Need ideas for Bridal Shower Activities (not games!). Please help!

We did something really neat at a friends shower. There was a very large platter that we all were supposed to put how we met, year met and our name (I met her at volleyball tryouts before high school so I drew a volleyball and put my name & year). It was then fired so it would be permanent. She uses it all the time and its fun to see it when she has people over. Everyone does it on their own at some point through the shower.

We have the same issue, so we are doing questions about the bride and groom and giving people each a question or answer and once everyone is there, we will have them pair up by finding the answer or question. We plan on playing a game requiring a partner after this so that each person meets at least one person at the party and might feel a little more comfortable.

If you're a wine person, I'd have something where you could design your own wine glass charm.

Found these online:

1. Words Of Wisdom: There are endless ways to execute this, but the principle remains the same. Guests write words of wisdom about marriage on a piece of paper or in a designated book. The bride and groom will have fun reading the insightful relationship advice (and occasional raunchy sex tip!) after the shower. They can keep the collection and reference it throughout their marriage.

2. Memory Lane: Ask each guest to write down their favorite memory of the bride. When everyone is finished, ask them to pass their reflections to the maid of honor. She'll read each memory aloud and guests have to guess who wrote which memory. It's important to "know your audience" for this game, though. It's bad form to embarrass the bride in front of Granny or her future mother-in-law.

3. The Newlywed Game: Before the shower, ask the groom a series of questions about the bride and their relationship -- Where did they have their first kiss? Who does more household chores? Bring his answers to the shower with you. Ask the bride the same questions that you asked the groom in front of the guests. After she answers a question, read the groom's answer aloud and see how they compare. Enjoy the ensuing hilarity!

4. Couples Quiz: This activity puts guests in the hot-seat, as their knowledge of the couple is put to the test. Create a short quiz and give it to the bride and groom to complete together before the shower. Include questions about their relationship -- How long have they been together? What is their favorite thing to do as a couple? Make copies of the quiz and pass them around to shower guests to complete. Read the couple's answers aloud and give a small prize to the guest with the most correct answers.

5. Cupcake Decorating: Organize a cupcake decorating station at the shower, complete with a variety of un-frosted cupcakes, white icing, food coloring, sprinkles and sugar pearls. Some professional bakers, such as Julia Giddens of Batterfingers in Toronto, will come to your venue and teach guests the inside scoop of cupcake decorating (it's much harder than it looks!) and will often provide supplies. In the invitation, tell guests they are welcome to bring an apron -- things could get messy!

6. Recipe Collection: Before the shower, ask each guest to submit their favorite recipe, along with a photo. Once you've collected all of the recipes and images, compile them in a book and present it to the bride at the shower. She will be more than touched by the surprise and will love having everyone's favorite recipe in one custom, personalized cookbook. You can assign a theme to the recipes, if you wish. For example, only sweet treats if the bride loves to bake.

A Quilt for the Bride

For a shower quilt, set up a table with squares of fabric in compatible shades (draw from the colors of the wedding or the couple's home) and fabric pens. Ask each guest to write her initials or a message on a square. After the shower, a friend or family member can embroider the letters or words.

Datebook for the Bride

Fill a bowl with cards inscribed with each of the twelve months after the wedding; on the back write an idea for an outing with the bride -- for example, "Meet for brunch" or "Get a pedicure together." (Each month can have more than one activity.) Each guest picks a card and writes her name on it. Arrange the cards by month into a booklet, so the bride has a year's worth of dates with all the important women in her life -- and a unique record of everyone who attended her shower.

How Old Are You? Game

Assemble a dozen or so photographs of the bride, showing her at different ages. Mix them up so they're not in order. Give pencils and paper to everyone, pass the photos around or display them someplace where everyone can see, and have guests write down their guess as to how old the bride was in the picture (she has braces, so that must have been in junior high). A prize goes to the person who gets the most ages right.

Scrapbook for the Bride

In the shower invitation, ask each guest to bring small items that have some significance in her relationship with the bride -- photographs, ticket stubs, cutouts from magazines, and so on. Set up a craft station with an expandable scrapbook, scissors, glue sticks, double-sided tape, stickers, glitter, pens, markers, and other supplies. During the shower, guests can take turns designing their pages to be added to a scrapbook for the bride as a keepsake.

Photo Album for the Bride

Ask guests to bring a few photos of themselves and the bride. Hand out pens and paper and, at the shower, have them write captions for the photos. Place the photos in an album, and affix the captions underneath. Pass the album around for guests to look at.

"Who Am I?" Game

As they arrive, give each guest a name tag, and ask her to tell you, in a few words, how she's connected to the guest of honor. Under the person's name, write an abbreviated version of her response -- for example, "BFCR" for bride's first college roommate. As guests mingle, they can try to guess what the abbreviations stand for.

Love Bingo

Learn more about the bride and the groom by playing a round (or two) of love bingo.

1. Print grids of 16 squares onto card stock. Number squares randomly, 1 to 16.

2. For paddles, glue a craft stick between two card-stock rectangles; write the bride's name on one side, the groom's on the other.

3. Number 16 cards 1 through 16; on the back of each, write something about the bride or groom ("hates bugs" or "Madonna fan"). Each player gets a bingo board, paddle, and candy "chips." The leader reads the cards; with the paddle, players indicate whom the statement is about. If correct, they place a chip on the square with the card's number. Whoever gets four in a row first wins.

I went to a bridal shower this morning that was totally pinterest themed but it was gorgeous. They had craft sticks on each table for guests to fill out a fun date night and the couple could pick from a jar when they needed an idea for a date. They also had these whitewashed flower boxes/arrangements on each table with dates written in chalk that were special to the couple. Examples were, their birthdays, when they met, when they got engaged, their first trip together, when they got their puppy, etc. You had to figure out what the dates were and then hand in the paper when you got up for food. The main point was, they didn't make the games cheesy. Everything was so classy and the "games" were done while everyone was eating and talking. There was not time set aside where everyone just worked on the games which is how I think most showers should be.

Gift bingo. Give each guest an empty bingo board and they write in things they think you will open. When you open things, they cross off their boxes. And if you don't want to admit you won, you don't have to!

Word searches work the same way to (speaking from experience at a baby shower. I had no one to talk to so I minded my own, found all the words in the word search, didn't admit I found them all and moved on.)