I am not a fan of shower games and really dislike the idea of little dollar store items as prizes. I'd be perfectly happy avoiding games/prizes altogether, but my mother and step-mother both insist we have to do something. Rather than a bunch of little prizes, my step-mom offered to put together a few prize baskets (like a candle one, avon/bath and body works products one, wine/chocolate one).
What games/alternatives to games would you ladies use to give these away? I'm thinking it has to be something that avoids the possibility of a tie. There will be about 30 people at the shower including some kids. Oh and we will be doing edible favors so everyone will still be leaving with something.
Re: Giving away prize baskets
Lurker here
At my bridal shower my mom had all of the guests write their name and address on their thank you note envelope. Then she collected them all and picked prize winners from that. I know that she is planning on doing this again for my baby shower. It made the thank you note process so much easier for me, as I didn't need to go through my address book to fill out thank you cards, and I knew whose cards I had done and whose I hadn't.
We had a basket raffle. Each guest received 5 tickets. We had a little game on paper the guests could complete to earn more tickets. We just set the answer sheet next to the ticket roll and it worked on the honor system. One extra ticket for each correct answer. The guests could then place their tickets in the raffles boxes corresponding with the baskets they wanted to win. It was an activity to appease the hosts without having a game everyone had to play.