Sheva Brachot art from Gallerjudaica.com
Choose a theme
Invite attendees to come dressed according to the theme. You can decorate the table, and even make food according to the theme. Some examples of themes: cartoon characters, The Superbowl, men in black, a favorite TV show, characters from the bible or a country. The theme can be connected to the bride and groom (how or where they met, where they grew up, where they will live etc).
Play games
In between courses of the meal you can ask guests to prepare rhymes or riddles using information about the couple, or you can prepare a quiz or a game based on a TV show.
Popular games include:
- Giving out “recipe cards” to the guests asking them all to write their own recipe for life. The cards are then collected and given to the bride and groom. Interesting ones can be read out
- Passing a bag of random objects round the table asking people to relate the object they pick out of the bag to the couple and/or their lives together.
- ‘Mr & Mrs’ style quiz where amusing questions are asked about the couple to one another.
Power point!
Prepare a Power Point presentation based on the couple. You can use pictures from their youth, from their “courtship” or experiences that you shared with them.
Write a song or a poem
Surprise the couple with a song or a poem that you have written about them. You can make copies of it and invite all the guests to sing along in the chorus.
Prepare souvenirs
Prepare something small for everyone to take home e.g. a laminated picture of the couple with an inscription conveying good wishes from the hosts, or a nice sheva brachot card with the text of the brachot and a picture of the chatan and kallah.
Do you have any sheva brachot ideas, themes or games to share?