Hen Party Games

How to Pick the Right Hen Party Games

Hen party games are the quickest way to turn a room of people who half know each other into a group that is actually enjoying itself. You do not need props, a budget or a plan. You need the right game at the right moment.

Three things decide which games land: how well the group knows each other, where you are playing, and how far the bride wants it to go.

If half the guests are meeting for the first time, open with something that needs no confidence, then build up. If you are in a restaurant or a hired house, keep it seated and quiet. If you are out in town, pick something you can play walking between bars. And check with the bride before anything rude goes near her future mother-in-law.

Group size matters less than people think, because most of these scale. If you are planning for a handful of people rather than twenty, our hen party ideas for small groups covers what works better with fewer of you.

Our Most Popular Hen Party Games

Every game below is free to read and use, with the full question sets and rules on each page. They are ordered by how much they get read on this site, which is a fair guide to what people actually end up playing.

Icebreaker Games to Start the Hen Do

The first hour is the awkward one. School friends on one side, work friends on the other, and the bride trying to introduce everyone twice.

How Well Do You Know the Bride is the one to open with, because the bride is the only thing everyone in the room has in common. Never Have I Ever works next, once people have loosened up enough to admit things. If you want something calmer, advice for the bride cards give every guest something to write and read out, and she keeps them afterwards.

Quiz and Guessing Games

These put the couple at the centre, which is why they are the ones people remember.

The Mr and Mrs quiz questions are the classic version: the groom answers in advance, the bride guesses what he said, and the gap between the two is the entertainment. The Mr and Mrs paddle game questions are the faster version for a big group, where everyone votes at once instead of one person answering.

Pick one, not both. They cover the same ground and the group will lose interest the second time.

Hen Party Drinking Games

Drink If is the most read game on this site and it is the easiest to start: one person reads, everyone else listens, and nobody has to volunteer for anything. Prosecco pong and bra pong need a table and a bit of space, so they suit a hired house better than a restaurant.

Worth saying plainly: none of these need alcohol to work. Swap in soft drinks and the games play exactly the same, which matters if anyone is driving, pregnant or simply not drinking.

Cheeky and Rude Hen Party Games

Hen party truth or dare and hen party dares are where most groups end up once the night gets going. Both come in milder and filthier versions, so you can pitch it to the room.

One rule that saves a lot of awkwardness: agree the line before you start, not halfway through. If the bride's mum, auntie or future mother-in-law is there, run the rude round later, after they have gone back to the hotel.

Games to Play Out and About

Sitting-down games stop working the moment you leave the house. These do not.

A hen party scavenger hunt gives the group a reason to talk to strangers and a phone full of photos by the end of it. Hen party bingo runs quietly in the background all day, and the dares above work just as well walking between bars.

Classy, Free and Printable Hen Party Games

Not every hen do wants inflatable props. If the tone is closer to afternoon tea than a night in town, our classy hen party ideas are the better starting point, and the quiz and guessing games above all work perfectly well without a single rude question in them.

For anything you want on paper before the day, the free printable hen and stag do extras cover the sheets worth printing in advance. Everything else here is free to read and use straight from your phone.

Party games at home are worth a mention too, because a lot of hen dos now start in a hired house rather than a bar. Drunk pictionary, the toilet paper wedding dress game and hen party pass the parcel all need nothing more than what is already in the kitchen drawer.

Hen Party Games FAQs

All Our Hen Party Games

Every game guide we have written is below, each one with the full set of questions or rules, free to use.