Need help in throwing a bridal shower

[mla973]

Any great, unique ideas for a bridal shower or cool websites where ideas can be found? I will be throwing a bridal shower for my sister in a few months, and am trying to put together some ideas. I've never done this before, and I want it to be great.

I need ideas for games, prizes, food, etc.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!!!! Thank you!

 

[lemondog]

I have thrown many a shower in my day. Honestly, I have never done games at a bridal shower so I can't help you there. You could Google it though, and I bet you would come up with a ton of hits.

As for food, without fail I make this fruit tea for every single shower I throw. It is delicious!!! I quadruple the recipe to make 2 gallons. I store it in gallon jugs, and pour it into pretty pitchers for the shower. I always have a little bowl of mint sprigs on the side for garnish.

THE PICNIC'S TEA PUNCH
8 cups water, divided
1 family size tea bag
1 cinnamon stick
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
lemon slices, for garnish,if desired
mint sprigs, for garnish,if desired

Bring 4 cups water to a boil in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add tea bag and cinnamon stick, and let stand for 5 minutes. Remove tea bag.
Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Stir in orange juice and lemonade concentrates. Pour mixture into pitcher, and add remaining 4 cups water.
Serve over ice and garnish with lemon slices and mint sprigs if desired.

Here's another no-fail that's perfect for bridal showers. I cannot begin to tell you how YUMMY and EASY this is. BTW, it makes a TON of chocolate so you will have plenty left over.

CHOCOLATE-DIPPED STRAWBERRIES
2 pints strawberries, with stems if possible
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or milk chocolate chips)
2 tablespoons corn syrup
6 tablespoons butter

Wash strawberries and pat dry. Place on paper towels until they reach room temperature. Melt chocolate chips, corn syrup and butter in a double boiler, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and dip each strawberry into chocolate, coating 2/3 of strawberry. Allow excess chocolate to drip off into pan. Place stem side down on waxed paper covered baking pan or cookie sheet. Refrigerate until set, about 15-20 minutes.

This is a pretty common staple at most bridal showers I have attended.

CHEESE WAFERS
1/2 lb butter or margarine, melted
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese or extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated not shredded cheese
2 cups Rice Krispies
cayenne pepper or 1-2 dash hot sauce, for a little zip (Tabasco, Texas Pete) (optional)

Mix all ingredients, drop by teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet, flatten with fork. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.

I'll post more later!

 

[kdibattista]

We actually had a Sunday breakfast shower for my sister... she's was very surprised. I told her it was a pancake breakfast to benefit my husbands fire company.

We rented a grill and my husband made omelettes & pancakes. We also had bagels and muffins with different teas, coffees and juices. It was actually pretty inexpensive and I got so many compliments on the idea. We had it from 10:00 - 1:00 so it didn't take up the whole day like a lot of showers.

I have never done games either... I'm not much of a fan of that.

Good luck!!!

P.S. We decorated like it was an English Garden Tea... birdhouses as the centerpieces and flowers everywhere... the setting was very cool (if I do say so myself )

 

[kerrynic78]

My Maid of Honor actually had the guests play bingo while I opened my gifts to keep them from not being so bored! She made up cards and put my items from my registry on them and when I opened a gift they would mark it off and whoever got Bingo first one a really nice gift. Everyone loved it and it kept them from having to ooooh and ahhhh over every gift!

It was the only "game" she did but it was cute.

 

[kimisabella]

We usually have showers here in restaurants or catering halls, so I can't say much about what food to prepare.
When I helped give my sister's shower, we did the bridal shower bingo - that way people were involved when she was opening up gifts. I made a packet and set it on top of everyone's place setting along w/a pencil. Inside had all the games, and the cover was a story about the legend of how a bridal shower came to be. Inside I had the bingo game, the "name game" where you put the bride and grooms name at the top of the paper, and guests have to take the letters from the bride and grooms name and make as many words as they can. Whoever gets the most words wins a prize. I also had a game where you ask different questions about the bride and groom, whoever gets the most questions correct wins. We've also done things like fill a decorative jar w/peanuts, jellybeans, m&m's ect.. and guests will have to guess how many are in the jar, who ever's closest wins the jar. We've also done just random give aways. We buy a roll of the carnival tickets, and each guests gets a ticket when they come in, at random times during the shower - like when it gets boring - we go into the fishbowl and pick a ticket. The prizes are small - like frames, vases, candles, ect., but EVERYONE likes to win prizes. Have fun!

 

[iluvwdw_2002]

Here is a great website:
www.bridalshower.com

They have a lot of great ideas for games to play, invitations, etc. No matter what you do or plan, it will be fun. Everyone loves bridal showers.

Here are some awesome recipes!! We had them at my shower, and everyone was emailing and calling me wanting the recipes:

Almond Bacon Cheese Crostini

1 French baguette, sliced
3-4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1/4 cup almonds, toasted
1 T finely chopped green onion
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, place baguette slices on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Bake for 5 minutes or until lightly brown. Combine remaininnng ingredients and spread on bread slices. Bake for 5 minutes more or until cheese melts. Makes 3 dozen.


Coffee Punch

4 cups sugar
4 cups boiling water
2 oz. instant coffee
3 qts vanilla ice cream
3 quarts chocolate ice cream
3 gallons milk

Mix sugar, coffee and boiling water together. Allow to cool. Add ice creams and milk. Excellent and will serve 200. Very elegant. This tastes like a Starbucks Frappuccino!

Have fun!!!

 

[lissawynn]

My sisters and my friends threw me a great shower. For their gift they bought DH and I a new kitchen table and chairs. When I walked into the shower, I looked at the table and thought it wasn't in the church the last time I was there. DUH. I didn't realize it was our gift.
DS also asked everyone to bring a bottle of wine for my wishing well. We ended up with almost 50 bottles of wine. It was a great idea.
Also, instead of a guest book, DS had my guests sign the back of a pie board (wooden board used for rolling out dough). Every time I use it, I get to see my guests' signatures.
DH and I got to participate in one of the games, too (aside from the bingo). My DS and bridesmaids had a game of "How Well Do You Know the Bride and Groom?". They made up all kinds of questions about DH and me. DH stayed with me to answer the questions. It was fun.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

My bridal shower was on a Friday night at a banquet hall, open bar and a DJ. I wanted my shower to be something my friends and family looked forward to and not to dread coming to another bridal shower on a Sunday morning.

Me and the girls had sooo much fun. I had the bridesmaids open the gifts and put them on a display table then I went down the table with a microphone, opened the cards properly acknowledged the gift and moved on....everyone loved our format.

 

[ashjohnson80]

my sis threw me the best bridal shower EVER! I was just looking back at the pictures the other day. She had it at a "tea room" and the place was really great, there were about 3 rooms that everyone was in, and the food was great. The peach tea was also so awesome. I think we played a "who knows the bride to be the best" game, where she interviewed me before and asked me stuff like, what is your favorite color, movie, song, ect... Most of the people at the bridal shower found out that they don't really know me very well at all and that I'm very strange. But I thought that was funny.

 

[lemondog]

I just remembered a game we did at one friend's shower -- it was HYSTERICAL but it really depends on the crowd as to whether this will be acceptable or not.

As the bride is opening her gifts, secretly write down her comments when she opens each one. Then read them back as "things that will be overheard on the wedding night." This game also works well for baby showers, as "things overheard on the night the baby was conceived." Again, this TOTALLY depends on the crowd but if it's a young group who won't be offended or think it's unacceptable, it can be really funny!

 

[lemondog]

OP, what time of day is your shower? That will determine a lot what/how much food you need to serve. If you are doing a midafternoon shower (2-3pm range) than you can easily get away with cake, punch and nuts/mints. If you are doing a lunchtime shower than I always do a menu consisting of..

Finger sandwiches
Cold pasta salad
Fruit salad
A couple of appetizer-type things like the Cheese Wafers I posted above and a hot dip with crackers
For dessert I make Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries and order a cake from the bakery.
I also set around the room little bowls of M&Ms and mixed nuts

As for drinks, I make the Fruit Tea I mentioned above, plus offer water and coffee.

If it's a late-morning shower you could do more of a brunch menu with things like ham on mini-rolls, quiche or quiche cups (like the kind you can buy at Sam's in the freezer section), fruit salad, etc.