Alternative entertainment to dancing/dj

Is your wedding a destination wedding or are most of the guests in/from Hawaii? If it is destination, I think guests would enjoy the luau style entertainment (I know I would — I’d think it was so different and unique to your wedding). If the guests are mainly on or from Hawaii, I understand why you’d want to go a different route.


At my wedding, we didn’t dance and instead played the shoe game — no prizes needed We had so much fun.

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Most of our guests are not Hawai'i native and over half are visiting for the first time! We're just hoping for something more "us" than a typical Hawaii luau. Good point though, I'm sure a lot of our guests would enjoy it nonetheless!

We are not planning to have dancing due to religious reasons. However, we will have a DJ so if guests get up at the end and dance we won't oppose lol.


My DJ will do the shoelywed game. I have a couple madlib type notepad games also. He suggested that we have winners based on who has the most points at each table and which table has the most points. Another "game" will be guessing the number of hershey kisses in a jar displayed. That prize is obvious lol. The last form of entertainment will be a form of Kids say the Darndest Things. We will have a handful of kids so we will bring them together and ask them for marriage advice and see what they say. I can't wait for that!!!
I'm thinking of getting a couple of prizes together. All of the kids will get a bag with coloring books and candy or something like that. I'm not sure about the adults yet lol... Probably a bag with a Bible quote book, chocolates and Starbucks gift card... Good luck!!

You can play lawn games, Not having an outdoor affair? Classic board games are always a hit! Also, you can make dinner more fun by bringing in food trucks.

I agree with the above comments! Lawn games, board/card games, and the shoe game are always fun! You could also do a trivia game, and provide a small "prize" for either the winner of each table or just the overall winner. The "prize" could be the toss bouquet (if you were looking for alternatives to a bouquet toss).

You could also look into hiring local musicians who can play throughout the reception!! 🌴

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An awesome harpist, guitarist, or ukulele player would be so fun!

We’re having a small wedding in a few weeks and we can’t have a dj/dancing either. What we’ve decided to do is make a couple videos, like one including pictures of family and friends and another centered around my fiancé and I. We’re trying to think of low key entertainment options that don’t require people to move around 😂

When there is no dancing, guests are usually more than happy to mingle

We’re doing lawn games instead of dancing but will have music playing in the background. I didnt want dancing because of Covid and this seemed like a fun alternative instead of just sitting and talking