30 games
Checked October 2026

Anniversary Party Games

Games for anniversary party guests, from a tenth to a fiftieth: the guests play and the couple answer.

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Under the Sticky Note1. Print ten photos of the couple together. Cover one of the two faces in each photo with a sticky note.2. Pass the photos around the tables.3. Each table writes what the hidden partner is doing: laughing, asleep, looking the wrong way, eating.4. Peel off the notes one at a time. The closest guess for each photo scores.Players: 6 to 60. You need: ten printed photos, sticky notes, paper and pens.
Not in the Room Back Then1. Tables get three minutes to list things in the room today that did not exist, or that nobody here owned, on the couple's wedding day.2. Each table reads its list aloud.3. The couple are the judges. They strike anything they remember having back then.4. One point for each thing that survives, and two for a thing no other table listed.Players: 6 to 60. You need: paper and pens.
What Would Each of Them Do?1. The host reads a small crisis: a flat tire in the rain, a burnt dinner with guests at the door, a lost passport.2. Each table writes what one partner would do, and what the other would do.3. The couple listen to every answer.4. They award a point to the table that got each of them most exactly right. Play five crises.Players: 6 to 60. You need: paper and pens, five crisis cards.

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How well do you know the couple? 6

The Couple Against the Room 1. As guests arrive, each writes one true thing about themselves on a card and signs the back: "I drove them to the airport in a snowstorm." 2. The host reads a card to the couple, who answer as one team. They may whisper before they name the guest. 3. A right answer is a point for the couple. A wrong one is a point for the room. 4. Play twelve cards and see who knows whom. Players: 10 to 80. You need: cards and pens.
Marked by the Other One 1. Tables answer ten written questions: five about one partner and five about the other, such as a first job or a least favorite chore. 2. Collect the sheets. Each partner then marks the five answers about the other partner, with no help. 3. The real owner of each answer overrules any marking that is wrong. 4. The best table wins. The couple also get a score each, for how well they marked. Players: 8 to 80. You need: a quiz sheet and a pen for each table.
Match or No Match: Two Slates, Back to Back 1. The couple sit back to back, each with a slate or a pad. 2. The host reads a question about their life together, such as "Whose idea was the first trip?" or "What did you cook most in the first year?" 3. Before the couple write, every table holds up a card that says MATCH or NO MATCH. 4. The couple write and turn their slates around. Tables that called it right score a point. Play eight questions. Players: 8 to 80. You need: two slates or pads, markers, a MATCH card and a NO MATCH card for each table.

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How well do you know the couple?, continued

Quicker Than the Spouse 1. Before the party, each of the couple writes five moments from the marriage on slips: "the tent that blew away", "the wrong train". 2. One partner draws a slip written by the other and acts it out with no words. 3. The spouse and every table try to guess it. 4. If a table calls it before the spouse does, the table scores. If the spouse gets there first, the couple score. Swap actor after each slip. Players: 8 to 60. You need: ten slips written by the couple.
Two Versions of One Story 1. One of the couple leaves the room. The other tells the story of how they met, in two minutes. A helper notes the details: the place, the weather, who spoke first. 2. The second partner comes back and tells the same story without hearing the first version. 3. Tables list every detail that differed. 4. The table with the longest correct list wins, and the couple settle each difference in front of everyone. Players: 8 to 80. You need: paper and pens.
Whose Side First? 1. Guests who met one partner first stand on the left of the room. Guests who met the other first stand on the right. Anyone who met both on the same day stands in the middle. 2. The host asks the left side a question about the partner they met second. 3. Then the right side gets one about theirs. The middle group judges. 4. Play five questions a side. The side that knows the other partner better wins. Players: 10 to 80. You need: ten questions agreed with the couple.

The year they married 6

Draw the Wedding Photo From Their Description 1. The couple hold one wedding photo that nobody else has seen, or that few remember. 2. They describe it between them for two minutes: who stands where, what everyone wears, what is behind them. 3. Each table draws the photo on one sheet as they listen. 4. The couple show the real photo and choose the drawing that is closest. Both drawing and photo go in the album. Players: 6 to 60. You need: one wedding photo, paper and markers for each table.
Guess the Wedding Day 1. Before the party, the couple write down eight details of their wedding day and seal them in an envelope: the weather, the first dish served, the color of the car, the song for the first dance. 2. The host reads each question with three possible answers. 3. Tables hold up one, two or three fingers. 4. The couple open the envelope and read the real answers, with the story behind each. Players: 6 to 80. You need: a sealed envelope of answers from the couple, three choices written for each question.
Not in the Room Back Then 1. Tables get three minutes to list things in the room today that did not exist, or that nobody here owned, on the couple's wedding day. 2. Each table reads its list aloud. 3. The couple are the judges. They strike anything they remember having back then. 4. One point for each thing that survives, and two for a thing no other table listed. Players: 6 to 60. You need: paper and pens.
Wedding Year or Not? Headlines in Two Piles 1. Before the party, the host copies twelve headlines from a newspaper archive onto cards: six from the year the couple married and six from the years on either side. 2. Each table gets a full set. 3. Tables sort the cards into two piles, wedding year and not. 4. The host reads the answers. The table with the most cards in the right pile wins, and the couple say which of the stories they remember. Players: 6 to 60. You need: a set of twelve headline cards for each table, looked up by the host.
Where Were You That Year? 1. Each guest writes one line about where they were in the year the couple married: "in second grade", "driving a bread van", "not born yet". No names. 2. The host reads the lines out one at a time. 3. The room guesses who wrote each. 4. Guests who were at the wedding stand at the end, and each says one thing they remember about the day. Players: 8 to 60. You need: slips and pens.
The Witness Panel 1. Guests who were at the wedding sit in a row at the front. 2. The rest of the room asks them questions about the day: who cried, what went wrong, who danced longest. 3. Each witness answers alone, on a slip, before any is read out. 4. The couple rule on every answer: true, or not how they remember it. The witness with the most answers ruled true wins. Players: 10 to 80. You need: chairs for the panel, slips and pens.

Photo and memory games 6

A Photo for Each Decade of Friends 1. Guests gather in groups by the decade in which they first met the couple. Family born into it stand by the decade of their birth. 2. Each group agrees on one word for the couple as they were in that decade. 3. A photographer takes each group with the couple in the middle, while the group shouts its word. 4. The couple guess each word before they hear it. The photos go in the album in order. Players: 10 to 100. You need: a camera or a phone.
Find Yourself in the Album 1. Lay the couple's albums and loose photos out on a long table. 2. Guests get ten minutes to find the oldest photo that shows themselves with one or both of the couple. 3. Each guest holds up their find and says the year. 4. The oldest photo wins, and its owner tells the story of the day it was taken. Players: 8 to 60. You need: the couple's photo albums and loose photos.
Same Place, Years Apart 1. The family finds pairs of photos of the couple in the same place at different times: the same porch, the same beach, the same sofa. 2. Pin each pair up with a letter. 3. Guests write down how many years lie between the two photos in each pair. 4. The couple give the answers. The guest with the smallest total miss wins. Players: 6 to 80. You need: pairs of printed photos with a letter on each pair, slips and pens.
Under the Sticky Note 1. Print ten photos of the couple together. Cover one of the two faces in each photo with a sticky note. 2. Pass the photos around the tables. 3. Each table writes what the hidden partner is doing: laughing, asleep, looking the wrong way, eating. 4. Peel off the notes one at a time. The closest guess for each photo scores. Players: 6 to 60. You need: ten printed photos, sticky notes, paper and pens.
Which One Took the Photo? 1. Choose twelve photos that show only one of the couple, or only the view. 2. Show them one at a time. 3. Guests vote on who was behind the camera. They raise a left hand for one partner, a right hand for the other, and both hands for a stranger who was asked to take it. 4. The couple give the answer. Guests keep their own score out of twelve. Players: 6 to 80. You need: twelve printed photos or a slideshow.
Who Kept It? 1. The couple bring ten small things saved from the marriage: a ticket stub, a key, a chipped mug, a menu. 2. Lay them on a table with a number beside each. 3. For every object, guests write which of the two kept it all these years. 4. The couple hold up each thing, say who saved it and tell why. Score one point for each right keeper. Players: 6 to 60. You need: ten keepsakes from the couple with numbers, slips and pens.

Table games for an anniversary dinner 6

Fill the Timeline Strip 1. Give each table a long strip of paper marked with every year from the wedding to today. 2. Tables write in what they know: a move, a new job, a child, a dog, a trip, each in its year. 3. After fifteen minutes, tape the strips to the wall, one above the other. 4. The couple walk along them and strike any wrong year. The strip with the most right entries wins and goes home with them. Players: 8 to 80. You need: a long paper strip marked with the years for each table, pens and tape.
The Next Table Guesses Their Answer 1. Each table writes one question for the couple and passes it to the next table. 2. The table that receives it writes the answer it expects the couple to give. 3. The host collects the cards and reads each question. 4. The couple answer. A table whose guess was right scores, and so does the table whose question got the longest laugh. Players: 8 to 80. You need: a card and a pen for each table.
One Word for Each of Them 1. Each table agrees on two words: one for each partner as they were when the table first met them. 2. Write the two words on a card with the table number on the back. 3. The host reads the pairs of words aloud. 4. The couple guess which table wrote each. A table scores if the couple cannot place it. Players: 8 to 80. You need: a card and a pen for each table.
Paper, Wood, Tin: Match the Year to Its Gift 1. Give each table two columns to match. One column lists the anniversaries: 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 40th, 50th and 60th. The other lists the traditional gifts in a jumbled order: paper, wood, tin, crystal, china, silver, ruby, gold and diamond. 2. Tables draw lines between them. 3. The host reads the pairs in the order given here, which is the right one. 4. The table with the most right wins. A tie goes to the table that names the couple's next one. Players: 4 to 80. You need: a matching sheet and a pen for each table.
Tap the Glass, Name a Year 1. The house rule for the meal: a table that taps a glass must call out one year of the marriage. 2. The couple then tell one thing that happened to them in that year, in a sentence or two. One partner starts and the other finishes. 3. No year may be called twice. 4. A year that leaves both of them with nothing to say earns the table a point. Players: 8 to 80. You need: nothing.
What Would Each of Them Do? 1. The host reads a small crisis: a flat tire in the rain, a burnt dinner with guests at the door, a lost passport. 2. Each table writes what one partner would do, and what the other would do. 3. The couple listen to every answer. 4. They award a point to the table that got each of them most exactly right. Play five crises. Players: 6 to 60. You need: paper and pens, five crisis cards.

Toast and advice games 6

A Toast in Two Halves 1. Draw guests' names from a bowl in pairs. 2. The first of the pair starts one sentence about one partner and stops in the middle: "To the one who has never once been on time, and". 3. The second finishes it about the other partner. 4. Glasses go up after every pair. The couple choose the sentence they want written in the guest book. Players: 8 to 60. You need: a bowl with the guests' names.
And Then: The Story Passed Down the Years 1. The guest who has known the couple longest stands and begins their story with one true memory, then says "and then". 2. The guest who met them next stands and adds a memory from their own time. 3. The story passes on in the order guests came into the couple's life. 4. The newest friend in the room ends it, and everyone raises a glass. Players: 8 to 50. You need: nothing.
Dear Experts 1. Guests write a small household problem on a slip, as if to an advice column: "My partner narrates the crossword." 2. The couple sit apart with a slate each. 3. The host reads a problem. Each expert writes one line of advice. 4. They show both slates. The room cheers for the better answer, and the guest who wrote the problem has the last word. Players: 8 to 60. You need: slips and pens, two slates or pads.
One New Promise Each 1. Each table writes two promises for the year ahead, one for each partner to make, such as "I promise to stop saving the last cookie for later." 2. The host reads them out. 3. The partner named rings a bell to accept a promise, or shakes their head. 4. The table with both promises accepted wins. The accepted promises are written on one card for the couple to sign. Players: 8 to 80. You need: cards and pens, a small bell.
The Secret, in Three Words 1. Each table agrees on its answer to one question, in exactly three words: what is their secret? 2. The host reads all the answers aloud. 3. Each partner writes down the number of a favorite without showing the other. 4. They reveal together. If they chose the same table, that table wins. If not, the two tables share the win and the couple explain themselves. Players: 8 to 80. You need: a card and a pen for each table.
Which of the Two Wrote It? 1. Before the party, each partner writes five pieces of advice for a long marriage on separate cards, unsigned. 2. Shuffle the ten cards. 3. The host reads one, and guests point at the partner they think wrote it. 4. The writer raises a hand. Guests keep their own score. A guest with ten out of ten reads the cards again as the toast. Players: 6 to 80. You need: ten advice cards written by the couple.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions, written for this site for a party the guests give or attend for a couple's wedding anniversary. The wording is ours and the player counts are our estimates. The facts about the couple and their wedding year come from the couple and the host; none are in our list. Nothing involves alcohol, money or anyone's body. The nine traditional gifts in Paper, Wood, Tin were checked at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_anniversary on 9 October 2026. Licence: own work

How it works

An anniversary has two guests of honor and a wedding year, and these anniversary party games are built on both. The guests do the playing. The couple give the answers, usually separately, which is where the fun starts.

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Ask the couple for answers first

Several games need something from the two of them a week ahead: ten slips for Quicker Than the Spouse, a sealed envelope for Guess the Wedding Day, ten advice cards for Which of the Two Wrote It? Ask each partner separately. The games under How well do you know the couple? depend on them not comparing notes.

Fun anniversary party games for a seated dinner

In a hall with tables, play between courses. Tap the Glass, Name a Year runs through the whole meal with nothing to hand out. Paper, Wood, Tin: Match the Year to Its Gift needs one sheet a table. Keep Toast and advice games for dessert.

For the wedding year games, the host looks up the headlines. The couple check them before the party.
Let either partner pass on any question without a reason.

Questions and answers

What games do you play at an anniversary party?

Quizzes the couple answer, such as Match or No Match: Two Slates, Back to Back; games about the wedding year, such as Where Were You That Year?; photo games, such as Which One Took the Photo?; and toasts, such as A Toast in Two Halves.

What are good games for a 50th wedding anniversary party?

Games that use the guests who were there. The Witness Panel seats everyone who was at the wedding, and the couple rule on what they remember. Find Yourself in the Album and Fill the Timeline Strip suit a room that spans three generations.

What are the traditional anniversary gifts by year?

Paper for the 1st, wood for the 5th, tin for the 10th, crystal for the 15th, china for the 20th, silver for the 25th, ruby for the 40th, gold for the 50th and diamond for the 60th. Lists differ from country to country.