Games For Women, NOT DOGS!

My wife Wendy is breathing easier now that she successfully threw a bridal shower this past weekend for her future daughter-in-law Lindsay. It's not easy planning such an event for a dozen ladies, most of whom she had never met. What to do, what to do?

She consulted the internet for bridal shower games. One game Wendy and her sister came up with was a version of "Scattergories" where party-goers took a letter from the bride-to-be's name and formed a word that fell under a specific category. For example, think of a color that begins with each letter in Lindsay's name.

Not that easy when you think of it. Can you come up with a color with the letter "d" that doesn't begin with "dark?" One party-goer came up with "dead red." Dead red? I don't think you'd find that in even the super-giant box of crayola crayons. Hmmmm, but when I Google "dead red" I come up with a nail polish called "Drop Dead Red." Well, maybe that's why Wendy did give credit for that answer.

Another game was "Guess that spice!" It was a game where small amounts of different spices (nutmeg, ginger, dill, etc.) are put in these small plastic bins. There were ten different bins, each with a different spice. The game was for party guests to guess each spice by its aroma, appearance and taste. Wendy actually had two trays with ten bins on each, so the game would go more quickly. Then before the party, she hid the trays underneath a table in another room.

Only problem was that when the bride-to-be was dropped off at our house, her Boston Terrier came along for the ride. Simon was ready for a game of his own. The game was called, "Find Out Where Those Interesting Aromas Are Coming From." So he was playing that game all by himself while the rest of us were distracted with last minute shower preparations.

While we were in the kitchen, we heard a loud commotion in the other room. Wendy investigated and I heard her cry out, "Dammit Simon." Simon had won his little game and was tasting the spoils when he knocked the bins onto the carpet. As I vacuumed, Wendy rushed to clean and re-fill the containers. I proposed that contestants get extra credit if they detected and included "dog slobber" with their answers.

Bad dog! We punished him by taking him to my son's house and forcing him to watch Michigan State take on Louisville in basketball. Since I believe Simon is a "Go Blue" Michigan fan, watching rival MSU upset the Wildcats to make the Final Four probably was probably quite painful. That'll teach him.

By the way, the winner of the spice contest correctly named eight of ten spices, which was pretty impressive I thought. I doubt I could have named any.