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When planning our smaller wedding, we defaulted to dancing as the reception activity since that's usually what happens, but it's not really what we'd do for fun. We'd like to have another kind of activity that brings us together as a community. Any suggestions?
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Non-dancing receptions are becoming pretty common in offbeat circles, so it's no wonder folks are considering different kinds of activities. Board games are popular, but they can sometimes keep everyone in smaller groups. I scoured our archives and did some brainstorming to see what non-dancing reception activities would bring your guests together. Here are some ideas…
Karaoke or lip sync battles
Karaoke and lip sync battles are often a great way to get your extroverted friends to become cheap reception entertainment. Everyone can get a kick out of watching it, and it's always fun to actually do. No real talent required, especially with lip-syncing. Feel free to give everyone a heads up so they can think of songs they'd like to do.
Large-scale gaming
You'll have to be careful to stay away from isolation land in this scenario, but piñatas, video games that can easily be watched (like Rock Band), lawn games, and (depending on your venue sitch) activities like laser tag can make for a pretty fun non-dance reception option.
Scavenger hunt or mingling games
We've featured a fair few games that get your guests mingling with each other. MINGLO (people mingling bingo), and geeky scavenger hunts, iSpy games get everyone on their feet and laughing.
Do something creative
If you've got creative guests, give them a shot at dancing around a maypole, create a guest book work of art (more ideas here!)
Have an open-air photo booth
Ask anyone who's had a photo booth: they are popular. And an open-air style booth allows guests to watch each other, jump into shots, and generally be more social while getting those new profile photos lined up. Offer up some props and you'll have guests making their own photo booth all over the place.
More ideas than you can count over here.
Give out awards
A costume contest? Farthest traveled? Longest married? Worst pun? Giving away fun favors for various accolades is one way to break up the evening and get everyone thinking, moving around, or coming up with a great pun. Make the favors get awarded by table to make your guests collaborate. Trivia maybe?!
Offer extra entertainment
Take the money you would be putting into a DJ and funnel it towards a magician, a tarot reader, a face painter, some burlesque dancers, fire spinners, a caricature artist, or any kind of entertainer you like.
Need a bunch more non-dancing reception ideas?
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About the Author: Catherine Clark
Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.
These are all great ideas- thanks for brainstorming them! We’re putting out board games, card games, coloring books with colored pencils, Mad Libs, and will have an iPod dock for background music. But after reading this, I think we need to have a scavenger hunt as well. 🙂
Really great ideas! I like them all!
great ideas!