Wedding Shower Ideas Requested
Hi Crystal!
I have a very good friend of mine getting married on June 24th of this year. I would like to host a wedding shower for her but it would be my first time to do so. I thought you or some of your readers might have some creative and meaningful ideas for a wedding shower. The shower will probably be sometime in May, possibly on a weeknight. Any ideas or suggestions for food, activities, games, themes, or anything else would be greatly appreciated. Even if people would like to share things that did not work out well or what to avoid in planning a shower, those would be helpful as well.
-Lydia
posted by Crystal Paine at 10:13 AM
8 Comments:
I hosted a bridal shower for my sister a little while back and we decided to do a Victorian Tea theme. We had everyone wear a hat and bring a tea cup. We had dainty sandwiches, cookies, tea, and the like. We started out with everyone telling the story of their hat which broke the ice and was alot of fun. We talked about our tea cups also if anyone had a story for theirs.
I don't like alot of games, but one thing we did at a baby shower I gave was have 2 baskets of goodies to give away. To enter you had to bring an item- for the baby shower we did washwipes or diapers. For a bridal shower you could do household cleaners, a jar of a spice, candles, or something like that to enter your name. At the end we drew names and they won the basket. We filled it with things like tea, chocolate, sparkling cider, wine glasses, candles, a bible study book, stuff like that. They can enter as many times as they want.
I've been a bridesmaid twice and been to many showers. Yet I still find it hard to give advice on this subject.
I would personalize it as much as possible. Show old pictures, home movies baby books, etc... You could make a collage of school pictures.
It also depends on your demographic. The lingerie shower might not work with all age groups.
As far as food, serve a variety. I went to spaghetti dinner shower once. The spaghetti had ground beef- which I don’t eat. I would not serve pork. So many people don't eat it.
Everyone does the “bring a recipe” thing. It is a classic.
You could also make it a "floating" shower, that way it would work around people's schedules better. Give people a two or three hour window of time to come. That makes it easier on those of us that work.
One of my best friends (also named Lydia!) just got married, and I hosted a shower for her.
We had Lydia's fiance at the shower, which changed the flavor of the games, but made them oh, so fun :). Lydia and Quinton both love teasing, so it worked out great.
Here are a few ideas:
The first game we did was a word unscramble. We picked about 10 common wedding-type words, like "groom," "attendants," "commitment" (this one really stumped people!), "ring," etc. and the first guest to unscramble the words won the game.
The second game we did we called "Who Knows Lydia Best?" We picked 4 girls who were around Lydia's age and knew her pretty well (we did not pick me or my sister or Lydia's sisters, since we would have all gotten all the questions correct) and they competed against the groom to see who knew Lydia best. We asked questions like shoe size, least favorite school subject, favorite childhood pasttime, etc, and kept score of the guests v. the groom. It was a lot of fun and the guests won by one point :). This game could only be played if the groom was there, unless you videotaped his answers ahead of time.
The third game we did was the most fun, especially since Quinton was there. It could be done with only the bride, though. It was a scenario game that was the brain-child of my sister, though we all helped come up with ideas for the questions and answers. We had a total of about 10 questions, each with 4-6 choices that Lydia and Quinton had to pick from. The questions were scenarios that may happen after they get married. We alternated who got asked the question, but for each question they both had to write down an answer, either for how they would answer (if the question was addressed to them) or how they thought the other would answer. It was hilarious. We were all rolling on the floor laughing, practically.
Here's an example of the type of question we asked:
Lydia: Four weeks after the wedding Quinton has left his dirty socks on the floor for a week straight. What do you do?
(a) Pick them up joyfully, thinking of all the years to come that you will get to serve him in this way.
(b) Sweetly ask him to try to remember to put them in the hamper next time.
(c) Refuse to wash them unless he throws them in the hamper himself.
(d) Tell him to do his own laundry.
(e) Put his dirty socks in the meatloaf for supper that night.
The fourth game, which we never ended up playing, was a version of scattergories, where we made up 10 wedding categories to fill in. I don't have a copy of that, but the categories were things like attendants, gifts, decorations, etc.
My mom also led a short devotion on marriage. As the married women arrived she handed them each an index card and a pencil and asked them to (anonymously, if desired) write down some advice, a prayer, a word of encouragement, etc. for Lydia and Quinton. Then during the devotion time she read them all aloud. My mom also printed out several verses on marriage and handed them out for people to read aloud.
A game that is really fun that I played at another shower is the toilet paper wedding dress game. Divide up everyone into teams of 4 or 5, no more or some people don't really get to help. Each team gets a package of toilet paper and they nominate someone to be the "bride" for their group. The actual bride should be the "bride" for one of the groups, and often it is decided beforehand that the attendants will be the other "brides." The teams contest to see who can create the best bridal gown for their "bride", using only toilet paper. It is so neat to see what people can come up with.
I hope that helps! :) Congratulations to your friend, Lydia! How exciting :).
I haven't really read all the other comments yet, so I hope I'm not being redundant. If the bride will have other showers then I would suggest hosting a themed shower instead of a miscellaneous one. For instance, I have given a "kitchen" shower, a "bed and bath" shower, a "home and garden" shower, and of course, a "lingerie" shower. Another theme that works well is a "12 months a year" shower where you would assign a month to each guest. The guest would buy a gift based on the month- this is generally just an "extra" shower beyond the necessities. One more shower idea is a "Round the clock" shower and again, assign an hour to the guest. For example, if 6:00 am was my time, I might buy an alarm clock, a basket of facial cleansers, some shower gels for him and her, a set of thick bath towels, some fancy coffee, or maybe a breakfast cookbook. See how that works?
As far as games go, a good old favorite is to ask the guests to write down how the bride and groom met. The bride is the judge, of course, and the guest who comes closest to the correct answer wins the goodie gift.
Hope these ideas help.
I always liked the "Around the Clock" theme because it can be used in so many fun ways. I went to a shower once where it was used throughout the party! For instance, the ladies with the "morning" times all came dressed in pajamas! One older lady came dressed in an old housecoat with her hair in curlers and bunny slippers, we were HOWLING with laughter. Another lady who had the "midnight" time assigned came with a face masque on, complete with cucumber slices for the eyes.
While the "morning time" gifts were being opened the hostess served little pigs in a blanket - sausage rolled in pancakes - and other breakfasty type snackies. Then during the "afternoon" time she served a lovely shrimp salad in avocado halves, it was SO good. For "dinner time" the ladies assigned wore very fine ballgowns or old bridesmaid dresses and we had a fancy beef dish. We finished off with popcorn and ice cream for the "midnight" time. It was definitely one of the more memorable bridal showers I've been to!
I have to say...the toilet paper bridal gown thing doesn't work for everyone, every shower I've been to people groan at it. Just my experience....I do know that some people love it, that and the hat made out of gift bows....
Some of the other games suggested sound wonderful! I love the wedding "scattergories" idea. I might have to use that one the next time I host a bridal shower.
I've played one where you hand out slips of paper with things like "favorite wedding gift", "most memorable wedding gift", "funniest wedding memory", "funniest honeymoon memory", and so on and everyone would share their memories. It was a lot of fun! I am NOT one for shower games, but that one was good,
Bridal showers can be so much fun!One traditional idea is to have a "pounding" for the bride, where everyone brings a pound of sugar, flour, and other essentials for her new pantry.
An idea I have used for a baby shower but which can be adapted for a bridal shower was to provide a pretty glass jar and colorful slips of paper. Have each guest write a note of encouragement to the bride and place it into the jar; then she will have a beautiful remembrance of the occasion. It would also be a nice idea to purchase a lovely book (such as Beall Phillips' Verses of Virtue) and have each lady write a note in the endcover to the bride.
Have fun and don't forget to pray about the shower and commit it to the Lord. It will be a meaningful and encouraging event for your friend!
I went to a bridal shower just recently and the hostess had a very neat activity. Before the shower the hostess interviewed the groom to be on questions about himself and fun little facts about the couple from the groom's point of view (favorite things, first date, how many children they want, etc...). Well, the hostess printed up the questions and had the answers in a seperate piece of paper only for her viewing. At the bridal shower one of the interview questions was put on each gift brought to the party. As the bride to be opened each gift she would read the question that was attatched and answer it herself (only the hostess had the answers from the bride's fiance). It was a great time and we learned some fun things about the bride & groom.
Because of JESUS ~ Denise
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