Bridal Shower Themes

[Aletheia]

Hi ladies-
I'm hosting a bridal shower at the end of the summer and was hoping y'all could help me brainstorm some fun themes. Many guests will be coming from out of state, and many are students, so I'm looking for ideas for gifts that are inexpensive and travel well! But all ideas are welcome.

Have you been to, hosted, been given, or dreamt up a unique shower idea? Share it here!

Thanks!

[kmmommy]

I saw on WC someone through a wine tasting bridal shower and that it was a huge hit!

I also plan on doing a spa-theme for my sister. We'll hire a couple students from local beauty schools to do manis/pedis, massages, etc.

[Happy1]

We've done:

-recipe showers (you bring a favorite recipe and tape it to one non-perishable item that you need to make that recipe)

-Household showers (you bring a cleaning product and/or something handy to have around the house)

-Flower shower (Bring a single silk flower with a word of advice attached to it. The flowers can later be placed in a vase in the couple's home and/or woven into a wreathe in remembrance of those the couple has supporting them).

Nikki :D

[mkredhead]

One of my family's favorites is the Around the Clock shower. Each guest is assigned a time of day and buys a gift for that timeframe. The hostess has the opportunity to match the times with people who would find it fun - ie: grandmother gets 9 a.m. (breakfast and kitchen things) and the best friend gets 11 p.m. (nighties, sheets, etc.)

The gifts are varied that way and it's fun to see the look on the bride's face when she finds our who has midnight!!

[LoveYouKisses]

I like that around the clock idea - sounds like it could be very fun!!

We're hosting a 'naughty/nice' shower for a good friend of mine at the end of the month. Basically its a pale pink and black color scheme, and the idea is you bring one thing naughty (not necessarily x-rated) and one thing nice (suggested to be off the registry) Its a lot of fun when the group is young and adventerous!

-Julie

[mindy]

Subscribing I am throwing a shower next year for my sister and am looking for ideas.

[myshel]

I've been to:

* a recipe shower-- You bring a favorite recipe and one utensil needed to make it.

* an alphabet shower-- Each guest is assigned a letter and must get a gift starting with that letter.

* a rooms of the house shower-- Again, the guest is assigned a room in the house and must buy an appropriate gift for that room.

[amew]

Around the Clock -- like described above
Around the House -- assign guest a room of the house and have them get something used in that room
ABC -- assign guests a letter and have them get something that starts with that letter
Kitchen/recipe -- like described above -- give a recipe and a utensil, gadget or product used in making it
Lingerie
Pamper the Bride -- give bath products, mani gift certificates, candles, wine, etc.
Holiday -- give a holiday decoration (or a Trim the Tree shower, where everyone gives a Christmas ornament for the couple's tree)
Bar shower -- Bring bar tools, stemware, or a bottle of wine or liquor to stock the couple's bar

[snowzilla]

For the last wedding I was a bridesmaid in, the bride already had a work shower and a shower where she received housewares and things off her registry - so we threw her a "racy and lacey" shower. Everything was red and/or black, the gift theme spoke for itself, and we served food that fit the theme as well. She got some really fun, and some very naughty gifts, and it was a huge success.

We also combined her shower with her bachelorette party, and later that evening after dinner, we dressed her in red devil horns and a red veil, and went out to a nightclub. Because we were all dressed in red and black, it made for some really nice photographs.

[Sonicstef]

I did a retro pink shower for a friend last year. Colors were pink and black ...made paper purses to hold the game cards and menus, shades of pink centerpieces, pin favors, pink drinks, etc.. I was really pleased with how everything turned out.

Pics if you are interested:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAMmjds2cNGTLqg

[mindy]

TheStork

I love the shower my sisters color for her wedding is Pink so it would be perfect what are the purses that are shown in the pictures?

Thanks

[Sonicstef]

The purses are made out of patterned paper and plastic beads (that look like a metal chain). I didnt get great photos of them at the shower since I was busy with other stuff but I think they really pulled the table together since we had several pieces of paper stuffed in there.

[Kimberland30]

Another cute idea not mentioned here - but seen on the WC - is a shower theme per month. Everyone is assigned a month and gets a gift appropriate for their month. Like April would be an umbrella (April showers), June could be a picnic basket, January could be a warm blanket....etc.

[E'sprincess]

Since we're getting married in December and having a "snowflake theme" wedding, the girls decided to do a Christmas in September shower theme. here's the first part: First I have to convince FH to let me decprate our home in Christmas stuff in Saptember ha ha ...

We could do the advice thing to.
Have like cute 5x7 pages. Give a page to each person when they arrive and have them fill out advice, then we can collect them and bind them into a book...the bridesmaids can pick 5 or so of the best advice that gets and read them aloud and give that person a prize. Give a door prize for maybe the 30th person (the wedding date). If someone comes dressed in christmas stuff....just in case you also have crazy family members..LOL...we could give them a prize. Maybe a snowflake on the bottom of a plate of cup wins a prize...and what not.

Instead of a receipe card we could have each guest bring a special christmas ornament for the christmas tree :)

The Bridesmaids could be assigned to a certain room Livingroom, Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom, etc....

The ABC's of marriage....we can assign a letter to every invitation then they have to bring a gift with that letter...."C" cookie sheet...cook book..."P" Pot holders...Pizza...LOL

What about a like a "honey do list" along that same line of the ABC idea...like "Honey I made you cookies...and the guest would give cookie sheets...or Honey its time for bath...with bath products....Honey its time for bed...sheets, pillows....honey time for breakfast...what not...

These are just some of the ideas that are being tossed around.

~Jen~

[LeslieR]

I love the recipe idea. When my best friend's sister was getting married, they collected recipes from the guests prior to the shower and put them into a binder and gave them out as favors. I had totally forgotten about it until I read this thread. Must remember that for FSIL's shower! :D

[rubyslippers]

We did a Steel Magnolias themed shower for my sister complete with Bleedin' Armadillo Cake. Anne really wanted to use pink as one of her wedding colors but the groom shot the idea down. So we incorporated her favorite color and her favorite movie. She loved it.

[kris97]

My wonderful bridesmaids threw me a "picture perfect shower" - the gifts weren't themed, but each guest was sent a heart shaped piece of paper and asked to bring their favorite photo of me or DH and write a caption on the piece of paper. All the pictures and hearts were then put in a scrapbook at the shower and given to me as a present. Since I love love love photos, this was the perfect theme for me. :)

[torch76]

I'm planning a shower for my friend in October. She is not really into all the cutsy wedding stuff but goes to see movies at least once a week or more! A few years agor we drove to LA and watched all the stars come in on the red carpet for the Golden Globes. So I thought I could have a red carpet shower for her. The thing I am having trouble with is I would love to have the guests come dressed in red carpet attire and have prizes for best and worst dressed and so on. Dress could be anything form the Mtv awards to the oscars. I just feel weird about making people dress up especially when moms will be there. On the other hand it is something totally different and could be really fun.

Other ideas
-Have an actual red carpet for guests to walk in on
-Star decorations and Star cake
-Director's Chair with Bride on in
-Wedding Movie Posters for decorations
-Movie theater food for snacks (popcorn, m&ms gummy worms)

Should I talk to the bride about this before I send out invite or have it be a surprise? Is this too much? What time should is start?

I just need to make some decisions!

[berry]

I'm the MOH for my sister's December wedding.

I'm throwing the bridal shower which we thought would be a tea. Now my sister thinks she wants something else. Something more fun (that's what she said).

I want to do whatever I can to make this party special for her, so I need to come up with themes. This is going to be a female only shower (she is also having another co-ed shower).

Here are some I've heard of
Around the Clock
Stock the Bar
Lingerie (she won't be doing this as grandmas and such will be coming)
Wine & Cheese
Spa Theme
Hawaiian Luau
Recipe Box

any others or any suggestions for expanding on these ideas.

[Myra]

mmmm wine and cheese.

My friend went to a shower that was a month-by-month theme--each guest brought a gift the bride could use during the month that she (the guest) was born.

[Sand]

The Spa theme could be really fun!

[maplekitty]

*putting on my mod cap*

Please remember to do a search before posting a new thread. There is already a thread on this same topic.

The boards aren't *huge* yet, and it's not too hard to sift through a few pages before posting a new thread.

I have merged the two threads together...

thank you
-Sarah :)
*takes off mod cap*

I always like to do a more personal theme for a bridal shower and make it fun things for the bride. Spa theme, lingerie, gardening theme (or whatever is her hobby or passion) are fun to expand on!

[lisainpink]

My two favorite showers thrown for me were:
*Around the clock- they used clocks in every decoration- it was great.
*A shower of firsts- each guest was given a "first" to buy for. Couples' first dinner party, couples' first meal together as husband and wife, couples' first vacation, couples' first Christmas, etc. The guests brought gifts appropriate for that occasion. We got a ton of cute stuff- my favorite was for couples' first night in: a big popcorn bowl with our married name painted on it- filled with popcorn, dvds, gift certs for movie rental places, drinks, and a blanket. Sooo cute!

[KaliLily]

I was the MOH for my friend's wedding last summer and the theme for her bridal shower was Hawaiian Luau. I picked it because her (now) DH's mom's family is from Hawaii. We had Hawaiian food, luau decorations, all guests were given Leis upon arrival and we played some "Hawaiian" themed games. It was a LOT of fun to plan and everyone seemed to have a good time - including the bride. :)

[berry]

Thanks for the suggestions and also for combining the posts (I did do a search but came up with TONS of threads for journals).

I'm going to give some suggestions to my sister and see what she says.

[berry]

We decided to go with a Prohibition Era "themed" shower. For my sister's bridal shower.

Invites were done in pink & black.

Music is Duke Ellington & Cole Porter

Decor for the party will be pink tablecloths with black lace and martini glasses with hot pink roses.

We'll be serving:

Blushing bride (vodka, cranberry, lime, soda)
Sparkling lemonade (lemonade, soda)
Cucumber Sandwiches (boursin, cucs, white bread)
Chicken Salad Sandwiches (chicken salad, wheat bread)
Spanikopita triangles
Baked brie with crusty bread
Veggies & fruit tray
Spiced Nuts

For dessert we are making the Mini Brownie Wedding cakes that were just featured in Martha Stewart Weddings.

Favors are going to be decorated martini shaped sugar cookies and charm bracelets with martini and other drink charms.

I'll post pictures after the shower (in two weeks).

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions and help.

[berry]

These were the shower invites for the above mentioned Prohibition Era Cocktail Party.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5ce01b3127cce94e230ba67e000000016108AcOGTFu3Zsw

Detail on invite:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5ce01b3127cce94e230bde6d700000016108AcOGTFu3Zsw

[Maggie8202]

BUMP... looking for some ideas for a Feb. Shower. Wedding is in April.

[mgmhmj]

One shower that I've been to and hosted that is great is a basket shower. It's especially fun as a couples shower, but works fine as just a bridal shower. Each guest is given a theme and they put together a "basket" to match the theme. The first one I went to, my theme was "Baking Cookies," and I bought baking sheets, cookie cutters, cookie scoops, mixing bowls, and I baked some cookies and included those and the recipe. I also hosted one for my sister and BIL, so if you're interested I can send you a list of the themes we used and I think I still have a picture of the invites as well.

[coquelicot]

Subbing as well...I'm MOH for a June wedding. I've thought about doing a recipe shower because my best friend doesn't have many recipes but would like to try to cook more. But it might end up being more like a personal shower because I think her aunt is throwing her more of a traditional shower.

For my own wedding, my BMs threw a time-of-day shower. I've also attended an alphabet shower, but I got stuck with the letter Z! If you go with that one, please do your guests a favor and don't give them weird letters! I ended up getting the bride black and white towels and calling them "zebra-striped."