Ideas for a Bridal Shower

A fun one is "Around the Clock". Send out invites and put a different time of day on everyone's invitation. Like 2pm, or 10am. And then everyone can be really creative with their gifts. just type around the clock bridal shower into google for invite wording. this is so much fun, and will be way more interesting. When you are opening the gifts, you start at the earliest time and go from there. they will get everything from towels to kitchen stuff to lingerie!

It depends on what kind of bridal shower you want to give. If she is registered, you can make this a family & friends shower. This would be when they get alot of household things. Things they really do need. You can have only so many pairs of black lace panties, so I would have a separate girls night out small bachelorette party for "naughty" gifts.

Bridal showers can be anything. You don't have to spend a lot of money to make it look expensive. Look on line for ideas, in magazines or ask others. I hope that the other bridesmaids are chipping in. If not, contact them immediately and ask them to co-hostess. Or find out what are they willing to help with (both monetarily and physically), see who will help with food, prizes, plates, etc. Don't put this all on yourself. Recruit, delegate and organize. Many heads and hands make light work.

Just be prepared for Bridezilla. I don't know your soon to be sister-in-law and I am sure she is a lovely person, but the younger the bride, the more drama the event. I speak from years and years of experience in planning weddings, being in weddings, going to weddings (I was in 4 in one year). Brides will tell you whatever you want to do is fine, just know they lie. Causally question her about her ideas. Just remember, you are the one paying for it, not her. If she is being unreasonable, speak up and tell her "this is my budget, I can't afford anymore, but I will make it wonderful." This is tricky situation because she is an in-law. I don't know what relationship you have with her, but I have found you need to be very careful in speaking with in-laws. Otherwise, you are the bad guy.

First, you need a list of names and addresses (or if everyone is computer literate, emails). If time is short, phone calls. You need to know how many people are possibly coming. Also, you have to pick a date to have it. The weekends are the norm, If on Sunday, make sure it is after church time. You then need a place to have it. If your home is not large enough, ask your church about using the hall or see if another relative will host it at her home. Outside parties are nice, but you have to rely on the weather to cooperate. Parks are nice if you can get a shelter.

Once you have the list of names (push the bride, her mother and your mother for names ASAP), the date and the place, SEND OUT THE INVITATIONS. You don't have much time since the wedding is July 4th. I personally feel email is the way to go, but older relatives and people don't use the internet and like invitations by snail mail. If you have access to computer and printer, by all means find some pretty paper and design you own invitations. Put at least 2 on a page and buy regular envelopes to mail them in. They have kits for invitations at Walmart, Staples, sam's, target, the dollar stores, etc, you have to decide what you want to do and how much to spend.

Decide what kind of shower. You can go with a theme, like her colors for the wedding or patriotic for the 4th wedding and your military brother or buy whatever looks good ON SALE!!! You will need plates, cups, silverware, napkins. The dollar stores are great for these.

Next, plan the food.

It does not have to be elaborate - chicken salad, cold cut platter, vegetable tray, chips, one big money saver- don't have pop, have iced tea, coffee or lemonade (from a mix). Don't forget a bag of ice. Or just cake and punch. The point is to have family and friends together to celebrate the marriage to be. Don't be afraid to ask family members to bring their "speciality". Most older family members would love to chip in.

Order a cake based on your colors and theme. The size depends on how many people are coming, usually 1/4 to 1/2 sheet cake is good. Ask the people at the bakery price and servings per cake.

Games - you can decide to do games or not. One good one is to have the bride leave and have people write down what she was wearing, down to the earrings. Whoever gets the most right wins. Any prizes, dollar store. There are lots of game ideas on the internet.

I know it is stressful to plan a shower. Just remember, It will be wonderful no matter what you do. If the bride starts giving you a hard time, remind her: The shower and the wedding are just frosting, Her and your brother's marriage is the cake (ie, which is more important, a perfect shower or a strong marriage.) Good Luck.

I would clarify with whoever "put you in charge" of the shower to make sure what kind they're expecting, but I would think it would just be a regular household shower, unless it was specified to be a lingerie shower. (Personally, I think that only the bride's close friends would host or attend a lingerie shower, but I could be mistaken.)

Keep it simple -- choose from the abundant greenery and flowers outside for any decorations you might want (or skip it altogether); make your own food and punch, and ask family and close friends to bring a dish of appetizers or hors d'oeuvres (if you feel comfortable doing so); etc.

T.,
Congrats on gaining a sister-in-law soon. Planning a party can be fun, and keeping it simple can keep the planning enjoyable. If everyone is strapped for cash, you can put "light refreshments will be served" on the invitation. Then serve just dessert and a beverage. The dessert could be cake or cupcakes or cookies. Have it at someone's home indoors or outdoors. If outside, make sure there are plenty of cold drinks available. A few balloons, a few streamers, and something cute on the refreshment table would make it nice. (for the refreshment table use something that makes people think of a wedding - maybe even the cake topper from your own wedding - something that does not need to be purchased). Also, the Dollar Tree stores sometimes carry very nice things that can be used for bridal events. Keep it practical and maybe she can register at a home store for the things she needs. Better to have pots and pans than 15 pieces of night wear. They can choose their own night wear or you can suggest to him that he buy some for her as a wedding gift.

I think the most important thing is that she see that you are excited about this and happy for her. Most are appreciative that someone took the time to recognize the most important events in their life.

I've done this many times.

Form a committee of 2-3 ladies because you'll need help and they can add funds to a budget and help add people to the guest list from areas you aren't familiar with. Some ideas are a close friend, co-worker, someone from her family or church.

Second, pick out a decoration color theme and a gift theme. For example: Decorate with white and pink and call it a bridal shower. Invite only ladies. There are many ways to do it like a couples shower with a kitchen and garage theme but simple is better if you don't have any experience.

Pick a time like 2 pm on Saturday where you are only expected to serve snacks, punch and cake. Keep it short, 2-3 hours. Have it in your home or another family members home, not the brides.

Second, send out invitations by mail pronto! Since it's on a holiday you need to invite people yesterday or you may not have many guests show up. Invite extra guests to make sure you have a good size party. 10-12 ladies makes a good in-home group.

As people RSVP tell them in person where the bride is registered so they can chose gifts the bride will need.

Arrange with your co-hostesses who will do the cake, snacks and drinks, decorations, games, and favors. Appoint someone to record gifts as they are opened and someone to collect ribbons for the rehersal dinner bouquet.

Some good games are making a gown out of toilet paper. Pencil and paper games like complete the sayings and letter scramble. Gift bingo. Only have 3-4 and include prizes for the winners. It's also nice to have a name drawing for an extra prize.

Send each guest home with a favor like a packet of seeds with a ribbon on it, a small flower, gourmet candy, etc.

There are also ideas like having the group sign a "no thank you card needed" contract or have everyone address the envelope for the bride.

This is the shower where they get the household stuff. I am attending a wedding this coming weekend and the shower was held last weekend.

It's always FREE to have it at someone's house. You can ask each person attending to bring an appetizer (which costs you nothing). If they are good friends they won't mind. They can also bring the recipe for each of these appetizers and then give it to the bride for her new collection. If the recipes are on 4x6 cards they will fit into a small photo album.

Hope that helps. Good luck and have a great time.

D. http://www.dianahollis.com

First pick a date and time...I would go with a miscellaneous shower which means the attendees can bring anything useful to a new couple. If the bride-to-be is registered include that information with the invitation. Get an address list of people to send invites to...this will also give you an idea of how many to plan for. Choose a time in between meals, brunch (9:30ish to 10:30ish) or after lunch (2:00ish to 3:00ish) so that only light finger foods are necessary. Try to recruit someone to help out, a friend, a cousin. Even if they are out of town they could help with invitations with proper communication. For a location, choose somewhere that doesn't charge, a clean house, a fellowship hall at a local church, or outdoors since it is warm.
As far as food, a good rule of thumb is to have a couple of salty or savory choices and a couple of sweet choices. Punch is optional, tea, water, coffee are all good choices (cheaper as well).
Get the date set ASAP, invitations need to go out at least 2 weeks prior to shower date.
Good Luck!!!

If the newlywed couple do not have household items, I would go for that unless they want specific items for their home. Then, I would do the nightwear party. My husband and I had nothing when we got married, so we needed all of the household stuff and we were not picky about it, so we loved everything we got!

The shower is where guests typically buy gifts the couple has registered for. The bachelorette party, which is usually anywhere from a month to a day before the wedding, is when you get the lingerie and stuff for the bride.
Since you're strapped for cash, Dollar Tree has a lot of wedding and shower favors and decorations, and with the holiday coming up I'm sure you can find something appropriate for the occasion.
Also, back in the day my mom said they had a "pounding," which is something males and females attend since the bride and groom are there together, and guests bring a "pound" of something, like coffee, sugar, flour, peanut butter, pasta, teas and things like that, you could do that or incorporate it into your shower. Hope this helps!

If its not a surprise shower get the brides imput on it. Let her have some say in how the shower goes. You can play shower games. A few are to put clothes pins on every one and if someone says the word bride and another person hears them they steal their clothes pim and whoever has the most clothes pins at the end gets a prize. Prizes dont have to be expensive maybe a nice candle. Another is to put different spices into unlabeled bags and pass them around and have everyone write down what spice they think they are and then read off what each spice was and whoever has the most correct gets a prize. When you send out the invitations also send a index card and ask everyone to write down a recipe for the couple to have then you can put all the recipes into a pretty box for the bride. You are short on time so you need to get this stuff done asap as the shower is usually done 6 weeks before the wedding but it to late for that. Good luck and I hope all goes well

It sounds like your family is more practical than decorative, and that's my style, too.

Many people 'register' at stores for exact items they'd like to have purchased for themselves (especially if the bride has 'themes' or exquisite decorating tastes), but you need to get a list of friends and family from both sides (unless someone else is having a shower for her on her side). Send invitations and put in there a color theme for each room if she has one (e.g. bathroom: black and white or kitchen: country blue, or bedroom: hunter green and yellow -- or whatever) and anything specific that they need. Some folks may want to go together and buy larger items.

People buy glassware, small appliances, bedding, towels, dishes/bowls, silverware, cookware/bakeware, kitchen gadgets, cleaning/laundry supplies, etc. for them (and some give money). List on the invitation anything that they may already have so they won't get duplicates.

For the shower, get a place that's cheap or free (a home, church fellowship hall, library). Just put 'who, what, where, when, and why' on the invitations (Bridal shower for (name[s]), on (date), at (time), at (place).

Have something wet and something dry to serve. (I like sandwiches cut in 1/4ths, veggie tray and dip, chips, punch/tea, nuts, & cake.

Good luck and have fun! It'll be a blessing to them, I'm sure!

Strapped for cash. Surely there are others who can help out. You are family why were you elected, or is this just a family thing. If it is couples, do a cookput anf have everyone bring a side. If it is girls, do a dessert at 8 pm. No one will stay too long. Do cupcakes in greens and pinks, fruit and cheese, you can do just strawberries, a cheese and crackers. Do a nice frozen cooling punch. Have a miscellanuous shower, anything goes, or, A Christmas in July theme to get her ornaments.

Just give her a few family and friends invited to Bride's shower if it is the money that cant buy all the stuff for the shower have some friends and family bring some foods for the shower have it in lists that will help and you do the card invited and cake,I did this for my daughter in law baby's shower and it work.If you can't afford the invited or cake have the family help with money to put in for the cake and invited. There is suppose to be 4 or 5 helper in the shower.Just household stuff is most important for the bride 's home. I hope this work out for you. also have some bride games you can look online for them it is fun! and have some gift they win to give to the bride.also have punch ready , nuts and mint candy is good for the shower and some foods.

Real gifts to use in the home are far more useful than lingerie. She'll probably still get some of that (which is fine), but you could have a theme like "Let's get her kitchen started" to guide people in the right direction - and then people know what she needs. And, if he will be in attendance, it's a lot more appropriate. It's tacky to say in the invites where she is registered, but if people ask when they RSVP, then of course tell them. I much prefer to give gifts that will actually be needed and used.

i do have a idea for the gifts at little cost i have a ribbon gift collection that u can order the lowest cost is around $24.00 and the best thing is that nobody has to know how much u paid. u can suggest this with the wedding party also or just close family. Now how it works is u buy the gift album of your choice and the new couple gets to order what ever they want out of it and belev me it has sum very good items for home and other use in it. Just check out my website or give me a call if u need further assist. Thanks, T. ###-###-#### or tgeorge.qhealthbeauty.com

we threw a fantasy party for a few of my friends. it was a blast and it only costs us what we bought. hope this helps