by Jennifer Lata Rung and Shelly Hagen

A bachelorette party should be memorable and fun, a chance for the girls to let loose one last time before the bride-to-be gets hitched. Not sure where to start? Get your creative juices flowing with these 15 party-game ideas from The Everything Bachelorette Party Book by Jennifer Lata and Shelly Hagen. Best of all, there's something for everyone, from the more reserved to the downright wild. Party on!


So you've planned the evening out. You have the stripper arriving at 10, you have your appetizers and drinks in the preparatory phases, you've got your music laid out? and still, you feel there's something missing. There's some downtime that you have nothing planned for. This is a major no-no called "dead air" -- one of the worst things that can happen to a faltering party. On the off chance your party starts to waver and you need some filler, have some games planned.

Bride and Groom Trivia

Trivia games are always fun. Although you'll have to do some research to set up the questions, the payoff will be worth it. There are several variations of this game. The first is simply Bride Trivia. Who knows the bride the best? The obvious answer may seem to be her family or her childhood friends, but that's not always the case. To set up this game, ask the bride some really obscure questions, like what type of shoes would she wear everywhere if it were socially acceptable? (You may be surprised to learn that your fashion maven friend would go barefoot -- or wear her ratty slippers to work if she could.) What kind of work would she be doing if she had the chance to go back and change her college major?

The second variation of this game is a take on the Newlywed Game. You'll have to get the groom involved here. Ask him some questions: Does the bride prefer silver or gold (or platinum) jewelry? Where did they meet for the first time? What was their first conversation about? She'll undoubtedly give one answer, and you'll read the groom's very different responses. This is an opportunity for everyone to be in on the betrothed couple's relationship, and it may be a real eye-opener for those who thought they knew the pair well.

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There are endless variations on the trivia genre. Where you want to go with it depends on the amount of time you want to put into planning it and the size of your party. If, for example, you and five girls are off to your cabin for the weekend, the questions and answers can be much different -- more intriguing, more intimate, more detailed -- than if you're playing this game in a group of 50.

In a more intimate setting, you can even extend the questions to everyone. As Question Master, you'll separately (privately) ask everyone the same questions, then gather everyone back together. Read off the questions, and then read the stack of answers without revealing who said what. Let everyone guess who gave which answer.

Since any wild bachelorette party is going to include bottles and bottles of alcohol, you may want to put them to use and make the drinks a staple of your games. This is a win-win situation: You're filling time, and your guests will be so trashed after playing, they won't notice if you're providing any entertainment at all. There are so many drinking games, you probably couldn't play them all in your lifetime even if all you ever do is drink -- just take a look online. You'll get a list you won't believe.

I Never...

The rules for this game are simple: Each contestant admits something they've never done. For example, "I never went to a bar without underwear." Anyone who has ever left the house to do a little cruising commando has to drink. You are perfectly free to say you've never done something that you actually have -- as long as you drink anyway. Hilarity will be the order of the evening as everyone watches who is taking a drink.

The key to this game is creativity. Think of the most bizarre things you've never -- or ever -- done. You may learn more about each other than you ever wanted to know, which is the whole point of this game.

Celebrity Games

This is a great game with a lot of variations to it. Pick any genre (actors, TV personalities, or people you actually know). Then pick a category like "people ever slept with" or, in the case of actors, "participation in movies that bombed."



Here's another example. You name a musician; the next player has to name a song. Others continue to name songs until you've exhausted the musician's catalog of recordings. Or name an oft-recorded song and try to name everyone who has recorded it. Name all the musicians who died of drug- or alcohol-related causes. Pick a letter of the alphabet and name as many musicians as you can whose name starts with that letter. Whoever gets stumped, of course, drinks.

The Hour of Power

A note of warning: This game is geared toward guests who can hold their liquor. Guests drink a shot of beer every minute or two for an hour (adjust the time accordingly for your particular group). An alternative is to substitute hard liquor every 15 minutes.

Alphabet Games

There are two popular versions of stumping people with letters. The first is to pick a genre broad enough so that there are actually enough items in the genre to begin with every letter of the alphabet -- geography is popular. Have everyone take turns naming an item in the genre, going in alphabetic order -- Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, and so on. At the end of the alphabet, start over. Whoever stops the alphabet train has to take a drink.

Another version of this game is to choose a genre and then each person has to come up with an answer that starts with the last letter of the previous answer. So, starting again with Albany, the next answer would have to start with Y -- Ypsilanti, for example. And then the next answer would start with I. This game is a little trickier, especially after a few drinks.

Horror Shows

If you're married, pull out your wedding video. If not, ask a married friend to bring hers. Every time the camera shows the bride's fake, nervous smile, everyone drinks. Or drink every time the hyperventilating groom wipes his brow, every time a drunken bridesmaid stumbles across the dance floor, every time one of the wedding guests calls the bride or the groom by the wrong name while wishing them well, etc.

A great alternative is to pull out an old prom video, if you have one. Set your own rules and keep the wine flowing. It could be a painful show.

Many bachelorette parties have adult themes, with X-rated foods, male strippers, and even racy games. There is an abundance of paraphernalia available -- enough to host a party every night for a week without repeating your games or decorations.

Scavenger Hunts

If an adult party is right up your alley, try dividing your guests into groups and having them hunt for fun party (adult) toys. You can be very creative in where you hide things, and watch your guests' consternation as they search and search. Just make sure you keep a list for yourself so that a future houseguest doesn't end up finding a plastic phallus in his or her pillowcase. If you're really generous, you can let your guests keep what they find.

If you have a whole weekend at your disposal, you can also make a list and send your guests out into the real world. Of course, you'll want to make sure that most of the items on their lists need to be purchased in adult stores, adding to your amusement and their embarrassment.

Get Your Blindfold

Another amusing little game is Pin the Organ on the Male. (Maybe you can come up with a more creative title for this game.) Though there are actual party kits for this game, you can construct one yourself. All you need is a suggestive poster of a barely clad and somewhat cheesy male, scissors and construction paper. Imagination is your key ingredient here. Endow him with gifts any man would feel blessed to have.


Guess My Size

This is a variation on guessing how many jellybeans are in a candy jar, except that your guests will be guessing the exact measurement of the likeness of a manly buddy. Make sure you have a ruler with small enough increments so that you can get the exact size -- it makes the game more interesting. The closest guess wins.

Hang a Pinata

What's more surprising than an extremely large (papier-mache) male member hanging from your ceiling? The fact that it's filled with candies in the shape of a penis. Don't be surprised if you hear your guests yelling, "Oh my!"



Give Out Prizes

The prizes for these games can be as entertaining as the games themselves. As your party is already steeped in sordidness, don't bother handing out tasteful prizes. If you're just not willing to part with the larger props you're using for your games, you can easily substitute smaller ones. Here are some ideas:

  • Key chains with pictures of nude men

  • Liquid-filled pens that disrobe the little man inside when turned upside down

  • Any number of inexpensive phallic-shaped prizes: straws, ice-cube trays, goody bags filled with little manly candies


Since the bride is looking for some fun, you may as well go all out. Don't let her escape with her dignity 100 percent intact. She'll thank you later. Some ideas for maximum degradation follow.

Give the Bride a Hickey

Carry some flaming red lipstick with you. As the night progresses and your bachelorette group starts running into more and more drunken men, you can play Give the Bride a Hickey. Drunken men will usually not think twice about your applying lipstick to their mouths if it means they get to leave a mark on the bride's bod. Maximum embarrassment for him and her.

Sweet Success

Bring along some candy necklaces for all the girls. Only men can bite the candies off. (One candy per man.) First one with an empty string around her neck wins. Alternatively, the bride may sell her candies to men. They'll still have to bite them off, but they'll have to pay her a dollar or buy her a drink -- whatever she wants.

Dress to Impress

In addition to the fake veil you're going to make the bride wear all evening, consider that perhaps she has a streetwalker side to her that she very rarely gets to show in public. Buy her some trashy items so that she may flaunt this side. Maybe she really likes pleather microminis and fishnet stockings. And who cares if she doesn't?

If she just won't go along with that, at least buy her a fun little T-shirt. There are countless to choose from, complete with fun little sayings printed on them, like "Bad Girl" or "Evil." If you just can't find the right garment in a store, make her a T-shirt that proclaims her status as a woman of questionable character. Think of an interesting catch phrase to scrawl on it something like "Bride with No Pride." The more homemade this shirt looks, the better. And you should look for something extremely snug.

A Partner for the Night

The ultimate humiliation is handcuffing a blow-up doll to the bride and forcing her to carry "him" around all night. If you're really feeling creative, you could glue a picture of the groom's face in place of the doll's -- not necessary, but a nice touch. Give him some undies (maybe a man thong) if you want -- in fact, this may be funnier than letting him hang out all night.

More fun ideas: