I need reception activity ideas!

[maplekitty]

I'd really like people to walk away from our wedding saying "wow, that wedding was fun, that was a great wedding". I have no doubts that our friends and family will have fun regardless, because they are a great, friendly and neat bunch of people, however I still want them to have activities.

Since the wedding is going to be in the morning/afternoon, and a seaside theme - one thing we came up with was having a table with a large pile of sand from the beach, and some "tools" for people to partake in making a sandcastle.

We are also doing the camera scavenger hunt, but I'd like some other "things".

I don't want it to get stupid, or all over the place, but I don't want people to get bored just sitting at their tables chatting, you know?

Any ideas would be great :)

[ejs]

Why do you think people will get bored? They'll get up and mingle, won't they? Are you having dancing?

I think kids will enjoy the sandcastle table.

I know there are scrapbook/photo album pages people can fill out. Or wishing well slips.

I guess I'm just not clear on what you're looking for.

[Millie03]

I don't know if this is what you are looking for but at my SIL's wedding, they had a really entertaining, cute game that they played. I'm not a big fan of games but this really was funny and I think it was great (I wish I had known about it for our wedding!).

Here it is:

Bride & Groom sit back to back, each holding a pink & boy bear (or whatever). Pink is for the bride, and blue is for the groom (duh).

The DJ asked them several questions like:

*Who said I love you first?
*Who's messier?
*Who is going to control the finances?
*Who's family is wackier?

And so on and so forth. The Bride & Groom (not seeing each other, of course) raise whichever bear they think. It was VERY amusing. I don't know all of the questions that they asked....

They also had a dance where all married couples danced and as the DJ called out # of years, if you were married for less than that, you sat down. The DJ then asked the last couple standing to give "the secret of marriage" to the bride & groom. Not "fun", but cute and sweet.

This is, of course, assuming you have a DJ. It doesn't really go with your seaside theme, but I thought it was fun.

I like your sandcastle building idea!

Hope this helps!

[maplekitty]

We are not having a DJ, and we hadn't planned on having dancing because of it being a morning wedding and its not like we're having a raucous party until all hours of the night. But now I'm re-thinking that perhaps we should have dancing, the only problem is we don't really have room for dancing, since the reception is in the backyrad of the cabin, and most of the space will be taken up by tables. And I hate the idea of everyone moving the tables to edges to make space in the middle because then some people can't get to their seats and you're all squished together.
The reason I'd like *activities* is because I just came from a wedding this weekend...where most of our friends are mutual...and no one was really into dancing. The kids were obviously spinning around and there was the odd older couple that danced the night away. A few songs drew a crowd out, but for the most part no one danced, and we all mingled...but then I noticed people were getting bored and it was only 9pm. I really don't want this to happen at my reception.

When I've talked to peole about their favourite wedding memeories, I've noticed people say "this was such a fun wedding because did _________".

The guestbook pages are good too...I've seen where they have a page at each place setting. That could work too.
I like that little bride/groom quiz game...that could be funny!

thanks for the ideas...keep 'em coming :)

[BethElena]

maplekitty - i know what you mean. my family & his doesn't dance, and we have a huge dance floor! What to do?

Here's an idea : My cousin used this to get things off on the right start. I know you don't have room for much, but would this work? 1 person from each table is nominated to go onto the "dance floor". Then, they are each handed a hola-hoop. They have to spin the hola-hoop on their hips for as long as possible (in dress cloths). Winner gets a prize. I know that got a lot of people active that would have otherwise been bored.

They also did the whole somebody get a dollar out of their wallet, and pass it as the music plays. Then when it stops, the winner gets the $1. Kind of silly, but people actually enjoyed it!

Good luck deciding what to do!!

[southerner]

We didn't have dancing at our wedding either and I don't think anyone got bored. We played a Power Point slidewhoe of our lives before each other, then our life together. The guests liked seeing themsleves in the pictures. We also had a photo guestbook.

[PG-rated]

I would be careful of setting up any activities that aren't 100% optional. There will always be people who just want to do their own thing, and forcing them into an activity won't make them have a good time.

I'm confused about your timetable - if it's a morning wedding, I would imagine that people won't feel the need for much dancing. Try to set things up so that people are encouraged to mingle - passed hors d'oeuvres or several stations, a couple of smaller bars instead of one big one, etc.

We did the photo scavenger hunt and the guestbook pages at each place, and those went over well. We had our reception in a carousel pavilion, so that kept people pretty busy, but I realize that's sort of a unique circumstance. ;)

[Sabrina]

Ah, I get it!

We do this, but when the music stops, the one holding the dollar gets the centerpiece.


Our DJ does this, but the twist is, it is the person who donated the dollar that wins the centerpiece, not the person who ended up with it!

[Chimichanga]

One thing that got friends talking (in a good way) at a wedding we were invited to was a Harry Carey impersonator.

The groom is a HUGE Cubs fan, and they found a guy who looks and sounds exactly like the former announcer. He walked around and chatted with the guests. Unfortunately DH and I had to miss the wedding, but we heard it was a hoot!

Some other brides have mentioned possibly getting caricaturists to come to the wedding - I think that would be neat. Or, have some roaming musicians. I always liked those. There is a barbershop quartet around here that is amazing - I wouldn't imagine they'd be too terribly expensive.

[elladee]

My aunt and uncle has a unique wedding reception. They had a very early afternoon wedding with the receiption at a cabin. It was a casual reception and they suggested that people change into comfortable clothes. At the reception site they had a volleyball net set up, horseshoes, soccerball, frisbee, etc. In the end it was much like a family reunion picinic and everyone had a blast. Some people stood around and talked, others spontaneously created a volleyball tournament.

I don't know if you were going to keep things dressy or not, but even if you do you could still have some lawn games (horseshoes, bocce ball, etc)

I agree with staying away from too many forced activities. I have often seen those backfire and things just got awkward for everyone.

[BethElena]

Ah, I get it!

We do this, but when the music stops, the one holding the dollar gets the centerpiece.

Yeah you're right. I was wrong. And to think, I was the one who won the centerpiece? ha! too much wine.....(and i forgot the centerpiece).

[kemaji]

We had an afternoon wedding in my parent's backyard and we did a 'longest married' dance. It got everyone out in the dance space for at least one dance and it was fun! People just kept on dancing after that, which surprised us.