PULTEVENT
Engagement party games: 7 ways to get two families talking
The back room of a pub on a Sunday afternoon. On the left, around the sausage rolls, the bride's side: loud, cousins everywhere, someone already doing an impression of her dad. On the right, near the window, the groom's side: four people, very polite, holding their drinks with both hands. The couple are standing in the middle looking from one group to the other. I've seen that exact picture more times than I can count, and the fix is always the same. Give both sides something to do together in the first twenty minutes.
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An engagement party isn't a wedding. There's no timeline to protect, no speeches that have to happen before the kitchen closes, and usually no host. It's a couple, a rented room or a garden, and two families who will be related soon and have met maybe once. That is exactly why a few games help: they give strangers an excuse to talk.
The setup is light. A laptop, the TV in the function room or a borrowed one at home, and PULTEVENT open in the browser. Guests join by scanning a QR code on the screen and play from their phones in the browser, nothing to install. Phones need internet, which in a pub back room usually means asking the bar for the Wi-Fi password and putting it on the screen.
7 engagement party games, in the order I'd play them
1 Welcome screen with the proposal photo
The ring photo, the couple's names and the date of the party on the TV as people walk in, with a slideshow of the two of them behind it.
How to run it. Ask the couple for eight to ten photos from different years of their relationship, not only the proposal.
It gives early arrivals something to look at and point at, which beats standing by the door.
2 Guess the guest
A fact about a guest goes up on the screen: ran a marathon in fancy dress, once met a famous chef on a train, has lived in four countries. Everyone guesses from their phones who it is, then the person stands up.
How to run it. Collect the facts quietly the week before, half from each family. Ask the couple which relatives will enjoy being singled out.
By the end, the groom's shy aunt is the woman who once danced with a rock star, and people walk over to ask her about it.
3 Which baby is which
Baby photos of the couple and of a few siblings from both sides. The room guesses whose is whose.
How to run it. Get the photos from the parents, not the couple. The parents always have the better ones.
Both mothers end up telling stories to each other about the photos. That conversation is the point.
4 How they met, in order
Six moments from the couple's story, mixed up on screen: first message, first date, first holiday, the meeting-the-parents dinner, moving in, the proposal. Guests put them in the right order on their phones.
How to run it. Write each event as a short, specific line: 'The curry house in Leeds where he forgot his wallet' beats 'First date'.
The half of the room that didn't know the story now does, and the couple get to tell the missing bits.
5 True or false about the couple
Statements about the two of them, some true, some invented. 'She has been to Iceland three times.' 'He once cried at a nature documentary.' Phones tap true or false.
How to run it. Make the false ones believable. Anything obviously silly gets guessed in two seconds.
It moves fast and gives both families a few small secrets about the other side.
6 Most likely to, the wedding edition
Guests vote from their phones: who is most likely to cry at the ceremony, to be first on the dance floor, to lose the rings, to give an overlong speech. Candidates are named relatives from both sides.
How to run it. Only nominate people who will laugh about it. Ask the couple to check the list.
It pulls the two families together around shared jokes about named people, which is how in-jokes start.
7 A toast with video messages
Two or three short clips from people who couldn't come, played on the TV right before the couple's parents raise a glass.
How to run it. Keep each clip under a minute and play them back to back so the energy doesn't dip.
It gives the afternoon a proper ending and a reason to stop playing.
Mixes the two sides
Games built around who's who in both families, so people learn names without a formal introduction.
Runs itself on the TV
One person at a laptop clicks through. No microphone or stage required.
Phones do the answering
Guests scan a QR code and tap their answers. Grandparents can play in pairs with a grandchild.
Fits into a Sunday afternoon
Twenty to forty minutes of games, then back to the food and the drinks.
What an engagement party actually needs
Less than people think. Engagement parties go wrong in one way: the two families stay on their own sides of the room all afternoon, and the couple spend it running between them. Games are a bridge. The best ones are about the people present, so guests get to know each other while they play, and nobody has to make small talk about the traffic on the way in.
Keep the whole block to half an hour. It's a party, not a quiz night, and you want to hand the room back to the conversations the games have started.
Who runs it
Usually a sibling or the maid of honor, sometimes the couple themselves. It works fine with the couple at the laptop, though they lose a bit of the surprise. My advice: let a sibling run it and keep the answers from the couple. That way they get to play too, and their reactions are genuine.
One person on the laptop, one person with a loud voice. It doesn't have to be the same person.
A US engagement party and a UK one
In the US an engagement party is often a planned event at a parents' home or a restaurant, sometimes with the bride's parents hosting. In the UK it's more often drinks at a pub or a relaxed do at someone's house. The games don't change, only the tone. At a more formal American dinner, keep it to three rounds between courses. At a British pub do, play them all and let it get a bit rowdy.
Doing it at home
A living room TV is enough. Plug the laptop in with an HDMI cable, open the stage window on the TV and keep the console on the laptop screen. If the TV is small, gather people closer and play fewer rounds with more talking in between. The phones do most of the work, so nobody needs to read small text from across the room.
Relatives who aren't there
Some family always lives far away. Share the stage window in a video call and they can see the TV screen and answer from their own phones through the same QR code. Grandparents in another country get to be part of the baby photo round, which they'll talk about for weeks.
"Can Nana hear us?"
"Nana has already voted."
Before the day
Build the games during the free 3-day demo, no card needed, and run them once on the TV you'll use. If you want to keep the setup for the wedding itself, the full version is a one-time license, no subscription. Prices are on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run engagement party games on a TV
- 1
Two weeks out, ask both families for baby photos, fun facts about relatives and a few short video messages.
- 2
Write the timeline of the couple's story and a list of true or false statements.
- 3
Build the rounds in the console and set up the welcome screen with the couple's photos.
- 4
At the venue, connect the laptop to the TV and check the Wi-Fi from a phone.
- 5
Once most guests have arrived, put up the QR code and start with Guess the Guest.
- 6
Finish with the video messages and hand over to the parents for the toast.
FAQ
What games work at an engagement party?
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See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
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