Breaking the Ice

There was one aspect of our Countdown Party which almost got left on the chopping block... party games. Having grown up on horror stories of bad bridal shower games and the Newlywed show, I didn't really think that a party game was necessary. However, early on in planning we thought it would be cute to hide "Mickey"s around the house and have people compete to find them. The game was inspired by the Disney tradition of "Hidden Mickeys":

A Hidden Mickey on a carosel ride at the BoardWalk Resort [src]

The Disney official history goes like this: Hidden Mickeys started in the late 1980’s in Epcot as an inside joke among the Imagineers. Hiding Mickey around WDW was just plain fun! However, Jim Hill (jimhillmedia.com) believes in this "unofficial history": Hidden Mickeys were born as the Imagineers were designing Epcot in the late 1970's and early 1980's. At that time, Disney management felt that the characters belonged in the Magic Kingdom only. The Imagineers disagreed and began slipping Mickeys into Epcot! I suspect that Mickey Mouse designs that were previously in place in WDW (and Disneyland) also became known as Hidden Mickeys. Because of the popularity of HM’s, Imagineers are encouraged to place them in new construction. [src]

We made a list 27 places to place HMs around our house, but by the day of the party, still hadn't made a single one.  I was ready to give up on the project, but M recruited my Dad and began cutting Mickey ears out of construction paper and placing them around any circular object they could find! 

Two HMs "hidden" in our Welcome banner

Magnets disguised as HMs

By the start of the party we had all 27 HMs up, and people actually had a blast trying to find them all.  It gave guests something to do when they first arrived, when everyone's a little awkward anyway.  M's brother and Best Man really took to the challenge and found all 27 within the first half hour!

The other party game we played was a variation of the popular Baby Shower "Pin" game.  As guests walked in we gave them a necklace, and instructed them that if they heard someone say the word "wedding" they could steal their beads.  At the end of the night whoever had the most beads would win.

Our friend Andrew won his necklaces legitimately....

I was the worst at this game, naturally!  People kept trying to steal my necklace, so after a while future-FIL gave me all the beads he'd won just to see how quickly I'd run through them.  :D

All in all, it made me think differently about party games.  While they may seem outdated or cheesy, they really did get people comfortable and talking to each other.  I've been to a few weddings where there are icebreakers during the cocktail hour or rehearsal dinner, and after this experience I think it's definitely something we'll include.

How do you all feel about icebreaker games?  Fun or cheesy?  Are you going to include any at your wedding or at a party?