paper and roll it up before placing it in a bottle. At the end of the night, the bottle is sealed with a cork. You can then open the bottle at your wedding or on your anniversary to read all of the funny and beautiful notes from your guests.
Karaoke
Another great form of entertainment for your engagement party is karaoke. Invite your guests to serenade the happy couple, or the happy couple can take the stage for a duet. This is an excellent choice for later in the evening when everyone is a little more relaxed.
These are just a few ideas for engagement party games and activities. The most important thing is to have fun and enjoy the time with your family and friends before the wedding craziness begins. So take a deep breath, relax and let the good times roll.
