A bridal shower can be lots of fun. A bridal shower can also be plenty boring if the host or hosts fail to plan it out very well. Throwing a party in a hall and serving food is great but choosing a theme or having activities planned is even better. Here are some themes and tips to help you plan a terrific bridal shower.
The Guest List
Of course you want your best girlfriend or future daughter in law to end the day with lots of gifts. So naturally, you will want to invite everyone under the sun from the hairdresser you share to the lady at the dress shop right? Well that isn’t really a good idea. A huge guest list puts the bride in an awkward position if all of the people on the bridal shower guest list aren’t on her wedding guest list. While she may be able to work a few extra people into her wedding guest list she probably can’t squeeze everyone you can think to invite into her budget plans. Try to snag a copy of the wedding guest list before sending out the bridal shower invites.
Invite Guys and Gals
More and more bridal showers are becoming wedding showers or couple showers. It is now perfectly fine to invite everyone on the wedding guest list and have both the bride and groom in attendance.
Know Your Crowd
If you are inviting several of the older, more religious women in the bride’s family it probably isn’t a good idea to play a game about sex positions. Make sure you are respectful of the bride’s friends and family when planning out her bridal shower.
Plan a Lingerie Shower
Spread the word with a fun lingerie themed invite. Plan your activities with a lingerie theme. Buy packs of white cotton panties in the bride’s size and lay them out on a table with a wide selection of permanent markers and ask guests to create “honeymoon” panties for the bride to be. You can even make it a contest and have a gift certificate to a lingerie store or a fun basket of goodies for the winner. You can give out small prizes for the “funniest”, “most original”, and “prettiest” pair of honeymoon panties. You can also play “model the teddy”. This is a variation on musical chairs. Have guests sit in a circle and pass around a box of wrapped lingerie and play music. Explain that when the music stops the person holding the box will have to unwrap it and model the lingerie inside. Have a few packages ready to go to keep everyone playing and don’t forget to have a camera handy! Even your refreshments can fit the lingerie theme nicely. Buy lingerie shaped cookie cutters from your local party supply and ice the cookies in pink and white or order a bustier shaped cake from a custom baker. Use doilies on your serving trays and order lingerie themed plates and napkins. Chocolate fondue and fruit to dip and cocktails or “mocktails” with names related to the theme will round out your lingerie themed bridal shower nicely. Potpourri sachets in pretty bags, linen sprays and sleep masks make great lingerie wedding shower favors for your guests.
Plan a Romantic Shower
Candles, bubble bath, scented oils – anything that screams romance can be used in planning this shower. Use them in decorations and gifts. Create CDs of romantic music as favors. Give a “bath for two” basket as a door prize with towels, washcloths and other goodies for him and her bathing. A heart shaped theme to your decor and pink tinted food and drink will tie your romantic wedding shower together. Cut construction paper hearts and attach them to pipe cleaners like the pipe cleaners are flower stems. Ask each guest to write a few words of advice for the bride on a heart and present them to the bride in a vase. Have the bride read a few out loud for a sweet, and maybe funny, moment during the shower. Or try asking each guest to fill out a sheet on how they met the bride, share some stories about their relationship with the bride and any advice they have for her. Have this done on pretty paper and bind the sheets in a scrapbook or photo album for the bride to have as a keepsake.
Good Old Fashioned Practical Shower Planning
Chances are the couple has a bridal registry by now if you are planning a shower. Everyone can buy items from that registry or you can all chip in and buy one large practical item together. Then, theme the shower around that large item. Does the happy couple need a fridge? You can all chip in and theme the shower around filling the fridge. Bring a cheese and cracker tray on a nice dish and have a few guests bring bottles of wine or ice cube trays. This works especially well if just a few close friends are chipping in for the large item because then everyone else can bring smaller items to complement the large item. The shower can be themed around most large items. Is a state of the art vacuum on the bride’s wish list? Make it a “homemaker” themed shower. Accompanying gifts can include feather dusters and other cleaning supplies especially if you get them intending to be whimsical. For example, an apron with a funny saying and matching oven mitts would make a great gift. Just remember it is all or nothing with these themes. You want your games, decorations and food to go along with the theme as well.
For more, look for our Wednesday blog, Fun and Memorable Bridal Shower Games and Activities.
