BS: Help with bridal shower

Subject: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 07:15 PM

This is complete BS, but I'm desperate!

I've volunteered to host a bridal shower, and I have no idea what I'm doing.

This is a fairly non-traditional bride/couple, and a group of women who work together.

Can anyone tell me your favorite shower thoughts/activities/etc? AND your shower horrors to avoid?

We are all cooks and caterers (at least one catered her own wedding!), so I'm good on food advice, but what does one DO at a shower these days?!

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Peace
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 07:31 PM

"RE: BS: Help with bridal shower"

Make sure she's not wearing the dress when you put her in.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Cluin
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 08:16 PM

Avoid the plastic beads and the pub crawl. Being in the band on stage when they come in, I've seen (and taken part in) some things...

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Becca72
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 08:25 PM

Cluin, that's the bachelorette party, not the bridal shower...

Dani, as a woman who has been to a few of these in her day, I can honestly say I HATE bridal shower games.

I was at my cousin's shower this weekend and the only one we played was going around the room and giving your name and how you knew the bride then taking the 1st initial of your name and coming up with a word to describe the bride....

I did this one for a co-worker once..I had everyone in the office come up with 1 line of a story, leaving some parts blank. As the bride is opening her gifts you write down what she says and then use those phrases to fill in the blanks of the story.. ie "On their wedding night Jane turned to John and said 'oh, it's so heavy'" Make sense? PM me if you want more detail.

At another cousin's shower we were all given a clothes pin at the door. You were not allowed to say the groom's name. If you caught someone saying it, you got to take their clothes pin (the object was to try to make people slip up). At the end the person with the most clothes pins won a little prize.

We also played the "purse treasure hunt" which is pretty self-explanatory...make a list of items and the person who has the most of said items in her purse gets a little something...

Hope this helps!

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: open mike
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 09:09 PM

i don't know many who get married these days..
but there is a site that sells printable games
and other stuff. http://www.bridalshower.com/

one idea is to give recipe cards to guests
and have each one bring a favorite recipe
for the bride...3X5 cards could be passed out
ahead of time--there are probably a lot of good
recipes among such a group of food fans!

is there a theme or favorite color for the wedding?
there are 2 links below about bridal showers..

perhaps the guests want to camp out together,
go on a picnic or hike or have a slumber party
with teddy bears?

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: GUEST,waspgirl
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 09:21 PM

hour and a half party. two hours tops

decorate with a theme relevant to the bridal couple.. funny and cute is good
prepare lovely finger food and a cake
greet the guests and introduce them to one another
play three or four short games like the ones up there,
give clever prizes
admire, talk about and eat the lovely food
open the gifts write down what they are and who gave them... so thank you notes are easy
say a gracious goodbye

It's an easy party to give, really

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: KT
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 10:42 PM

I attended two recently and at both, all were asked to give one bit of advice to the bride....some were serious, which gave food for thought and a bit of discussion, others funny. At one of them, the advice was written down and the bride had to guess who authored each piece of advice.

Another required the passing around of various spices. The one who was able to identify the most, (by sight and smell, not taste) won a prize. Both a little stiff.....



How bout if making a music related game?   Hmmm...how many songs can you name in a minute that have the word love in it?
Then the bride has to sing it.

Or....give the first few words of a song and the one who can identify the most by completing the phrase wins.......eg....

Goin' to the________
I love him_______
Ooh, I need your love, babe______


Oh, this could be really fun. I bet all those doo-woppin' mudcatters will have LOTS of suggestions for this game.....

Corny? Maybe, but if you serve the right punch, could be a lotta fun!

KT

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 11:35 PM

You are hosting a bridal shower and didn't ask Jacqui and me for decorating tips? Shame on you. We have a supply of truly awful decorations including some lovely lamps - heart shaped, candles, and assorted crap. Somewhere I have about 50 silver Love Dice in pretty pink boxes. You can play Craps with them if the party gets boring.
Call me and I will dig out what I have. Yours for just a phone call.

An idea - with the invitations send a recipe card and ask each guest to donate at least one of their favorite recipes. Present it to the bride in an attractive index card box. I still have mine as does everyone I know.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 11:36 PM

I particularly resent being expected to drape myself in toilet paper and design my own gown. Cripes!

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: KT
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 12:19 AM

Mary, you must have some annual bill for your storage units!

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Bee
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:07 AM

Don't play any games. They are excruciatingly boring, and people only appear to enjoy them because they are working hard at not insulting anybody by being a perceived party pooper.

Decorate nicely, serve good food and good wine, put some music on, and have a good old gossip.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:16 AM

What's a bridal shower?

Honest - I don't think we have them in the UK. I know my cousin's daughter has just had one in California.

D.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:20 AM

Whoops - forget it. Just found it on Google. It is indeed a US tradition. Doesn't sound as good as a hen party. What's wrong with dressing up in silly clothes, getting blind drunk and trying to screw every bloke in the nightclub?

:D

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: GUEST,Snoozer at Work
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:21 AM

I'm with Bee, skip the games (please!!!)

Just socializing and opening the presents is all that's needed, in my opinion.

And I do like the idea of each guest bringing a favorite recipe.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: pattyClink
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 09:58 AM

I'd have a game or two. Games, if done in a lighthearted way, are a wonderful way to get assorted people to lighten up and interact.   2 hours of sitting on a sofa pounding down cake and staring at the bride's relatives/coworkers/friends wondering what to say after 'who are you and how do you know the bride' is excruciating for many people. Have SOME sort of distraction prepared for the socially backward.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Becca72
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 10:59 AM

Dave, again that's the bachelorette party...and here in the States we do both.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: jacqui.c
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 11:23 AM

Dani! I second Mary's comments here. We could really get your party going with a bang!

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Bee
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 12:23 PM

PattyClink, here we don't often serve cake. Showers are usually potluck, lots of nibbles and a few deserts, and most people have given up on the games, though it is a regular event to make the bride to be wear a silly hat. Of course, usually everybody knows each other, so there are no problems that way. Often the family also has a shower, which is attended mostly by relatives and family friends (better class of gifts, too ;-)).

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Grab
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 12:51 PM

Like Dave, I'd never heard of it (in the UK) either, so quick shufti at Wikipedia...

I'm curious. Does present-giving at a bridal shower (aren't there "baby showers" as well?) replace wedding presents? If not, what would you give in one and not the other?

In Britain we just have "stag" and "hen" parties, and these don't always involve getting utterly wasted (although there is always some alcohol content). Hen parties are often a trip to a spa or beauty parlour; stag parties might be paintballing or off-roading. The stag or hen isn't given extra presents, because the guests pay their own way for whatever's happening (which can be pricey, given that stag/hen parties today tend to be a whole weekend rather than just an evening out).

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: HouseCat
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 01:15 PM

For my niece's shower, I made a cd of the favorite songs of all the attendees. It was not as labor-intensive it sounds since I could get most of the songs needed from RealPlayer or a similar source if I didn't have access to a cd. I burned a bunch and packaged them up prettily as favors. At the shower, we played a clip of each track and everyone had to guess who chose it. It was very insightful! There was a good range of ages so we ended up with songs from WWII era, folk songs, pop ballads, etc. It made for good fun. She's not a very fru-fru girl so we didn't play many games, except that when the groom and best man crashed the party, we dressed them up in toilet-paper wedding gowns and the mothers had to judge the beauty contest.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Becca72
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 02:12 PM

Grab, you give a shower gift AND a wedding gift (and yes, we have baby showers, too). Bride and groom make out pretty well over here. There are no presents for our "stag and hen" parties, though, just a night of drinking and getting obnoxious.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: SINSULL
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 02:22 PM

Ah yes - the dreaded paper plate stuck with bows and ribbons and placed on the poor girl's head for photos. Why do I hate that stuff so much? And always have...

I have been at a few showers where the gifts were opened FOR the bride to prevent her from cutting ribbons with scissors - bad luck. I like to open my OWN gifts. Tearing paper is very satisfying especially if I have to wear a silly hat later.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Becca72
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 04:23 PM

Up around here, Mary, there is no cutting of the ribbons. If you can't get them off the package intact you're screwed. For those who don't know, the old wives' tale is that every ribbon broken at the bridal shower represents 1 child the happy couple will have....

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 04:40 PM

Look, I'm with YOU guys. I HATE showers of any kind. I had 1 wedding shower and 1 baby shower, all put on by his and my mothers. We didn't DO any of that silly crap. Had cake and punch, talked, laffed, and opened presents.

Thank you VERY much, I'll open my own presents!!

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Amos
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 07:38 PM

I have always avoided helping with a bridal shower, not because I wanted to avoid it but because I didn't want to upset the groom. On the whole it seems like a fine idea, if he's okay with it.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Cluin
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 07:52 PM

If everybody hates them, as I always hear, why do they keep doing them?

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: gnu
Date: 10 Aug 07 - 08:42 PM

Why? It's a party.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 02:35 AM

"(which can be pricey, given that stag/hen parties today tend to be a whole weekend rather than just an evening out)."

Graham, that can be an understatement. A guy I worked with (UK) a few years ago had a Stag WEEK - in LAS VEGAS! Not only cost a bomb for flights/hotel/food/booze but, over the week, he lost a Grand (GBP, not USD!) in the Casinos!

I'd rather have spent all that dosh on my honeymoon, giving Mrs. Fenswoman a fantastic-er time. Or, even better, on a new guitar.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 08:13 AM

What's a "bachelorette"? Is it like a small batchelor?

D.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: SINSULL
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 09:02 AM

More like a neutered bachelor.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 11:11 AM

Likely to stay a batchelor then?

:D

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 11:43 AM

My Bridal Shower was a simple and lovely saturday brunch feast. The hostess was a former caterer and she made some really wonderful food. We didn't play any games and I enjoyed it very much because the hostess thought to include both invited wedding guests and some owmen who wouldn't be able to come to the wedding but wanted to wish me well nnetheless. She was clever about who she invited and made sure to invite some of my grooms female co-workers who were simply thilled to be included.

My suggestion is to buy a pretty blank journal and ask every guest to write either a favorite recipe or piece of honest advice (no jokes). let the guests know in advance to type up their recipes or handwrite them on cards which can be taped into the books - same goes for the heartfelt advice. Also to be included would be a single photo from each guest of either the couple, the bride or the groom from the course of their frisndhip with them. paste those into the book as well and the bride will have a lovely keepsake.

Subject: RE: BS: Help with bridal shower
From: Alice
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 11:58 AM

I don't think I've been to a bridal shower, only a couple of baby showers. I hate the usual games, but I like word games. The one I remember is a word scramble. Scramble words related to weddings, love, marriage, and then put a timer on how many the guests can get done. Have more than one prize in case you have ties. Make it easy on yourself, nothing complicated or expensive, just fun.