What do people do at bridal showers?

People from different cultures sometimes have different ideas about how to have fun and what games should be played at different occasions.  I'm finding that to be very true between America and Vietnam.  If you have a fun idea for a bridal shower game, will you please post a comment for my students?  Thanks!  Also, any good recipes for snack food to eat at the party would greatly be appreciated as well.

For the students:  The purpose of a bridal shower is to help the bride prepare for her new life with her husband.  So, her female friends will "shower" her with gifts for her new life.  A typical gift includes lingerie (what you wear to bed at night when you have a husband).

Not all bridal showers have to include giving lingerie, though.  Some bridal showers are recipe showers.  Instead of lingerie, the guests will bring their favorite recipe (instructions how to cook a dish) and maybe something useful in the kitchen like a pot or pan. 

Comments

[Carol]

I have one suggestion for a game....you make up many questions re the bride's likes & dislikes
(20 questions) such as "what is the bride's favorite color" or does she
like tea or coffee better. He (Jon) has to guess too as do all the guests.
Then at the end, it is HIS answers that are read to the crowd. Then YOU give
your answers and see how they compare. Your guests correct their own papers
and whoever has the most right wins a small prize. (This game also serves to
show what you really know about each other's likes & dislikes!)

[Emily]

Here's a game that was played at one of my bridal showers:
The hostess of the shower had a basket full of ingredients and supplies for making a popular American meal - spaghetti. Each guest had a piece of paper and pen. As the hostess pulled an item out of the basket, she would say, "How much does this item cost?" The guests, including me, had to guess how much that item cost by writing our answers down on our paper. Some of the items were food for making spaghetti (noodles, sauce, spices), some were utensils for making spaghetti (cooking spoons, a colander, a cooking pot), and some were general cooking supplies (a table cloth, an apron, a napkin holder, napkins). After all items had been shown, and we had written down our guesses for costs of each item, the hostess told us how much she had truly paid for each item. We graded our own papers. The guest who had the most answers close to the real answers won a prize: a scented candle. At the very end, the hostess put all items back into the basket and gave it to me as a gift.

[Darcy]

Bridal Showers are a time to honor the bride and celebrate her getting married. It is common for the time to include time for guests to socialize with each other and with the bride to be. Sometimes a bridal shower may have the opportunity for the guests to share what they appreciate about the bride or for the guests to share a bit of wisdom for the bride as she prepares to get married. Usually the guests bring presents for the bride and these may be around a theme - like preparing for her wedding night/honeymoon with lingere and other sexy gifts or the theme could be more practical like gettinng the bride kitchen items and great recipes for her new life. So there is usually a time where the bride would open presents and the guests would watch and enjoy. There is also usually a time of eating. At most showers there are games to be played also.

Thank you.