PULTEVENT
Golden anniversary party games: 7 ways to tell fifty years of a marriage on one screen
A function room above a golf club, Sunday lunchtime. Round tables with gold runners, a carvery at one end, sixty guests whose average age is somewhere around seventy. At the front, the projector shows a black-and-white photo: a young man with enormous sideburns and a bride in a veil, squinting into the sun outside a church in 1976. Underneath it says "Fifty years. Still arguing about the thermostat." The groom from the photo, now eighty-one, stands up to get a better look and says, loudly, "That's a good suit."
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Golden and ruby anniversaries are usually organized by the children, now in their forties and fifties, for parents who insisted they didn't want a fuss. The guests are old friends, siblings, the best man if he's still around, neighbors from three houses ago and a row of grandchildren looking at their phones. The trick is finding things that work for all of them at once, and the answer is almost always the couple's own story.
PULTEVENT runs on a laptop connected to the venue's projector or a big TV. One of the children, or a grandchild who's comfortable with tech, runs it from the laptop. Some games are played from phones via a QR code, no app needed, and the phones need internet. Older guests who'd rather not use a phone play at table level, with a grandchild holding the phone for the table.
7 games and moments for a golden or ruby anniversary
1 The then-and-now screen
Their wedding photo on the splash screen as guests arrive, then a slow slideshow of the decades: the first house, the caravan holidays, the grandchildren's christenings.
How to run it. Ask each child to choose five photos. You'll get a better spread than going through the albums yourself.
Guests gather under the screen and start telling each other stories, which is half the point of the day.
2 The marriage timeline
Events on screen, and the tables put them in order: the wedding, the first car, the year decimal money arrived, the birth of the first child, the first moon landing.
How to run it. Mix family dates with world events. The couple's friends will know the family ones, the grandchildren will guess the rest.
The oldest guests are the experts for once, and they love it.
3 How well do you know them
Questions about the couple, answered from phones: where they met, what he said on the first date, who does the crossword, which holiday they still argue about.
How to run it. Ask both of them the answers separately a month before. When their answers don't match, keep that question in.
It turns fifty years of anecdotes into a game everyone can play.
4 Who said it, him or her
Quotes from the couple on screen, some from old letters, some from the week before. The room votes from phones: his words or hers.
How to run it. Ask them for their favorite things the other one always says. They'll give you plenty.
Affectionate, quick, and the couple heckle each other from the top table.
5 Guess the young guest
Photos of the guests from decades ago: the best man at twenty-two, the bridesmaid in her flares, the neighbor in his army uniform. The room guesses who's who.
How to run it. Contact the guests quietly for old photos via their own children. Many of them won't have scans.
Every guest becomes part of the story, not just the couple.
6 Messages from the grandchildren
Short videos from grandchildren at university, a nephew in Canada, a sister who couldn't make the trip. One tap each on the laptop.
How to run it. Play them after the main course, not during it. Nobody can hear a video over a carvery queue.
People who couldn't be there still get to say what they want to say.
7 The first dance, again
Their wedding song, played through the laptop, and the couple invited to the floor. Guests join in after the first verse.
How to run it. Find out the song without asking them directly. Their siblings usually remember.
The quietest moment of the day and the one everyone photographs.
Their story on screen
Fifty or forty years of photos, dates and memories, told in games rather than a long speech.
Tables as teams
Each table plays together, with one phone per table if that's easier.
Grandchildren at the controls
A teenager at the laptop is usually the best technician in the room.
Voices from far away
Video messages from relatives who couldn't travel, played between courses.
A speech is not enough
The traditional anniversary lunch has one speech, usually from the eldest child, and a toast. It's lovely and it takes eight minutes. The rest of the afternoon is people eating and talking to whoever they came with. Games built around the couple's story spread the attention across the room and get the tables talking to each other.
Keep the games short. Three rounds before the main course, two after, the first dance at the end. Two hours of games would wear everyone out.
Older guests and phones
Plenty of guests at a golden anniversary will be in their seventies and eighties. Some will be perfectly happy scanning a QR code. Others will not, and there's no reason they should. Play the phone games at table level: one phone per table, held by whoever is most comfortable, usually a grandchild. The table confers, the phone answers.
Any phone that plays needs internet. Check the venue Wi-Fi reaches the whole room, or ask the grandchildren to use their mobile data.
Make the text on screen big and the questions short. Read each question aloud too.
Ruby, golden, diamond
The same games work for a ruby (forty years), a golden (fifty) or a diamond (sixty) anniversary. The difference is the photos and the pace. For a diamond celebration keep it shorter and gentler, with more photos and fewer questions.
For a ruby, the couple are often still very lively, and the grandchildren may be small. Add a charades round for the little ones and let the grandparents join in.
Collecting the material
Start two months ahead. You need their wedding photo, a handful from each decade, answers to the quiz questions from each of them separately, a few old photos of the guests and video messages from the relatives who can't travel. Grandchildren are very good at chasing video messages.
"Grandad, what's the name of the band at your wedding?"
"There was no band. There was your great-uncle with an accordion."
At the venue
Most function rooms, pubs and golf clubs have a projector or a big TV with an HDMI input. Ask when you book, and bring a long cable anyway. Test the laptop the day before if the venue lets you in.
Testing before the day
The free 3-day demo, no card, is enough to load the photos, write the quiz and run it once on the family TV with the siblings as test players. The full version is a one-time license, no subscription. Pricing is at 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 games at a golden anniversary party
- 1
Two months ahead, gather photos from each decade and ask the couple the quiz questions separately.
- 2
Collect old photos of guests and video messages from relatives abroad.
- 3
Build the timeline, the quiz and the slideshow on the laptop.
- 4
At the venue, connect the laptop to the projector and check the Wi-Fi at the tables.
- 5
Run three short games before the main course and two after, one phone per table.
- 6
Close with the video messages and their wedding song for the first dance, again.
FAQ
Can elderly guests play?
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Does it work for a 40th, ruby anniversary?
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See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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