Once you’ve got everything set and organized for the Jack and Jill party of your two soon-to-be-newlywed friends, you have to ensure entertainment is provided for all guests. By entertainment, I mean, organized games! Assuming there will be double the people in attendance as opposed to a regular bachelor/bachelorette party; you require double the festivities, double the giveaways and of course, double the fun. So get your tournament brackets and scoreboards prepared along with a few raffle giveaways and a great mix CD as below are suggested games that are sure to entertain the crowd!

Toonie Toss: All you really need for a Toonie Toss game is a magna-sized bottle of Vodka and masking tape. Place the bottle of vodka on the floor and create barriers so that there is a distance of at least three metres between where the bottle is situated and where you want your guests to throw their toonies. Have each guest write their name on small pieces of masking tape and have them stick each piece on their own toonies. Closest toonie to the bottle, wins it! (Of course, Bride and Groom keep the toonies for their new life together).

Fish Races: For this game, you would need two long horizontal containers or tanks (preferably the same size), two straws and of course, two gold fish! You can have more than two gold fish for multiple games of fish races afterward. However, the game requires only two people to play at a time. Each person simply blows air into the tank using the straw to cause the goldfish to swim in the direction of the air movement. This is continued until the fish reaches the other side of the tank. The first person to have his or her fish reach the other end of the tank, wins the goldfish. Allow your guests to pay per game so that this game can generate income for the bride and groom. A great way to increase money is to have other attendees place bets on who will win.

Pie Throwing: This game is more so for to the groom-to-be, but the soon-to-be-bride can participate as well if she’s up for a little messy fun! All you would need are a few cream pies and a lined piece of paper where guests will write their name down and bet an amount on what is worth seeing a pie get thrown into the face of either the bride or groom. The highest bidder at the end of the night has the honour of throwing the pie(s). Make it interesting and create a second round where your guests will then have to bet on the groom throwing a pie in the bride’s face and vice versa! Entertainment is key! Who wouldn’t like a little pie-in-face action?

Find The Joker (Joker Poker Board): For this game you would need about three decks of cards and some bristol boards. Tape each card facedown on the bristol boards in no particular order. Each person has to pay $5 to select a card (or a as many as they like at $5 each) and write their name on the back of their selected card with a soft tip marker. Once each card is covered in names of guests who have made their selections, tear off each card to reveal its face. Those who guessed where the Joker was wins $50 (while the rest of the money go towards the bride and groom.

Good luck with your party and prewedding fundraising!

Increasing in popularity are the Jack and Jill parties.  Unlike the formal engagement party with solely the bride and groom’s families meeting and celebrating in the couple’s love; the soon-to-be-spouses team-up and join forces with their bachelor and bachelorette parties for a night of fun, entertainment and of course, embarrassing stories!  For those involved with planning the Jack and Jill or as some would call it, the ‘Stag and Doe,’ be prepared to throw a big party as an event like this would involve many people – the bride’s and groom’s friends and families.  The event should most likely be held at a small banquet hall due to the large amount of attendees and consider a disk jockey be present to keep the party pumping all night long.  Games should be taken into consideration, particularly raffle or door prizes, in which funds go to assist the bride and groom with their wedding and new life together.

When considering a theme for the Jack and Jill party, please be sure the theme is compatible for both men and women.  Having a jack and Jill centered around, say, a ‘football-and-wings’ theme may not go over well with some of the ladies at the party.  Take each guest into consideration but keep it fun – have games, raffles (as mentioned earlier) and no Jack and Jill is complete without some embarrassing stories about the Bride and Groom, so delegate a few friends to say some speeches! 

Some themes you may want to consider are a Hawaiian Luau, Casino Night Party, Western Theme, and many others – try to stick to each theme as much as possible from the food choices to the centre pieces and even the festivities!  You want to keep guests entertained all night long and enjoying every bit of it!  Stick to the theme with colours, décor and style …even with your wardrobe as the host(s)!  If you have a “Hollywood Oscars Night” theme let’s say, invite your guests to come dressed as their favorite celebrities or have them arrive wearing evening gowns and suits.  The party invitation should reflect the theme very well – if you’re going to go with the Hollywood theme, get snazzy VIP-style invitations made to really set the mood of the event.  You can draw inspiration from movies based on whichever theme you decide.

The Jack and Jill party is a bit cleaner as it is not a typical bachelor/bachelorette party with the usual adult content.  Bachelor and Bachelorette parties are centered around having the future Bride or Groom enjoy their final days as a single person by dancing with the opposite sex, or going to a strip club and so on. One thing that you should think about is the possibility of inviting children to this event since it is more friends-and-family oriented and may not run very late into the night.  Having said that, you might want to have a children’s table set up complete with loot bags, colouring books and the like so that the little ones at the party don’t get bored or feel left out.