Here Comes the Bride: 4 Fun Themes for the Perfect Bridal Shower

I recently helped plan my Sister's Bridal shower and had it at one of her friend's houses. There was an elaborate food spread, great decorations and games. There were 3 bridesmaids and each of us split up the duties. I did the decorations and went for a simple pink & green theme, however it was mostly pink with splashes of green. I made the most adorable & inexpensive centerpieces for the buffet out of Goodwill shopped vases, fresh flowers, water & limes! We also hung balloons from the cleaning and added solid pink & green tablecloths. We also had a ton of games to play...during intermission (dessert time) everyone thought it was over and left :( But we all had a great time! All 3 of us Bridesmaids pitched in for a couple gifts for my Sister, lingerie & I made a towel cake...it looked real!

I had a shower with my husband's family. It was lovely, and it helped me get to know some of them better before the wedding. As we live 6 hours away, I did not yet know all them yet. One great idea was that the hostess gave each invitee a recipe card and had them bring their favorite recipe to the shower for me. I got some great family "secret" recipes!

The last bridal shower I went to didn't have a theme to it, but the shower segued directly into the bachelorette party, which meant that everybody was able to at least take a few hours to get to know each other (not all the girls knew each other) before we threw ourselves into the road trip to vegas!

A few years ago I surprised my friend with a bridal shower at her favorite restaurant. She said she didn't want a shower, but all of her friends really wanted to do something special for her. We invited her to lunch and when she arrived all of her closest friends were there to celebrate. We all pitched in for a few gifts from her registry and she said it made her feel special. We had lots of laughs and some yummy desserts!

Almost all of our family lives out of town so we combined the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding shower and gift opening into one evening and had it at the B & B where most of the guests were staying. Sounds packed, but it was super casual. We had a quick rehearsal - nothing complicated it took about 10 minutes. Then we set out the food buffet style and let people choose. They could simply hang out with friends and family, go back to their rooms - or they could watch us open gifts. We had kids fishing at the pond, people chatting, and some activities and games for those who wanted to participate. It was for everyone so we had all ages there. Looking back it was perfect for our wedding. People did not feel obligated to travel to a shower, I got to have tons of friends and family there and it was a beautiful fall day in Colorado!

After the games and lunch it was time to open all my lovely wrapped gifts. My sister sat next to me and my maid of honor handed the gifts to me. Some of the gifts made me tear up, especially the homemade ladybug wine glass from my sister. Most of my gifts were from my registry, but I did get some unique and thoughtful gifts.  I had the best shower ever and guess who else I had at my shower...she wasn't invited, but Hurricane Irene!!! Since my parents live by a bay off of Lake Ontario we got hit the worse. The shower was suppose to be outdoors, but ended up in my neighbors huge storage room. She decided to bring rain and strong winds that blew down all the tents that were set up the day before. My moms neighbors rushed to my Aunt's house to rescue the rented tents.  I made the joke, "well it is official a real SHOWER now", but we made the most of it and didn't ruin my special day. ;) 

So, when each guest opened their jars a little ladybug surprised them :) I also had a delicious ladybug cake for dessert!! My sister cooked all the food, she didn't want to serve cater food. Each guest loved her food.  My mom and sister had fun games to play too. They had a suitcase filled with random clothes in it, from bras to undies and shirts. I was blindfolded and had to dress myself and boy I looked silly after I took of the blindfold. We had other games too and my guest received gifts if they won. 

My mom and sister planned the perfect Bridel Shower last year in August!!! My mom and sister wouldn't let me see a thing because they wanted me to be surprised :) Ladybugs are my favorite and I have lots of little things that have ladybugs in it. So, they made it a ladybug theme!!! First, my sister sent out handmade ladybug invitations with a recipe card for the guest to fill out. My sister got a red table cloth and put black round stickers on it to look like a ladybug. Each guest brought their favorite recipe to my party and I had my first recipe box. My mom and sister came up with a clever idea for party favors. They bought small mason jars and got some special bath salts from the San Fransico Pier 39. They had different colors in each layer and made special ladybug lables on the tops. What made it even special, they had a ladybug cutout on top of the sand.

Since my husband and I didn't have a traditional wedding, my sisters planned a bachelor/bachelorette party to Dominican Republic at an all inclusive resort. We had about 18 friends and family that came and they threw me a surprise bridal shower in my sisters room of the resort. We had so much fun!

Never had a bridal shower, wedding or honeymoon - just a quick civil ceremony in some little place in Nevada. Not very memorable, but still very sad about it.

I had the typical small town bridal shower. (I think) Thrown by my mom, aunts, cousins, grandma etc... It was a tea party held at a local community center with hats, gloves and all the traditional games. The food was yummy (tea sandwiches, cookies, cakes & tea), the company was excellent (all the women who had had some kind of part in my life as I grew up), the gifts were amazing (many homemade-like the throw pillows grandma made which were a replica of some I had seen at target but couldn't afford). I left with memories pictures and tons of great advice on little note cards that I scrap-booked and still take out to read on occasion.

My bridal shower was a huge suprise. Our wedding week was somewhat of a whirlwind as my husband to be and I were both in the the Coast Guard at the time. Our schedules only allowed us to be in the US for about a week at the same time. We hopped on a plane and flew to California for the wedding, arriving very late at night. This is back just before 9/11 and guests were still allowed to meet you at the gate in the airport terminal. I walked off the airplane and there were about 25 women waiting at the gate having my shower! They had already played games and had snacks while they waited for our arrival. They told me the highlights then after wisking my husband-to-be away to fetch the luggage, I had a lingerie shower in the middle of the airport! My face has never been so red, but I will never forget that shower, the women who threw it for me, or the strangers who laughed along with me that night!

I was a cohost for my future step-dtr -in-law's shower. It was a spring theme with flowers and pastel colors. A low key event but I was in charge of shower games so I tried to liven it up a bit. We played "What's in your purse?" and the guests got points for different items, the more obscure the item the more points you received (i.e. birth control= 25 pts, gum or mints=1 pt). Other games: "Wedding A-Z", for each letter of the alphabet name a wedding related item. Whoever has the most entries wins. Lastly, "How well do you know the bride?"which requires a bit more pre-planning. Before the shower, ask the bride questions about herself (what is her favorite color, what was her first job, etc) and whoever guesses the most wins. Our favors were Bath and Body Works hand soap. I decorated each one with several different ribbon colors & textures and secured the ribbons with a heart -shaped tag printed with the bride and groom's names and wedding date.

Had a traditional English Tea. All the guests wore Hats and gloves, we had tea (obviously) tea sandwiches, cake. Guests were given antique tea cups collected from various yard sales, with embroidered napkins with our wedding date on them

My matron of honor surprised me. She set everything up at my fiances house and had an outdoor shower in his backyard. I loved it:)