I am not a girly girl. So planning a bridal shower for my niece was a little outside my comfort zone. But it went very well, so here is a summary of how to plan a bridal shower.
Seek Help
I was fortunate in that I have many friends and family members who have planned a shower before. Reach out to people you know who can help you. Moms, sisters, best friends, grandmas and aunts are great sources of help and support. Don't forget about the bride's future in-laws, too.
Something else I didn't realize is that the ladies in the bridal party are supposed to assist you as part of their duties. If they are local, make sure they will be present, and assign them certain tasks. You may ask them each to supply a food item, you can ask them to arrive early to help decorate, or you may ask them to just serve as hostesses to your guests. If they are out of town, you can always ask them to contribute money toward the shower.
Also, search the Internet for ideas and tips. I did Google searches for bridal shower games, theme ideas and recipes. I found a ton of information right at my finger tips. Web sites like www.marthastewart.com and www.theknot.com were great resources.
Plan Ahead
Ask the bride to assist you in preparing a guest list. The earlier you figure out how many people will attend, the better off you'll be. You'll need to know the estimated number of attendees to plan the food, party favors, seating, etc.
Prepare a list of what you need to do and what you need to get. I broke this down into a timeline. Here is what mine looked like:
Two Months Ahead
Set date & time
Guest list from bride
Decide on a theme
Find & reserve location
Contact family/friends/bridesmaids for help
Make sure the bride registers for gifts (our bride chose Bed, Bath & Beyond and Pampered Chef)
Six Weeks Ahead
Prepare invitations
Order any favors, decorations or supplies (if you're not buying locally)
One Month Ahead
Mail invitations (make sure you set a firm RSVP date!)
Begin gathering decorations and party favors
Plan games or activities during shower
Two Weeks Ahead
Order a cake, if necessary
Buy decorations
Day Before or Day Of
Decorate location
Pick up cake or other food
Have fun!
Theme
We decided to go with a "pink" theme bridal shower. Everything we could get in pink, we got: tablecloths, plates, silverware, napkins, balloons, streamers, confetti, etc. Some of our food was pink: ham, pink punch, pink iced sugar cookies. The party favors were pink, too: little pink tealight candles in tiny pink Asian takeout boxes (we got them from Michael's crafts). We asked everyone to wear something pink and to wrap their gifts in pink wrapping and ribbons. Pick whatever color your bride loves!
You can also choose from other themes. Choose an ethnic theme, and match food and party decorations to that culture. Host a luai, a country shower, a destination shower, a tea party or a garden shower. You can also do a "time of day" shower, and have guests bring gifts that correspond to a certain part of the day. For example, a guest assigned "morning" might bring a waffle maker, a coffee maker or a juicer.
During the Shower
Some people choose to have low-key showers, with guests bringing gifts, eating and socializing. Others choose to play games. Some people make a slideshow with photos or videos of the bride-to-be. We opted to have games. We gave away door prizes to winners of the games. A neat idea is to buy small, inexpensive kitchen gadgets as door prizes, and encourage winners to "donate" their gift to the bride.
Here are some games we used at our shower:
"How Good is Your Memory" Icebreaker
This is great if you have a lot of guests who don't know each other. Have everyone sit in a large circle. The first person to play stands up and gives her name, followed by something she likes that starts with the same letter as her name. For example, I would stand up and say "My name is Kelly, and I like kangaroos." The second person would stand up and say "My name is Lauren, and I like lollipops; her name is Kelly, and she likes kangaroos." This continues until everyone has a turn. It can get pretty difficult, but the game went very well and was a big hit at our shower! People were saying throughout the rest of the day, "Oh, you're ___, and you like ___." For an extra fun twist, have the bride go last!
Who Traveled the Farthest?
This is a simple game, in which every lady tells where she traveled from to be at the shower. Whoever traveled the farthest wins the prize.
Toilet Paper Brides
Use your guest list to determine how many ladies will be at the shower. Divide them into groups of five or six. Before the shower, buy enough toilet paper that each group can have three to four rolls. Each group picks one lady to be the "model," and the others use the toilet paper to design a beautiful bridal gown. Give them about eight minutes to work. At the end, the bride-to-be picks the dress she likes the best, and that group each get a prize. (You'll be surprised how creative some of these dresses are!)
"All About the Future Mrs. ___"
This game is to see who knows the bride-to-be the best. Before your shower, pick ten questions about the bride. We used things like: "What was the bride's favorite animal as a kid?" or "When did the bride's fiance propose?" Give each guest a quiz, and the people who get the most right answers win a prize. If you only have one prize, you can put all the quizzes with the highest score into a box and draw a winner. Obviously, some people won't know the more intimate answers, but it's funny to see what they write!
Opening Gifts
Make sure in advance you have pad and paper to keep track of who gave what gifts to the bride. Make sure you have a large trash bag or can available for all the wrapping paper. Keep one of the gift bags (or bring something else) to hold all the ribbons. You will use the ribbons to make a "practice" bouquet for the bride at the rehearsal!
Other Things to Think About
If you prefer, ask someone close to the bride to say a special grace prior to eating. This was a nice touch at our shower.
Make sure you have a guest book for guests to sign in. Another cute idea is to ask each guest to not only write their name and address, but to include a small tidbit of advice for the bride-to-be. If you have a nice guest book, this can make a great keepsake for the bride-to-be.
Be sure to thank everyone for coming, and also, it is nice to publicly recognize all the ladies who helped you prepare for the shower.
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