Bridal Shower help

[dazedx3]

Hi,
I'm a long time lurker, and I know you all have some great ideas. I'm hosting a bridal shower in July, and am at kind of a loss for new/or unique ideas.

The only thing I really have planned are the decorations, they are going to be Shabby Chic, and (weather permitting) will be in a shaded area outside.

It will be about 20 females ranging in age from 4-82, all a little bit stuffy( so no "off color" stuff).

I need food,drink, and game or activity ideas. Oh, it is being held for a luncheon at 1:00pm

Also, this is being done on a somewhat limited budget.

Thanks

 

[Claudia1]

We are doing a Bridal shower for my soon-to-be DDIL and I made 35 wedding Bingo cards using Excel. If you want me to email them to you, PM me with your email address. I have 35 different files for the different cards and only one card has the winning picture. We will play it to fill the entire card. I did it this way to avoid multiple winners.

Also, our theme is "Perfect Pair, Perfect Fit" (as in a pair of shoes). My DD has wrapped 25 shoe boxes in the wedding colors and we put household items in each one (cooking utensils, pot holders, dish towel, Tylenol, spices, toilet paper, scotch tape, ..... all sorts of things we all use routinely). We will pass the boxes around and everybody will guess what is inside. I have a list printed so they know what is in the boxes, they just have to guess which box each item is in. DDIL will get everything in the boxes to keep. Can you do something like that with the Shabby Chic theme? Maybe sealed shopping bags?

For a tie-breaker, we are using dates, adding up the date of the wedding (which everybody will know), each of their birth dates, the date of their first date, and the date of the proposal.

I found 24 personalized pencils on Ebay for about $10. I'm putting their first names and wedding date on them and the guests can take them home as favors as a reminder of the special date coming up.

Another game would be to put out a display of food items and ask each guest to create a recipe or meal idea for the couple. Be sure to choose favorite items or themes of the couple. You can be inexpensive with that one! Don't put the names on the recipes (or hide the name on the back) and let the bride choose the winner...... or you don't even have to choose a winner. You can make up your own rules about the ingredients and even allow them to add 1 or 2 extras items.

Good luck!

 

[Que_Sarah_Sarah]

Went to a shower last weekend and they played two pretty cool games:

1: On each table, put photos of the bride at different ages and number them. 2 on a table does nicely. Have each person write down how old they think the bride is in each numbered photo. This can be done while guests are arriving, and when everyone is there, announce the correct answers. The one with the most correct is the winner!

2: Write down a list of things a woman might have in her purse and assign point values to each item (Pens, 15. Items in the wedding colors, 20. A book or magazine, 50. Etc.). Have each woman get out their purse and see who has the most points at the end of the list.

 

[Crankyshank]

My future SIL's shower was last weekend. We had one game and it was actually kind of fun. Everyone was divided into teams. The team captain (my grandmothers and great aunts) were the bride and those in the team had to make them a wedding dress with the use toilet paper, a paper doily, and 2 silk flowers. The bride voted on who was the best dressed. It was a hoot - especially my grandmother who chastised my Aunt and I for not showcasing her cleavage enough

 

[Disney Doll]

Games:
1. Make a wedding veil out of toilet paper and tissue paper and a roll of tape.
2. Bridal Bingo.
3. A different twist on Bridal Bingo- everyone gets a name tag with the numbers from a bingo card on it. You may have to have each name tag have 2 or 3 numbers. Everyone gets a bingo card. The guests have to walk around and find the numbers ono the other guests nametags. This is a good icebreaker.
4. A basket raffle- I went to the Dollar Store and bought a bunch of stuff to make little raffle baskets. For example, a coffee cup with a cute spoon and a small package of fancy coffee and a small package of cookies. Kept the cost of each basket under $10 and most of them under $5. Each guest got an envelope with 10 tickets in it with their name on each ticket (I would do the tickets as the responses came in so I didn't end up spending a whole day writing). The tickets were made of index cards cut into 10 equivalent size pieces. Each raffle basket had a container next to it. The guests were instructed toput their tickets into the containers for whatever prizes they wanted to try and win. Throughout the course of the shower, I'd have the bride pick the tickets until all the prizes were gone.
5. Guess the cost of some "honeymoon toys" and win a prize.
6. Ask the groom-to-be some questions and write down his answers and then ask the bride-to-be to guess how the groom answered. For every wrong answer, she has to chew a piece of bubblegum.

Favors:
1. Personalized pencils (as noted by a PP...cute idea and useful!)
2. Scratch off Lotto ticket
3. Small box of chocolates

I usually try to keep favors to something that is edible or useful and not just another "knick-knack" or candle that will collect dust in someone's home.

Decorations:
Not sure what shabby chic is. I did one shower for my niece in 2009 that was "Christmas in July". The shower was in July. The wedding was in December. The bride lived out of town so I had to schedule when I knew she'd be in town, hence Christmas in July. That one was pretty easy because I just pulled out all my Christmas stuff.

I just did one a couple of months ago that had a "leopard print shoes and coral" theme. The bridesmaids were wearing coral dresses and leopard print shoes, so we did the centerpieces with coral flowers in a black vases with a leopard ribbbon wrapped around it, we did the scratch off Lotto ticket in a leopard organza bag with a penny to scratch it off, we did cupcakes decorated with a leopard print cookie shaped like a pump-style shoe, we had cookie trays for each tables that was a square gold tray with a leopard napkin on it and the cookies on top of the napkin and some of the cookies were also the leopard pump-style shoe cookies.

Good luck! In my next life I want to be a party planner.

 

[jen0610]

Went to a shower last weekend and they played two pretty cool games:

1: On each table, put photos of the bride at different ages and number them. 2 on a table does nicely. Have each person write down how old they think the bride is in each numbered photo. This can be done while guests are arriving, and when everyone is there, announce the correct answers. The one with the most correct is the winner!

2: Write down a list of things a woman might have in her purse and assign point values to each item (Pens, 15. Items in the wedding colors, 20. A book or magazine, 50. Etc.). Have each woman get out their purse and see who has the most points at the end of the list.

We have played this one before and it is always a lot of fun.

One of the games we did for my neice was a search-a-word puzzle that was made up for them. It was done on excel. If you would like the template we used, pm with your e-mail and I can send that to you.

The memory game is another one I have played and had fun with. The hostess makes up a tray or basket of items that relate to the bride and groom. Guests get 2-3 minutes to study it, then it is covered or taken away. You get 5 minutes to write down everything you can remember seeing.

For my neice, they use to take in baby racoons and raise them until they could take care of themselves. They had a old tin wash tub that they would put blankets in for the little guys to sleep in. The hostess used this tub to hold the games items. I was the only one to put down coon bed on my list.

 

[Lassie Lynne]

Games:
6. Ask the groom-to-be some questions and write down his answers and then ask the bride-to-be to guess how the groom answered.

I did that at the shower I threw a bride when I was a MOH. We put the answers of big peices of construction paper and the other MOH held them up. Before we started the game, every one picked a random betweeen 1 and 20 and the one that was closest to the actual amount the bride quessed got a little gift.

A good ice breaker is as people come in, have toilet paper roll in hand, greet them and ask them how much they will need.....no explanation just hand it out. Then after everyone sits down and during introductions, each person much say one thing about themseleved per little square of TP taken....you learn some interesting things and is always good for a few laughs.

 

[Pigeon]

Skip the stupid games and under no circumstances ask the guests to address their own thank you notes.

All you need is good food, drink and company and people will socialize. You don't need to treat it like a six year old's birthday party, which is what lots of people do.

 

[dazedx3]

OP here, thanks so much everyone, lots of great ideas. Pigeon, I tend to agree with you about games, so I want to keep them short and sweet.

So, now, how about some food ideas for a luncheon? Usually I am really good at party planning, but for some reason, I am drawing a complete blank on this one. I guess maybe I just have too much going on all at once.

Thanks again, everyone. I may just have to invite all of you.

 

[onelilspark]

I planned my friend's for her wedding this past April. You want to send invites a good month in advance.

We skipped all games. I made her wear the "Bride to Be" sash that I got at Michael's, but that was about the extent of things. She's making me wear it at mine.

I sent a recipe card to all the guests to share their favorite recipe for the bride and then got her a nice book and some blank cards to keep all her recipes in (I really hope she does this for me too!)

Other than that, we went to her favorite restaurant and had a lunch. I let the great food and company just be the party rather than force awkward games and I had so many of the guests comment on how it was the best shower they had ever been to. (Obviously if the bride is really into the games...I would do games)

So as far as food goes? Does the bride have any favorites? I would go ahead and keep things simple, sandwiches, salads, snacks, etc

 

[christineann]

I gave a bridal shower a few months ago, and I am on a budget as well. I served a buffet of chicken salad on small croissants, ham wraps (tortillas), pasta salad with vegetables, vegetables and dip, and a cold layered Mexican dip. For dessert, we had brownies and lemon squares. We had iced tea and homemade lemonade.

It was an easy party to do. Have a good time!

 

[scrapquitler]

Skip the stupid games and under no circumstances ask the guests to address their own thank you notes.

All you need is good food, drink and company and people will socialize. You don't need to treat it like a six year old's birthday party, which is what lots of people do.

I agree. I strongly dislike "games" at bridal showers and baby showers. We are all adults, we don't need entertainment while we are at a party for 3 or 4 hours, we can just sit and socialize while we eat and watch the bride (or mother to be) open the gifts.

 

[teacup princess]

Agreed. No Games. If you feel you need some sort of entertainment, keep it simple and don't force guests to participate. Ideas: 1). Make a photo collage of childhood photos of the bride and groom (people love looking at photos, especially embarrasing ones). 2). Do the recipe thing. Let guests insert their recipe in a book and sign it with their well-wishes. 3). Scapbooking is in these days. Set around some scrapbooking pages around the table. X out a spot for a photo. Then let the guests write a word of marriage wisdom or decorate it. Take a photo of the table, then give it to the bride.

We usually do brunch showers and serve chicken salad on croissants, a couple of breakfast stratas, fruit and veggie trays, a couple different types of salads and a dessert selection. Easy and everyone has a great time.

 

[kacaju]

I am another one is not into the games. I have not been to a bridal shower in 15 years (married 20 years now) or so. You all are scaring me since I am going to one this Sunday!! It is for my future SIL so I do not know her or her friends.

 

[Que_Sarah_Sarah]

I must disagree with the game-haters, lol. I LOVE the games, but I will admit that some of them are really dumb. The "How much do you know the bride?" quiz drives me nuts.

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

I like the bingo played while opening presents, other than that, no games.

I think little sandwiches (chicken salad, but dress it up with grapes, craisins, and a tsp or so of lime juice per cup of mayo) egg salad, pita with hummus and an olive on top, etc. Have some fruit, garden salad, etc.

 

[akhenaten]

I like the bingo played while opening presents, other than that, no games.

.

That's the one game we did at my nieces shower... figured it gives the guests something to do while gifts are opened...

 

[Nancyg56]

Skip the stupid games and under no circumstances ask the guests to address their own thank you notes.

All you need is good food, drink and company and people will socialize. You don't need to treat it like a six year old's birthday party, which is what lots of people do.

MTE! I am hosting a bridal shower for my future DDIL and there will be no games.

OP here, thanks so much everyone, lots of great ideas. Pigeon, I tend to agree with you about games, so I want to keep them short and sweet.

So, now, how about some food ideas for a luncheon? Usually I am really good at party planning, but for some reason, I am drawing a complete blank on this one. I guess maybe I just have too much going on all at once.

Thanks again, everyone. I may just have to invite all of you.

How about a Bridal Tea? THe shower I hosted for my DSIL included tea sandwiches and a salad. It was in January so we also had Italian Wedding Soup.

You could make little

cucumber and dill open sandwiches on potato or rye bread squares

chicken salad or egg salad on mini crossants

small ham or turkey and cheese

a cold fruit soup

spinach and strawberry salad

for dessert lemon squares, brownies

Costco sells little frozen cream puffs. Thaw and add a little dollop of chocolate glaze or frosting

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

ok, so its not a game---and may be too "off-color"...but while the bride to be is opening her gifts, have someone secretly write down the things she says while opening; " Oh--its so big" "It's stuck!"..."I wonder what this is?" "It's perfect." "I've never seen one in this color before"... etc.... then after she is done opening---you tell everyone what you did but tell them it's what the bride will say on her wedding night. and THen tell them your list of sentences.. It always gets a laugh---even from the stuffy old ladies