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Old Wives Tales Bridal Shower Game
Free Printable
Every bride-to-be deserves a shower full of laughter, and nothing gets a room giggling quite like a round of Old Wives Tales. This free printable bridal shower game puts a clever twist on the classic fill-in-the-blank format — and the answers will genuinely surprise your guests.
What Is the Old Wives Tales Bridal Shower Game?
Old wives tales are the quirky bits of folk wisdom passed down through generations — the superstitions, household rules, and old-fashioned beliefs that grandmothers swore by and mothers repeated without quite knowing why. In this game, players read a folk saying about house and home and must fill in the missing word from a provided word bank. It sounds simple, but the answers are surprisingly tricky — and wonderfully conversation-starting.
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Perfect for bridal showers, this game works beautifully as a table activity while guests wait for the bride to arrive, as an icebreaker to get strangers talking, or as a structured group activity during the party program. It requires no supplies beyond a printed sheet and a pen, and it plays just as well with a table of ten as it does with a room of fifty. |
Get the Full Version
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Want the complete experience? The full Old Wives Tales game includes all 21 clues — more than double the free version — making it ideal for longer parties, larger groups, or hosts who want a more robust activity. The full version is available for instant download for just $1.99 and includes the same print-ready design and complete answer key. |
Why Guests Love It
Unlike games that put guests on the spot or require trivia knowledge about the couple, Old Wives Tales is a level playing field. Everyone has heard some version of these sayings — never walk under a ladder, a bird flying through a window, the right way to enter a new home. The fun is in how confidently guests fill in their answers, only to discover the traditional answer was something completely unexpected.
It sparks genuine conversation. Guests start sharing the superstitions they grew up with, comparing notes across generations and cultures, and laughing at how seriously their grandmothers took these old household rules. That kind of organic conversation is exactly what makes a bridal shower feel warm and memorable rather than awkward and rushed.
About This Free Printable
The free version of this game includes 10 folk sayings drawn from traditional household superstitions, complete with a matching word bank and a full answer key on page 2. It is print-ready on standard 8.5 x 11 letter paper and designed in a warm vintage style that fits beautifully into any bridal shower aesthetic — rustic, classic, or whimsical.
Simply download, print as many copies as you need, and you are ready to play. No account required, no email sign-up, no strings attached.
How to Play
Playing is simple. Hand each guest a printed game sheet and a pen. Players read each folk saying and choose the word from the word bank that best completes it. Each word may only be used once. When time is called — typically five to eight minutes works well — read the answers aloud from the answer key. Award a small prize to the guest with the most correct answers, or simply enjoy the collective surprise at how strange and specific these old household beliefs really were.
Tips for Hosting
Print a few extra copies for latecomers. Consider laminating a copy to keep as a reusable game master sheet. Pair this game with other printable bridal shower activities for a full party game packet that keeps guests happily occupied throughout the event.
Browse all of our free printable bridal shower games to build your perfect party lineup.
Interested in learning more? Here is a book that may suit your fancy.
Old Wives' Tales: The History of Remedies, Charms and Spells
We may all know that dandelions make us wet the bed, and that stewed prunes are a cure for constipation, but how many of us were aware that a poultice of chicken manure is a remedy for baldness? Or that eel liver will aid a difficult labour?
The woman healer is as old as history. For millennia she has been doctor, nurse and midwife, and even in the age of modern medicine her wisdom is handed down in the form of old wives’ tales.
Using extensive research into archives and original texts, and numerous conversations with women in city and countryside, Mary Chamberlain presents a stimulating challenge to the history of orthodox medicine and an illuminating survey of female wisdom which goes back to the earliest times. What are old wives’ tales? Where do they come from? Do they really work? These questions, and many more, are answered in this fascinating compendium of remedies and cures handed down from mother to daughter from the beginning of time.
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