Wedding Rehearsal Dinner Games
Wedding rehearsal dinners are not a time to discuss wedding favors, they are a time to relax, calm down and enjoy a quiet evening before the big event the next day. But adding some fun and games into the rehearsal dinner is not such a bad idea. It is a great way to help everyone let off some steam, calm down and enjoy each other.
If you are planning a sit-down formal dinner, fun games and activities can still be on the menu. In fact, if a formal dinner is part of the plans, having some interesting activities on the agenda is not only a good idea, but also an excellent one. There has been a lot of planning, and a lot of stress and the wedding party and close friends and family will welcome the opportunity to have a little fun.
The success or failure of any games or activities largely depends not just on the planning but your venue. If you are having a sit-down dinner in a restaurant, try to get a private room. Then a myriad of fun activities can be planned, such as "pin the veil on the bride", in which blindfolded guests spin around a few times, then try to pin the veil on a picture of the bride. Silly, yes, but also fun.
One fun activity sure to help everyone blow off some steam is charades. Whoever is up will act out a scene from the bride or grooms life, so it might be when graduating from college, or getting a huge promotion at work. The "it" person might choose to act out when the bride tripped and fell at another persons wedding or when the groom saved a dog from getting hit by a car. This is a little twist on charades that helps people get to know the bride and groom better, and adds intimacy to what is already an intimate event.
If the wedding rehearsal dinner is a bit less formal and held in someones home, there are many more activities that can take place. For example, how about a night of playing board games? Who needs formal food? You can have that the next day at the formal wedding. At this rehearsal dinner party, the games are center stage.
Bring in some sandwiches and tell everyone to wear their comfortable clothes and settle in for a night of board games. You can set up games on different tables, divide people into groups of 4 or 5 and have everyone rotate tables at designated times. You can even instruct game players that when they move to another table, the game stays out the way it is. So, for example, dad might begin playing Monopoly where the bride was and he is stuck with only a little money in the bank and no houses on Boardwalk.
Say the bride and groom are big into sports. If the wedding is to be held in the summer and the days are long, how about a game of touch football or baseball? You can play brides family against grooms family, men against women, or for a twist, the bride plays with the grooms family and the groom with the brides family. Any combination works. The idea here is to have some fun, relax and enjoy each others company.
Other outdoor activities can include anything that is physical and might help people blow off steam. Has the bride been more a "bridezilla" than anything? How about a game of tag where she is it? Or you can create two bridesmaids dress-up trunks. Go to a thrift store, fill the trunks with old prom dresses and large-size shoes, and costume jewelry. Divide the guests into two different teams and have someone sit with a timer. The team who dresses one of the men (ideally, the groom and best man or perhaps the two dads) first wins. Be sure to have a camera at the rehearsal dinner/event, because this is one activity you will want to have pictures of! Worry about things like wedding favors later, and have some fun!
