Wedding Games & Activities for your Nigerian wedding reception

After the church or civil wedding ceremony, the newlyweds throw a party which is normally called the wedding reception. One important reason why this is done is to entertain their families and friends who have shared their big day with them.

Games and activities are a source of entertainment and play a huge part at wedding receptions. We present some of the most popular wedding games and activities we’ve seen at Nigerian weddings.

The Shoe Game: This involves the newlyweds taking off their shoes, with their backs to each other and the MC asks them a couple of questions. The couples are asked personal questions like

• Who fell in love first?
• Who is the better cook?
• Who said ‘I love you’ first?
• Who wakes up first in the morning?
  

The couple answer the questions by raising up the shoes of either the bride or the groom. For example, if the groom fell in love first, he and his bride would be expected to raise his shoes. 

The blindfold game: This is where the bride or groom wear a blindfold and are asked to touch the hands of several ladies or men to identify his bride/her groom by just feeling their hands.

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Gele game: In thisgame, wedding guests or sometimes the bridal party (bridesmaids and groomsmen) or even the couple are asked to tie the gele (head tie) on a volunteer or on each other for a given time. The crowd picks the winner with the sleekest gele. 

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Dancing competition: This game usually involves the wedding guests or sometimes the bridal party and can come in two forms – the usual dancing competition and musical chairs.

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• The usual dancing competition is done between two or more individuals, and the winner(s) are decided by the crowd and often rewarded with a price.

• Musical chairs: Here, individuals dance around the chairs with the music on. There’s usually one less chair for the number of people participating in this game so the participants have to listen carefully and fight to get a seat when the music stops. Anyone without a seat at the end of the round is out. This process is repeated until there is a last man/woman standing sitting.

Kissing Game: This is where the couple are asked to kiss each other for as long as the MC likes.

Giant Word Search: This is self-explanatory. Here’s an example from Oyeyemi and Ayooluwa’s #ForeverOA17 Nigerian wedding.

Table Games: At some Nigerian weddings, you’ll find card games, ayo as centrepieces on the table. This is a really clever way to get your guests talking and networking.

Bring me a …. : We don’t quite know what this one is called but in this game, the MC asks selected wedding guests or the bridal party to go fetch items and bring them back to him/her within a set time. For example, the MC might ask the participants to go into the crowd and bring back a Google Pixel phone or a Brazillian wig and the last person to bring one over or the person/people who can’t fulfil this task are automatically eliminated. If you know what this game is called or you have a video, please share it with us.