Contributed by Cindi Pearce, Catalogs.com Top 10 Guru

Bridal showers are tradition.

A woman is getting married so her friends and family collaborate and throw her a party, showering her with gifts for her future home but also with love.

Here are the top 10 bridal shower activities …

10. How many children?

Give the bride-to-be good-natured grief by claiming that for each ribbon she breaks when unwrapping her presents this represents yet another child that she is going to give birth to. This is an old wives’ tale, of course, but it’s still fun to incorporate into a bridal shower. When she inadvertently breaks the eight, ninth or tenth ribbon she may be sweating a bit. Visions of an on-going maternity ward are dancing in her head. Collect the bows and ribbons from the packages, broken or not, and stick them into a paper plate that has had holes punched in it. The holes accommodate the bows, and this creates a pretty bouquet of bows and ribbons. Give the bow bouquet to the soon-to-be bride. She can carry it at her rehearsal.

9. Observation game

This is a fun activity to engage in at a bridal shower: Play the observation game but don’t let any of the guests know they’re playing it. Fifteen minutes after the party has begun, ask the bride-to-be to leave the room. Now ask the guests … what color is the dress that the bride is wearing? Is she wearing earrings? If so, what do they look like? What kind of shoes does she have on? Is she wearing hose? This shows how observant or unobservant the guests are. To make it more complicated, let the bride in on this game before hand, and she can sneak a hair clip into her hair or paint her toenails different colors just to see how closely people are looking at her.

8. Newlywed Game

Play a version of The Newlywed Game. The hostess should contact the groom prior to the shower and asks him various questions, such as when and where he first kissed his fianceé. Write down the questions and his responses. At the shower, tell the guests that you are going to ask the bride-to-be 10 questions about her fiancé. Have them write down how many of the answers they think she will get correct. Read the questions, which the bride tries to answer correctly. It is interesting to see how well the bride knows the groom and how well her family and friends know her.

7. Make certain she’s certain

Interrogate her: Is she really sure that she wants to go through with this? Forget this. It’s too late. The bridal shower is not the time or the place to question the woman’s choice of a husband. Just smile and be happy or pretend to be even if you can’t stand the man she is about to marry.

6. TP dress

Stock up on toilet paper. Divide your guests into groups of two or three, hand out rolls of toilet paper and give them 15 minutes to fashion a bridal gown out of the toilet paper. This is great fun! The bride ultimately chooses who are the next top designers of bridal wear and gives the winners a keepsake. Remember to have someone taking lots of pictures so the bridal shower can be captured for posterity.

5. Slide show

If you have the means, gather pictures of the bride-to-be and her future husband and transfer them to your computer. Make a slide show out of the picture collection, which documents the progress of the relationship that is leading to marriage. Project the slide-show onto a screen or wall, or load it to a digital picture frame and let it run throughout the party. Set it to background music. Everyone loves looking at pictures.

4. Sexy lingerie

Give the bride-to-be sexy bridal lingerie. This is always good for a laugh or two – and it is always appreciated. This can be embarrassing if the mother of the bride or future mother-in-law is present. You might want to toss in some sex toys, too, but remember … you don’t want to cause anyone to have a heart attack, including and especially the bride to be. Use good judgment.

3. Give a big present

Instead of each guest buying a present, prior to the event coordinate and combine your efforts and agree upon one big present to give the bride – such as a trip somewhere or a day at a spa. Everyone contributes to the pot and voila. The bride-to-be gets a trip to Vegas instead of a dozen pot holders and four toasters, or she’s off to a day at an elaborate spa where she can indulge herself.

2. Collect advice

Give each guest a piece of paper on which is written “Advice to the Bride” and a pen. Instruct them to write down a difficulty that they have encountered in their marriage and how they overcame it. In addition, each guest should write down the greatest joy that they’ve experienced as a result of their marriage. Toss all the notes into a basket and encourage the bride-to-be to read them throughout the party. This will make the bride and guests both laugh and cry, revealing the complexity of marriage but also the joys that go along with this union. If she wants to, let the bride guess who wrote what.

1. Eat

Everyone loves to eat so make sure that there is plenty of food. Accommodate the bride-to-be’s food preferences but also toss in food items that your vegan or diet-conscious guests will enjoy and appreciate. There is no hard-and-fast rule about what should be served at a bridal shower. However, cake, is a must. Bake (or order) a cake in the flavors and design that the bride will enjoy and like. It can be a theme cake. If the bride-to-be likes surfing, incorporate this passion into the design of the cake. If she loves the color blue, be sure to use icing or flowers or any other cake decorating accessory in this hue. Cake decorating and design have risen to a whole new level in recent years. You are sure to find (or create) a cake that will be the topic of conversation for years to come.