Engagement party games for girls

A restaurant or home is a classic choice for an engagement party, but there's no reason you have to limit yourself to those two options, and any spot—from an art gallery to a beach—is fair game.

Just like the wedding venue, the place you pick should speak to the formality of the party you want to throw, so if you're thinking casual, your backyard or a local park could be a great option.

Or, perhaps a friend or family member has the perfect place to throw a party. For something more formal, you might look into a country club or hotel rooftop. As you decide on the venue and formality, keep in mind: You never want to upstage the actual wedding, so try to create a different mood for the engagement party—maybe you balance a destination wedding with a home-cooked dinner party or set apart a black-tie ballroom affair with a sit-on-the-floor, buffet-style engagement bash.

Think of this as a fun launch to what's sure to be an amazing and memorable period of your life. If you're wondering "Who do I invite to this engagement party? That means you should think about the size of your wedding before you set your guest list for the engagement party—you wouldn't want to have a person engagement party if you're planning an intimate person wedding. If you don't have a sense for your guest list yet and that's okay just keep it small with only your closest friends and family to make sure you avoid any hurt feelings later on.

The guest list to your engagement party will also depend on the amount of space available, your party budget and who is planning the party.

For example, if your parents are planning the bash and covering the cost, it's probably appropriate to let them help you decide the guest list. If you already have a space picked out for the party -- such as a local restaurant, a friend's house or your backyard -- space limitations may help you cull your list.

Also, consider who lives in town or within driving distance of the venue. For the best engagement party attendance, let your guests know the date as soon as possible. Just like with the venue, your invites should match the formality of the event you're planning.

E-vites with a summertime theme are totally appropriate for a backyard cookout, but for a sit-down dinner at a chic restaurant, you should consider a paper invite. Naturally, we love The Knot Invitation for engagement party invitation options think: all budgets, all styles.

Or if you've chosen your wedding invitation designer already, see if they'll give you a special rate. And don't worry if you haven't settled on a color palette yet—your engagement party invites don't need to match the rest of your stationery. Send out the invites at least a month in advance six weeks ahead if a lot of guests are coming from out of town. There's no need for a formal save-the-date, but once you've pinned down the day, it's a good idea to let guests know by word of mouth before you send out the formal invites.

Your stationery can also double as engagement announcement cards. Another important element when planning an engagement party is, of course, the food. You certainly don't have to serve a five-course sit-down dinner with an open bar unless you want to , but there should definitely be something to munch and sip on at your party.

Anything from passed appetizers or tasting menu stations to an eat-when-you-want cookout will work. If you're not serving a full course, you should pick a time in between typical meals and make it clear on the invitation, so your guests know what to expect. For example: "Join us in celebrating Alex and Taylor's engagement with desserts and champagne.

Another idea: Add some personalization to the food and drink by featuring cuisine from a memorable date or vacation, such as sushi rolls and sake-tinis for a Japanese-inspired menu. This is a great time to introduce some of your favorite foods to your loved ones. You don't have to match the style or colors of your wedding perfectly, or even at all, for your engagement party.

When in doubt keep it simple—a bunch of fresh or paper flowers will instantly perk up any space. You can work with a florist to have them make a few small arrangements, but this is also a great time to try your hand at some DIY projects too. Want to look beyond flowers? Dress up the tables with colorful fabric, an assortment of votive candles or a few accents that hint at your wedding theme, like seashells for beach nuptials. The Knot Wedding Shop is chock-full of cute and affordable party decorations.

Unlike the bridal shower and the eventual wedding, gifts aren't necessarily given for the engagement party. That said there's always a chance you'll get some anyway. If you're hoping to receive gifts for your engagement party , then this would be a great time to start building your registry so that you can add a link to your wedding website on your invite.

If you prefer guests not bring gifts or want to suggest a favorite charity they can donate to in lieu of presents, a polite note on the invitation will make it clear. On the day of, if guests do end up bringing gifts to the party, find a discreet and secure place to put them, so guests who come empty-handed don't feel uncomfortable.

Set up a faux photo booth in the corner of the room that has all kinds of fun props that guests can use to take photos of themselves. You can use these printable photo booth props from Something Turquoise and Botanical Paperworks to make it even more fun.

Get the guests outside with some fun lawn games like ring toss and cornhole that can be customized for the future bride and groom. Have each guest write down a memory about the bride or groom and anonymously place it in a jar or bowl.

Have the happy couple read the memories aloud and try to match the guest with the memory. Hide plastic wedding rings all over the party. The guest who finds the most rings is the winner.

Write down these wedding-themed songs, movies, and items on slips of paper for a fun game of charades that will have everyone laughing. When the guests are invited to the engagement party, ask them for an interesting and not widely known fact about themselves. Write all the facts on a bingo card, which guests will use to find out which guest belongs to which space. This is a great ice-breaker and fun way to start the party.

Here's a fun engagement party game all about the bride and groom-to-be. Get photos of the happy couple and cut them in half. Place each half in an envelope. Give all guests an envelope and have them find the other guest that has the matching half of the photo.

This works just like the TV show of the same name. Seat the couple back-to-back and take turns asking them newlywed questions.

Will they have the same answer? How to play: If you're inviting guests from all over the map, whose only thing in common is their connection to the couple, this picture-matching engagement party game helps jump-start the chitchat.

Ask the couple for an assortment of photos of the two of them or print them from online. You'll need half the number of photos as there are engagement party guests, so if there are 30 attendees, you'll need 15 photos.

Make sure there are copies of these snapshots if they're prints from the couple, since they won't be returned in one piece. Cut the photos in half and place each half in an envelope to be handed out randomly to guests when they arrive. Guests have to talk to one another to find their picture's other half—which can lead to some pretty funny mismatches along the way. What you'll need to play: Homemade Bingo boards for each guest you can make them out of paper or cardboard , Bingo chips, pennies or other small markers, prizes.

How to play: Who doesn't love an old-fashioned game of Bingo? It's a throwback that's perfect for personalizing, especially for an engagement party game. Instead of standard Bingo boards with letter and number combinations for example: B5 , create a board with fun images and phrases related to the couple's relationship their wedding date, meeting spot, honeymoon location and so on.

As the Bingo caller, you can opt to play the traditional way in which anyone who gets five spaces in a row horizontally, diagonally or vertically wins, or switch it up after a few rounds to one direction only to make it a little more challenging. Whichever guest wins each round gets an engagement party favor. What you'll need to play: Pads of paper, pens or pencils, bowl, prizes.

How to play: For this surprisingly tricky engagement party guessing game, have each guest write down 10 famous romantic couples alive or dead, real or fictitious, together or divorced and place them in a bowl. Split guests into pairs. With each team going one at a time, one partner the clue giver picks a famous couple out of the bowl and must get their partner the guesser to guess the right couple—20 questions style.

The guesser can ask up to 20 questions to determine who the mystery couple is, and the questions will be answered with either a "yes" or a "no" from the clue giver.

For a little excitement, set a timer for a minute or two for each pair's turn, and see how many famous couples each team can get through before the time is up! Tally and score at the end, and whichever pair got the most couples right gets an engagement party favor. How to play: Fast and festive engagement party word games like this one are ideal for Boggle and Scrabble lovers. Have guests list all the words they can make using individual letters of the couple's first names—depending on name length and difficulty, add last names too, and potentially middle names and nicknames.

The person with the longest list of actual words wins an engagement party favor. Consider rewarding points for categories like the longest word, the most wedding-relevant terms and the funniest word about the couple. What you'll need to play: Premade lists, pens or pencils. How to play: This engagement party game is all about the attendees of the engagement party. With the couple's help, make a list of facts about each guest or do some solo online research if you're feeling confident!

Everyone at the party receives a copy of the list and a pen, then mixes and mingles to match the fact to the guest by asking questions—without using any words in the fact.

What you'll need to play: Index cards, pens or pencils, two small white boards, white board markers. When it's time to play, seat the to-be-weds back-to-back in the center of the room. Each guest will take turns asking their The Newlywed Game —style question, and after each question, the to-be-weds will write down their answers on white boards.

Then one half of the couple tries to guess what they think their partner answered, then their partner flips over the white board to reveal what they actually wrote, and vice versa for the other person's turn. The engagement party favor goes to the guest or guests that have the most creative questions. And for a slightly different variation of this game, check out the rules for the Shoe Game.

What you'll need to play: A good imagination. How to play: Another awesome icebreaker engagement party game! Guests each get a turn to share three statements about themselves. Two of the statements are true and one must be a lie.

The story can be true or false, but it must be believable. The guest will then decide if it is true or false. Then repeat this with each guest, and see who gets the most right at the end.

Lets say that the couple is planning a romantic small getaway wedding on a tropical resort, have the party be themed as a beach. Have all the guest dress up in this attire. Then have a limbo contest.

You could also do a color theme where everyone wears red, or black. You get to enjoy wine, cocktails, food, share stories and best of all you get to play the engagement party games. These moments make the time spent with family and friends enjoyable and create lifetime memories. The memories that a couple has at their engagement party will be ones they will never forget. Skip to content.