toledoblade.com --

One can love bridal shower games for the opportunity they offer to act foolish or show off otherwise useless skills such as making a wedding dress out of toilet paper.

One can despise them for the same reasons.

But, love them or hate them, shower games are a fixture of bridal season. If you have a close friend, co-worker, or relative who's getting married this fall, chances are good that you'll be invited to a shower and expected to plunge cheerfully into competition.

Games actually serve a purpose, according to Judy Cheney, co-owner of the Rosemary Company in Adrian. The six-year-old business sells baby, wedding, and memorial products, wholesale and online through two Web sites, rosemarycompany.com and 4showers.com.

"The idea is to involve everyone and to laugh and have a good time and to get to know each other," Ms. Cheney explained.

"Games have kind of evolved in today's world," Ms. Cheney noted. "Younger people are not so much into the formality of playing a game. They like to have a more conversational thing or do something that's more informal."

Today's games also are less competitive than they used to be. "People sometimes used to be embarrassed about not knowing an answer," she observed, pointing to the increased popularity of games of chance such as bridal bingo.

The setting for a shower affects the type of games that are played. "Now, more and more showers are being held in restaurants, so if you do something it has to be fast, simple, and not too loud," Ms. Cheney said.

Here are a few games to try, courtesy of the Rosemary Company:

Wedding Alphabet Game: The host starts with a sentence using the letter "A" to describe a wedding item or tradition. For example, "I went to a wedding and brought an album." The next guest must repeat this sentence and add an item starting with the letter "B." For example, "I went to a wedding and brought an album and bubbles." The next guest does the same thing, adding an item that starts with a "C." Anyone unable to add a wedding-related item must drop out. The person who stays in the game the longest wins the prize.

Who Am I?: For this popular ice-breaker, prepare index cards with the names of famous people written on them. Attach a card to each guest's back so that person cannot read the name, but everyone else can. Each guest must ask the other guests for clues to the identity of the famous person whose name is taped to his or her back.

Famous Couples Charades: Guests separate into groups and write down the names of famous couples from current times or past. Each team then selects a person to act out the charade and they draw from the opposing team's list of names. Team members must guess who the couple is as the appointed member silently acts out the clues.

Bridal Scramble: Use about 20 words that have something to do with "wedding." (Bride, groom, bridesmaid, maid of honor, limousine, garter, tuxedo, flower girl, rings, shower, honeymoon, church, reception, etc.) The letters of the words are scrambled and everyone has 10 minutes to unscramble them. The person who unscrambles the most wins the prize.

Pin the Bridal Bouquet: Each player draws a bouquet on a small piece of paper. The player's name is written on the paper, and a piece of double-faced tape is attached to the back. A large piece of paper with a bride picture is put on a card table and the player is led blindfolded to the table, where she must try to put the bouquet in the bride's hand. The winner is the one who gets her bouquet closest to the bride's hand.

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