16 Bridal Shower Games for Couples When the Groom Comes Too

Coed bridal shower games have to do double duty: keep the bride’s side laughing and give the groom’s friends something to actually play, not just watch.

This line-up splits the room into Team His Side and Team Her Side from the first game, tallies points straight through to cake, and mixes active rounds, printable sheets and a couple of quieter moments so nobody checks out.

Whether the guest list is twelve or sixty, there is a game here that does not need the groom to say a single sentimental word out loud.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

1. The Newlywed Challenge

Nobody actually minds the newlywed quiz, not even the groom who swears he hates being the center of attention. Two chairs up front, two whiteboards, one host holding a stack of question cards about the couple themselves: who said I love you first, who leaves wet towels on the floor, who cried at the proposal.

The couple answers in secret and holds up their boards together; a match scores a point for them, and it also settles whether the room guessed right.

Before the first question, split everyone into Team His Side and Team Her Side. Each table calls out a prediction, match or no match, before the boards go up, and a correct prediction earns the team a point.

Ten questions is the right length, and the round ends the moment the last pair of boards is revealed; whichever team predicted the most matches correctly keeps the lead going into the next game.

Two whiteboards or sheets of paper, a marker each for the couple, and a host who already has the ten questions written down rather than scrolling on a phone mid-round, since the pauses drain the energy fast.

For a sharper tie-break, ask how many days the couple dated before the proposal and let the two closest guesses in the room settle it outright.

2. His or Hers: Who’s More Likely

Half the fun of a coed shower is watching the groom defend himself in front of his groomsmen. Hand every guest a card listing fifteen either/or statements, better cook, louder laugh, worse at directions, and ask them to circle His or Hers for each line, guessing how the real couple would answer about themselves.

Once every sheet is filled in, the host reads each statement aloud and the couple reveals their own true answer together.

Whoever in the room guessed correctly on the most lines earns the point for their team, so tally per table rather than per person to keep the reveal moving. It pairs well with a this or that guessing game for a shower running two rounds back to back.

One printed card per guest, a pen at every seat, and five minutes for the couple to agree on their own answers before the reveal starts.

The slow part is always the reveal itself, since couples tend to argue over who the better cook really is longer than the rest of the game combined; give them thirty seconds per line and move on regardless.

3. Team Cornhole with Ring Rules

Say cornhole at a bridal shower and someone will ask why; because it is the one lawn game that lets grandmothers and groomsmen play on equal footing, that is why.

Set up two boards the usual twenty seven feet apart, then slip a thin ring, a curtain ring or napkin ring works fine, over the rim of each board’s hole before play starts.

A bag that lands clean in the ring doubles its points; a bag that knocks the ring off the hole scores nothing no matter where it lands.

Teams alternate throwing four bags each per round, and points cancel between teams, so a team’s score that round is the difference between their landed bags and the opponents’. First team to reach 21 points exactly wins the match, and both teams rotate out for the next pair.

Two cornhole boards, eight bean bags and two rings are all it needs, four to eight players a match, about fifteen minutes a round including the rematch everyone demands.

Boards on an uneven lawn send bags skidding sideways, so level them with a folded towel under one leg before guests arrive; for anyone less confident throwing, let that side play from fifteen feet instead of the full distance.

4. Guess the Baby Photo Mixer

Ask every guest two weeks out for one baby photo of themselves, pin the bride’s and groom’s photos in with the rest, and nobody sees this coming.

Number each photo from one to however many came in and pin the board somewhere guests pass on the way to the drinks table. Guests walk the board at their own pace during the mingling part of the party and write their guesses on a numbered sheet.

The round ends when the host calls time, usually right before the main meal, and whoever matches the most baby faces to the most people correctly wins, with ties broken by who got the bride and groom’s own photos right.

For a guest list under twenty, built for a smaller guest list, shrink it to just the couple and the four parents, eight photos total.

Collect photos over a group chat at least a week ahead, chase the groom separately since his photo always arrives last, and have a corkboard, pins and one printed guess sheet per guest ready. It stays open the whole party rather than running as a timed block, which makes it easy for latecomers to still join in.

5. Beer and Wine Blind Taste-Off

Somebody’s brother will insist he can tell a lager from a pale ale blindfolded, so let him prove it in front of everyone.

Pour small tasting portions of four beers and four wines into cups marked only with letters, A through H, and set them along a table away from their bottles. Each team tastes as a group and writes down a guess for what each cup is, style, grape, even just light versus dark.

The host reveals the bottles one by one once every team has guessed. One point per correct guess per cup, the round ends once all eight are revealed, and the team with the highest total wins outright.

Four beer styles and four wine varieties in ounce-sized pours, eight lettered cups, water and crackers on the side to reset palates. Six to twenty players split into tasting teams of three or four works best.

For a dry or mixed-age crowd, swap half the lineup for sparkling juices and flavoured sodas poured the exact same way; nobody at the table needs to know which cups are which until the reveal.

6. Wedding Planning Speed Round

Half the room thinks they know their wedding traditions until the questions start flying. Hand out a printed sheet of ten rapid fire questions about wedding customs, from the old rhyme about something borrowed to which hand holds the ring, and give teams ninety seconds total to fill in as many answers as they can without conferring with another table.

Call time, swap sheets between teams for marking, and read the answer key aloud. The team with the most correct answers once the swapped papers are handed back wins the round outright. It runs well right after a sweet and fun round of bridal party games to keep the energy from dipping.

One printed sheet and a pen per team, a visible timer, teams of four to six, five to eight teams total. Ninety seconds feels generous until question seven, so confirm it out loud before guests complain it was too short; for a crowd that knows its wedding trivia cold, cut the clock to sixty seconds instead.

7. Flip Cup Toast Relay

Nothing gets the groom’s friends off their phones faster than a flip cup line. Set up two lines of cups along a table, one per team, each filled with a splash of drink.

On go, the first player on each team drinks their cup, sets it on the table edge, and flicks it with one finger until it lands face down; only then does the next teammate start.

The relay ends the moment one team’s last cup lands upside down, and that team wins the heat outright. Run several heats back to back as a bracket if the group is large enough to need it.

Ten to twelve plastic cups per team, a splash of beer, soda or sparkling water in each, a long table, even teams of four to six. Sticky tables slow the flip down more than anything, so wipe between heats.

To keep it comfortable for anyone not drinking, run the whole thing with lemonade or sparkling water instead; the flip itself is the whole game, not what is in the cup.

8. Wedding Word Search

Somewhere between the gift opening and the cake, the room needs five quiet minutes, and a word search earns its keep right there. Hand out the printed grid along with a pen at each place setting; guests circle wedding words hidden across, down, backward and diagonally.

The round has no real finish line, guests work it whenever they like during the lull, but the host can turn it into a contest by offering the first finished sheet handed in a small prize.

One printed sheet and a pen per guest, any size group since everyone plays solo, five to ten quiet minutes depending on how distracted the table gets.

Diagonal words trip up almost everyone, so mention out loud that a few run diagonally before handing the sheets out; for a livelier version, pair guests up and let the first pair to finish call out done.

9. Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Relay

Somebody on every team has a hidden talent for toilet paper couture, and this is where she finds out. Split into teams of four or five, hand each team two rolls of toilet paper, and give one team member per group the job of bride.

In ninety seconds, the rest of the team wraps her in a wedding dress using only the toilet paper, no tape, no pins.

When time runs out, the real bride walks down the line and picks a winner based on creativity and construction, and that team takes the round.

Two rolls of toilet paper per team, a phone timer, four to five players per team including the one being wrapped. Thin, cheap toilet paper tears before the sash even gets started, so spring for a sturdier two ply roll just for this game.

If the room has more energy than patience, drop the time to sixty seconds flat; for a calmer group, allow a few strips of tape and judge on polish instead of speed.

10. Guess How Many Ring Pops in the Jar

A clear jar of ring pops sitting on the gift table does more work than any sign ever could, everyone walks past and has an opinion.

Fill a jar with ring pop candies or wrapped chocolate rings and set out a stack of small guess cards nearby. Guests write their name and a number on the way in and drop the card into a bowl.

The host counts the actual contents once gifts are open, and whoever guessed closest without going over takes the jar home, doubling as one of the favors guests actually keep rather than another trinket in a bag.

One clear jar, enough small wrapped sweets to fill it, a stack of guess cards and a bowl to collect them, no time limit needed since guests fill a card whenever they arrive. A jar that is too tall makes an accurate guess nearly impossible, so go wide and shallow rather than narrow and deep.

11. Wedding Word Taboo Relay

Give the groom’s friends a word to describe without saying the obvious part, and watch them sweat. One player from a team draws a card with a wedding word on it, bouquet, honeymoon, in laws, along with three words they are banned from saying while describing it.

They have sixty seconds to get their team to shout the right word using only description, no rhyming, no gestures.

Each correct word scores a point, the deck keeps moving round robin between teams, and the round ends once every card has been drawn once; highest total wins.

A deck of wedding-themed word cards with banned words listed on each, easy to write on index cards ahead of time, a sixty second timer, teams of four to eight.

Cards with banned words that are too obscure just stall the clock, so keep the banned list to the three most obvious giveaways. For a faster, louder version, run two decks at once and see which team finishes first instead of alternating turns.

12. Movie Weddings Trivia Showdown

Every wedding party has at least one person who has seen every rom-com made since 1990, and this is where she finally gets to show off.

Hand out a printed sheet of ten movie wedding trivia questions, Runaway Bride, My Best Friend’s Wedding, 27 Dresses, and give teams five minutes to answer as many as they can before passing sheets to the next table for marking.

Read the answer key aloud once time is called, and the team with the most correct answers wins the round.

One printed sheet and a pen per team, five minutes on the clock, teams of four to six. Questions about older films trip up the groomsmen’s side more than anyone expects, so mix classic and recent titles rather than leaning entirely on one era. For a shorter party, cut the sheet to six questions and skip straight to the reveal.

13. Cocktail Mixology Relay

Somebody always claims to make a great mojito, so hand her the ingredients and see if she can prove it under pressure.

Give each team an identical set of ingredients and a recipe card for a simple two to three ingredient cocktail or mocktail. On go, one player per team races to build the drink exactly to the card, pour it, and raise a hand.

The host checks the drink against the recipe before confirming a finish. The first team with a correctly built drink wins the round; a team that finishes first but misses an ingredient loses its spot to the next fastest correct team.

Identical ingredient kits per team, a printed recipe card at each station, a shaker or stirring spoon, cups, three to five teams of two to three players each.

Skipping the measuring to go faster is the quickest way to lose, so remind teams the host is checking ratio, not just speed. For an alcohol-free version, pick a mocktail recipe from the start so the whole room plays the same round together.

14. Marriage Advice Mad Libs for the Groom

Ask the groom’s friends for sincere advice out loud and you get silence. Hand them a mad lib instead and the sincerity sneaks in sideways.

Pass around a printed sheet with a half finished letter of advice to the groom, blanks marked by word type, and let each guest fill in their own version before reading it aloud to the room.

There is no winner here. The game ends when the funniest version gets read last, and the groom keeps every sheet afterward.

One printed sheet per guest and a pen, any group size since everyone fills theirs in privately first, about ten minutes to read a dozen aloud.

A sheet with too many blanks turns into homework rather than a laugh, so keep it to around twelve fill-ins. If a grandparent is in the room, print a slightly tamer version for the older guests and a sillier one for his friends.

15. Speech Bingo

Toasts run long at every wedding shower, and bingo is the only thing that makes a long speech better rather than worse. Hand out printed bingo cards before the toasts start, each square holding a phrase or moment speech givers almost always include. Guests mark a square whenever they hear it during the speeches.

The first guest to complete a row calls bingo quietly and claims a small prize kept at the gift table, though most tables just keep playing through every speech for fun.

One printed card per guest, a pen, a small prize for the first bingo. No setup time beyond printing, since it runs during whatever toasts already happen at the party. A card full of guaranteed phrases turns into bingo within one speech, so mix in a few unlikely ones to stretch it out across the whole toast.

16. Guess Who Said It: Groomsmen Edition

Ask the groom’s closest friends to send one true, specific sentence about him before the party, a nickname, a dumb thing he did in college, how he actually proposed, whatever is real and his own.

The host reads each quote aloud without naming who said it, and every guest writes down which groomsman or friend they think it belongs to on their numbered sheet.

Once every quote has been read, go back through and reveal the real names one at a time. Whoever matched the most quotes to the right person wins the round.

Five to ten real quotes collected from the groom’s friends ahead of time, one printed guess sheet per guest, a host willing to read them aloud with a straight face.

A quote that is too easy, anything with a name or an obvious inside joke, gives itself away in the first line, so ask friends for something that does not name-check the groom directly. If a friend cannot make it in person, collect the quote by text and read it the same way.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you get the groom involved in bridal shower games?

Give him an active role rather than a spectator seat: pull him into the newlywed quiz, pair him on a cornhole team, or hand his friends a relay. Games with teams and physical movement pull men in far more reliably than quizzes about china patterns.

How many games should you plan for a coed bridal shower?

Plan four to five games for a shower running longer than two hours, or two to three for anything shorter. Running team scores across every game, rather than resetting each round, keeps a shorter list feeling full.

What if the groom does not want to play any games?

Keep his required part to one or two short rounds, like the newlywed quiz, and let his friends carry the louder games like cornhole or flip cup without him. Nobody needs the groom center stage for every single round.

Should coed bridal shower games have a winner or a prize?

A small prize helps but is not required, since running team points across the whole party already gives guests something to care about. Save any bigger prize for whichever team leads once the last game ends.

How long does a round of coed bridal shower games usually take?

Most active rounds, from cornhole to flip cup, run ten to fifteen minutes including setup. Printable rounds like trivia or a word search run faster, usually five to ten minutes, which makes them useful for filling a lull.

Can coed bridal shower games work without asking personal questions about the couple?

Yes: cornhole, flip cup, a blind taste-off, a movie trivia round and a word search all run without either partner answering a single personal question, which helps if the couple is shy or the group includes people who barely know them.