Whether it's a hen do in Dublin, a hens night in Brisbane, a bachelorette weekend in Nashville or a JGA in Hamburg, the photo scavenger hunt turns up at almost all of them. It works because it gives a mixed group — the bride's school friends, work friends and future sisters-in-law — a shared mission and a reason to be silly together. The prompts below run from things you could do with the bride's grandmother present to things you probably couldn't. Pick your mix.
How a hen party photo hunt works
- Split into teams of three to five, mixing the bride's different friend groups. The bride can join a team or float between them.
- Give every team the prompts. On a printed card, or behind a QR code that hands out one mission at a time.
- Set a time limit: an hour for a bar crawl, twenty minutes at a house party.
- Collect the photos in one place, so the bride gets them all, not just the few that make it into the group chat.
- Score and reveal over the next drink: one point per prompt, two for the hard ones, and the bride picks her favourite photo.
Setting it up in ten minutes, from the group chat
Add your prompts to a new event on PhotoChallenge and choose how teams get them:
- One QR code: each scan hands a team member a mission; after each photo the next one appears. The QR code is just a link, so you don't even need to print it: drop it in the group chat.
- Printed cards: every prompt on its own card with its own QR code, for a hunt where teams choose which mission to do next.
Either way, every photo lands in one gallery, labelled with the prompt. Turn on “Ask guests for their name” (paid plans) and every photo carries its photographer's name, so you know which team to give the points to. The free test run holds 5 prompts with one photo each; for a full hunt where every team shoots every prompt, Standard is €49, paid once.
40 hen party and bachelorette photo prompts
Classic
- The bride with every member of your team
- Your whole team in one jump
- A toast to the bride
- The bride's best “I'm getting married” face
- Recreate a photo from the couple's relationship
- The team spelling out the bride's new initials
- The bride wearing something borrowed from a teammate
- The group's best girl-band album cover
- Someone doing their best impression of the groom
- The bride with the oldest person in the group
Out on the town
- A selfie with the bar staff (ask first)
- The bride behind a bar — with permission
- A cocktail named after the bride
- The whole team in a photo booth
- A street sign with the bride's name on it
- The team doing a conga line
- The bride on the dance floor with a stranger (who said yes)
- A sign that describes the bride perfectly
- The best view in the city
- Your team with a celebrity lookalike
With kind strangers
- A married couple sharing their best advice
- A stranger wearing the bride's veil (ask first)
- Someone who has the same name as the groom
- A stranger teaching the bride a dance move
- A couple who's been together more than 30 years
- A group who'll sing to the bride
- Someone who got married this year
- A stranger guessing how long the couple have been together
- A selfie with a dog (and its permission, via its owner)
- Someone who'll swap hats with the bride
Sentimental
- The bride with the friend who's known her longest
- Something that reminds you of the groom
- The bride laughing so hard she can't breathe
- A photo of the bride from childhood, held up in front of her now
- Every hand in the group, with the bride's ring on top
- A note to the groom, written by the whole group
- The bride's “last night as a single woman” moment
- Your team's favourite memory of the bride, recreated
- The quiet moment at the end of the night
- The whole group, together, before anyone goes home
Rules that keep it fun for everyone
- Strangers are asked, always. Every prompt with a stranger in it starts with a question, and a no is a no. Don't photograph people who haven't agreed — they're not part of the party, and in many countries it isn't legal to share their photo without consent.
- Nobody is forced. Any team member can skip any prompt, and so can the bride. With one QR code, guests can swap a prompt they don't like for another.
- Respect the venue. Bars and restaurants are generally happy to play along when asked nicely; they're less happy when someone climbs behind the bar uninvited.
- Keep the cheekiest prompts for the right crowd. If the bride's mum or future mother-in-law is coming, the “classic” and “sentimental” lists are the ones to use.
- The bride sees everything. Whatever goes into the gallery, she'll see. That's usually the best rule of all.
A daytime or at-home version
Not every hen do is a night out. For a spa day, a cottage weekend or a party at home with three generations of the family, swap the bar prompts for these: the bride mid-treatment, the best-dressed guest at brunch, a game of something the bride is terrible at, the view from the window, everyone wearing their pyjamas. The setup is the same, and so is the gallery at the end.
Same game, different names
It's a hen do or hen night in the UK and Ireland, a hens night or hens party in Australia, a bachelorette in the US and Canada, a JGA (Junggesellinnenabschied) in Germany, an EVJF (enterrement de vie de jeune fille) in France, a despedida de soltera in Spain and Latin America, and an addio al nubilato in Italy. The traditions vary — German hens often sell small items to strangers to pay for drinks, many French ones involve a costume for the bride — but the photo hunt translates everywhere. If the group spans languages, Premium lets each guest choose theirs when they scan.
More bachelorette and hen party games to pair it with
The hunt fills an hour; these fill the rest of the night or the weekend. None needs more than a phone, a pen or a drink:
- Who knows the bride best? A quiz the groom answered in advance; the bride guesses his answers, and a wrong guess costs a sip or a forfeit.
- He said, she said. Quotes from the couple read out loud; guests guess who said it.
- Mr & Mrs. A video of the groom answering questions about the bride, played at the party with pauses for her answer. 60 questions that work for it.
- Never have I ever, the clean version or not, depending on the crowd.
- Pin the kiss. Lipstick, a blindfold and a poster of the groom: the hen do classic.
- Name that tune: the couple's songs. The first dance, the song from the first date, the one they sing in the car.
- Advice cards for the bride, written during the night and handed over at the end. They become a keepsake.
For the wedding itself, see 25 wedding games for guests.
Frequently asked questions
What is a hen party photo scavenger hunt?
A game where teams get a list of photos to take during the hen do or bachelorette — the bride with a stranger's hat, the whole team in one jump, a toast with the bar staff — within a time limit. The team with the most completed prompts wins, and the bride gets every photo.
How long should a hen do scavenger hunt last?
About an hour on a night out, or twenty to thirty minutes at a house party. Long enough to get round the list, short enough that people still want to do the rest of the evening.
How do you make a bachelorette scavenger hunt classy?
Use prompts about the bride, the group and the city rather than strangers: recreate a couple photo, a toast to the bride, the best view in town, the whole team in one jump. Save the cheekier prompts for a crowd that wants them.
Do we need to print anything?
No. With one QR code you can send the link in the group chat; each scan hands out a mission, and photos land in one gallery. Printed cards are an option if you'd like teams to choose their own missions.
Is it OK to photograph strangers on a hen do?
Only if they agree. Ask first, accept a no, and don't share photos of people who didn't want to be in them. Most strangers are happy to play along when asked kindly.
Set up the hen party photo hunt
Copy the prompts, share one link, and the bride gets every photo in one gallery. The test run is free for up to 5 prompts.
Create my photo hunt