Drowned by Maid of Honour Duties? Here’s Our Countdown of the 40 Best Hens Party Games to Help You Plan an Amazing Hens Party!
We’ve been all there! Stuck. Stressed. Under the pump with deadlines. But I think we can all agree that there is one role, which truly takes the stress cake.
The President of the United States of America? Nope. The CEO of a large, multinational corporation? Please. The role I’m thinking of is under far more pressure than both those combined; The Maid of Honour, prepping a hens party for all her hen’s family and friends.
If you’re just a few weeks out from the big day (the hens party, that is; not the day of lesser importance that follows it) and you still haven’t organised anything more than a new dress and a bangin’ playlist, no worries! We’ve got you covered with our countdown of the 40 best hens party games.
40. Lucky Chance Dance
For prep, you need a list of songs likely to be played during the day and night. All the songs need to be written on a slip of paper and placed in a bowl. When the day begins, each guest picks out a song name and if and when the song plays (either at the hens event or, better yet, out on the town later that night) whoever drew the song has to dance to it until it ends. If you’d rather a more private party, why not hire out some equipment and turn your living room into the ultimate disco party where you can dance the night away.
39. Fear Factor
The oldest hens party trick in the book: hilarious, often public, dares directed fairly and squarely at the bride-to-be. While it’s designed for the guest of honour to cop the brunt of the humiliation, it works best when all the guests are involved.
38. Breaking The Ice
The first few moments of any hens party are often a little awkward, with friends and family from all walks of life mingling, often for the first time. Help those attending break their own ice with conversation starters stuck to the bottom of each guest’s champers glass.
37. Balloon Trivia
Another of our favourite hens party games designed to break the ice, for this one you need to get all guests to write a naughty or nice question on a piece of paper, ahead of the event, and pop them into party balloons before inflating them. Then, in moments throughout the festivities, the bride-to-be needs to pop the balloons and answer the questions.
36. Pass The Rudey
This one isn’t for the grandmothers in attendance, but it’s a cracking laugh for the right crowd. Guests form a line and have to pass down an object from guest-to-guest, using only their chins. And in this case, an adults-only object, if you get our drift…
35. Hen Scavenger Hunt
This one needs some prep, but it’s a lot of fun for an active hens group. In the spirit of The Amazing Race, guests split into teams and disperse throughout the city or ‘burbs, looking for pre-placed, hidden items (make them risqué/funny). The team who returns with most collected items wins. Love the idea but tied for time? Skip all the hard work (but still get the credit) and hire someone else to host your Hen Scavenger Hunt.
34. Bridal Pinata
A legend at kids parties, turns out this classic plays well at hens parties, too. For a wedding twist, have all the guests add a slip of paper into it, with a tidbit of marriage advice for the hen before she bashes it open.
33. MCR (My Cocktail Rules)
Everyone loves a sneaky beverage at a hens party, so why not make a game of it? Put together a spread of liquors, mixers, and garnishes and have guests take turns at making their perfect cocktail. When every new round of drinks is served, all other guests can rate the new concoction out of 5 and the winner from the day takes home the ultimate prize: eternal pride. Want to even out the playing field? Hire a bartender to teach you the tricks of the trade.
32. Makeshift Wedding Dress-Making
Every bride has nightmares leading up to their wedding, that they’ll be late to their own special day or, relevantly here, that something terrible happens to their dress the night before. This hens party game lives out that nightmare. Come prepared with a bundle of random pieces of clothing and adornments and, at the start of the festivities, have the guests dress the bride-to-be in a very makeshift alternative wedding dress, which she has to wear all day.
For real wedding dress inspiration, follow @steven_khalil, @savvy_brides, @hopexpage.
31. What The Sock?
This one’s a bit of fun to get the good mood into swing. Come prepared with a collection of random objects (the more creative the better) concealed in black socks and have guests guess what object belongs to each sock. The catch? They can only use their feet to guess.
30. Christmas Tree Bride
Another fun one to get the bride into the mood (embarrassment) for the ensuing festivities. Come prepared with a bundle of very random clothing items and have the bride-to-be dress themselves while they’re blindfolded.
29. Play-Doh Picasso
Another naughty but hysterical one, come prepared with blobs of Play-Doh and have your guests craft a life-like representation of a few naughty objects or body parts.
28. Pin The Trunks On The Hunks
Get your guests and the bride-to-be giggling with this adults-only take on the classic kids party game, pin the tail on the donkey. For this one, though, exchange ‘donkey’ for well-chiselled hunk and ‘tail’ for his pants (or underpants, if you’re catering to a more liberal crowd).
27. Marshmallow Monologue
Come prepared with a few bags of marshmallows. Have guests take turns packing their mouths with as many of them as can fit before trying to say a (risqué) word. One of the simplest hens party games on the list that delivers unlimited lols.
26. Shakespearean Icebreaker
More an icebreaker than one of the hens party games, split the group into two and have both teams come up with a funny poem about the bride-to-be. Add some competitive spice to the mix by having a representative from both teams go to war with their words in an 8-Mile style rap battle.
25. Guess Who
This one could go horribly wrong, in so many ways (if there’s some dating crossover amongst guests), but sometimes a little bit of awkwardness is all a hens party need to take it from zero to hero. All guests are required to bring with them a photo of their first love. All the photos are hung on a wall, next to post-it notes with all the guests’ names, and throughout the day attendees have to match the names to the faces.
24. Undies In The Bowl
A racier/grosser take on Guess Who, above, for this one, guests are required to bring a spare pair of (preferably clean) underwear, which all get thrown into a large bowl. The bride-to-be is then tasked with guessing which pair belongs to which of their family or friends (await the awkward future-mother-in-law guess).
23. Finish Her Sentence
Another one that requires some preparation, put together cards for each guest with ten or so unfinished sentences and an empty writing line for each. Attendees have to write their guess for how the bride-to-be would finish each sentence, earning a point for every correct guess.
22. Forbidden Clothes Pegs
Anyone who’s ever been to any party, ever, knows the formula for this classic drinking game: Four or five words are made forbidden and anyone who says them thereafter has to drink. In this hens party take, guests start the day with 5 pegs pegged to their clothing and any time anyone else hears them use one of the forbidden words (make them wedding-related), the person who uses the word loses a peg to the person who heard them. At the end of the day, the person with the most pegs on their clothing wins.
21. Goldilocks
This one’s another fantastic icebreaker, and we recommend you introduce it early when guests are pouring their first drink or nibbling on their first sandwich triangle. The prep required is a piece of paper with the following sentence at the very top: “Once upon a time, in a faraway land, [NAME] met the love of her life, [NAME] and…” The piece of paper should float around the room for everyone to contribute a follow-on line to the story until it’s a completed fable.
20. The Kitchen Sink
The premise of this one is simple: before the event, prepare a list of items that you might find in the common purse and, when guests arrive, read out the list of items, one-by-one. Guests earn a point for every item they actually have in their purse, with a prize going to the winner.
19. Bridal Trivia
How well do the bride-to-be’s family and friends really know her? In the spirit of a good ol’ fashion pub trivia night, split the guests into two competing groups (try to mix up the guests) and ask a series of trivia questions about her life. To the winning team goes the spoils.
18. Family-In-Law Heads
You know the classic game, Celebrity Heads? Well, this is a potentially awkward but hilarious take on that. Instead of the bride-to-be having to guess the name of the celebrity stuck to their head, they have to guess the name of a person from their in-law’s family.
17. R-Rated Pictionary
Does anything more need to be said for this one? Just be mindful, it might go down like a lead balloon if you introduce it to the wrong crowd.
16. Wedding Charades
Another of the hens party games to adapt a classic. This time, charades. Settle on a list of wedding films and have guests pair off, with one acting out the film title and the other one trying to guess what film they’re awkwardly trying to depict.
15. Celebrity Heads
Another hilarious icebreaker, prepare by finding 10 photos of celebrity couples and gluing the faces of the bride and groom over the celebrities’ faces. Have the guests guess who the celebrities behind the glued-on faces are.
For hair & makeup inspiration, follow @thebridalmakeupco.
14. This Is Your Life
For this one, each guest needs to write down on a slip of paper a memory they have about them and the bride-to-be. All the slips of paper then go into a hat and the guest of honour pulls them out, one by one, and guesses who the memory belongs to.
13. Gift Bingo
To prep for this one, either print out blank bingo sheets from the Internet (search, “bingo sheets”) or make your own, then have the bride-to-be write down 10 gifts she wants to receive on the wedding day on a separate piece of paper. To start the game, ask the guests to fill their empty bingo squares with gift ideas they think the bride-to-be would choose, then read out the gifts she did choose, one by one. Guests then cross off the items on their bingo cards that match what the bride-to-be chose, and the person to cross off an entire line on their card wins.
12. Never Have I Ever
Another classic drinking game, which should be used sparingly, and at the right time (the grandmothers and conservative aunties might not appreciate its nuances). For those who haven’t heard of it, those who want to continue the festivities into the night go around the circle proclaiming something they’ve never done during their lifetime (E.g., “Never have I ever gone bungee jumping”). Anyone in the circle who has done that thing takes a sip of their beverage.
11. Fact Or Fiction
Work with the bride-to-be before the event to put together a list of 10 statements about them and their life (E.g. “She once streaked at a football match”). Make sure half of the statements are true and the other half are false. When the time comes to play the game, read out the statements, one-by-one, to those in attendance with the challenge that they guess which statements about the bride-to-be are facts and which ones are fiction.
10. Champers Pong
So many of our favourite hens party games are wedding-centric takes on the classics, and this one is no exception. Exactly like the perennial party favourite, beer pong, for this one you need a long table (a ping pong table works best) with 10 half-full cups (probably best not to use glasses) of sparkling wine lined up in a diamond formation at both ends. Two teams duke it out, throwing ping pong balls from both ends, with every ball sunk in the opposing team’s cups costing that receiving team the consumption of the cup’s bubbly contents.
9. Bra Pong
An eccentric take on the aforementioned Champers Pong, this one takes things to a whole new level of creativity. This time, instead of the ping pong table with cups down both ends, pin bras of varying sizes onto a pinboard (the big ones up top; the smaller ones down the bottom) and have teams duke it out, this time aiming the ping pong balls to land in the bra cups. For every shot Team A makes in the cups, Team B has to drink.
For wedding ring inspiration, follow @houseofkdor.
8. The Boston Balloon Shuffle
Split the attendees into two competing teams and have each team form two parallel lines. The aim of the game is for a balloon to pass down each line, from team member to team member. The catch is the balloon has to stay between each person’s knees throughout the entire ordeal!
7. Pass The Dare Parcel
So long as you’re good at coming up with hilarious dares, this one will deliver uber lols. It works the same as Pass The Parcel, but what’s wrapped inside each layer of the parcel is a fresh dare, each written on slips of paper. When the music starts, the parcel is passed around the group; when the music stops, whoever’s left holding the parcel has to unwrap a layer and execute the dare written on the slip of paper. Make sure you put easier dares in the outer layers of wrapping, delaying the really embarrassing stuff as the game unfolds.
6. Truth, Truth, Lie
Very similar to number 11 on the list, but this one involves everyone. Go around the room and get every guest to tell two truths and a lie about themselves. Everyone else has to guess which ones are the facts and which one is fiction.
5. Marriage First Aid Kit
This one is less a game and more a necessity for the bride-to-be. Before the event, ask all those attending to contribute one item they think the guest of honour is going to need during her married life. Package up the items nicely in a basket and present them on the day as the ultimate marriage survival kit.
4. Three Hen
If you’ve ever played the dice drinking game, Three Man, you’ll enjoy this wedding take, with the only difference being that rolling a three makes you the Three Hen instead of the Three Man. Two dice and a fresh drink are all you need to get started. Click here if you need a refresher on the rules of the game.
3. Their Last Words
To prep for this one, send this list of questions to the bride’s future life partner and ask them to provide serious answers:
At the end of a long day at work, all I want is for [bride’s name] to…
I spend my morning shower thinking about…
My future wife’s best feature is…
My future wife’s most annoying habit is…
Though she’d never know, when [bride’s name] isn’t home I like to…
Then, at the event, ask the bride-to-be the same questions and see how well (or not well) the answers match up.
2. Bowerbird
Prepare a list of items the bride needs to collect from strangers during the hens party festivities. Things like business cards, locks of hair, underwear, and free drinks make for a hilarious collection.
For all-round wedding tips and inspiration, follow @cosmobride, @weddedwonderland, @onefinedayweddingfairs, @marieclairebrides.
1. Is She Really Going Out With Them?
Perhaps the most classic of the hens party games, prep for this one by gathering answers to a series of questions asked of her future life partner. The more personal the questions, the better. At the event, ask the bride-to-be the same questions and see how well she fares.
Conclusion
There you have it, our countdown of the 40 best hens party games. Hope it helps you plan a truly amazing hens party for your bestie!
If you’re looking for something more to do for the big day, remember to check out our amazing experiences for hens groups of all sizes, including our Hens Mystery Picnic, Hens Wine & Cheese Trivia, Cocktail Masterclass, Hens Party DIY Kits, Amazing Race, and Pamper Party.