Bridal Showers?

Question

My sister is getting married in Sept. I'm her maid of honor and today I realized I'm supposed to throw her a bridal shower. I've never thrown any kind of party for anyone...but this is supposed to be special cause it's my sisters big day. I was wondering what I should do...I'm broke and I don't know really what I should do for her but I would like to throw her a nice party. Does anyone know what I can do for her that is nice but on a budget and also when I should throw her one? What should we do at this party? (and please don't say strippers...be mature about it please)

Answer 1

you don't have to spend a lot of money, you can make a sheet cake or cupcakes, and have some finger food; I like the wedding planner's idea of having a themed shower, like the cooking /. recipe theme, that sounds like fun. Don't play games :) everyone hates those. Get some of her friends involved and it will turn out just fine, your sister will love it.

Answer 2

Do you mean bridal shower or bachelorette party? If throwing a bridal shower, have it at someone's home and have everybody bring a dish to pass. That will keep it simple. For a bachelorette party, how about getting the bridal party to help with the costs? You can take the bride out to dinner and a comedy show, or a day at the spa...glad you don't want strippers - that is never a good idea. For a really simple plan, just go out on the town dancing one night a few weeks before the wedding.

Answer 3

There are MANY options for inexpensive wedding showers. First, I need to know whether she would prefer a couple's shower to include the groom or whether she would prefer to have a bridal shower so that she can have a "girls day". Also, some hobbies she likes could be helpful for a theme.

As an example, you could have a recipe shower for her if she has an interest in cooking. The guests would then bring something for the kitchen as a gift (could be as small as a pot holder or as large as a nice new pot or pan) and their favorite recipe.
Or you could have a "pampering shower" and have a Mary Kay or Avon representative come in and the guests can buy items for the bride from the representative for pampering herself.
If you want to get a little "naughty" without going stripper (yes, I read the WHOLE QUESTION) you could have a lingerie party and the guests could buy her items for the wedding night (lingerie, candles, incense, etc).

Feel free to email me if you would like additional help, or post additional information and I will update my answer.

Answer 4

There are NEVER strippers at Bridal Showers.

Have it at your, or your mom's, or an aunt's house.

Serve chicken salad sandwiches & cucumber & cream cheese sandwiches, use lage heart cookie cutters in the middle of each sandwich to cut off the crusts. The whole bridal party should be at the house to help you make the sandwiches.

At the party you eat and open gifts. You can play games, but you don't need to. Opening the gifts takes long enough.

You can invite all of the female guests from the wedding, or you can invite just the ones you know, but don't invite anyone who will not be invited to the wedding.

Answer 5

First of all, of course a wedding shower isn't a bachelorette party, so strippers aren't called for.
Talk to your mom and aunties, enlist their help. Usually a shower is held at someone's home, you just invite family and close friends - check with both sides of the family. Everyone can chip in with bringing snackies and desserts. It's usually quite a casual affair, just a time for the girls to get together and chat. Have a few decorations, plan a few games - nothing serious to organize. It should be held at least a month before the wedding, no closer.

Answer 6

simple budget means simple thinking

some activities that dont cost much that people can do together as a group to talk and laugh, like cooking new things, or just simple desserts, you could try to make things for her house, like dining room seat covers, fancy napkins that can go with china. try to pick something on one extreme or the other(that being: something you all love to do, or something youve all never done and want to learn/try)

you can mix it up by making the party costume themed

i would say dont be afraid to pick activities that sound "childish" or "silly" because in the end everyone will have a good time laughing, and they will rememebr that day and tell stories about it in the future.

sorry if it doesnt help any

good luck and have fun

Answer 7

My sister is getting married in July and I threw her bridal shower this past December (only because she's in California and all our family was in town in Minnesota at Christmas time). I'd never thrown a party for anyone either, but thankfully my mom helped me. I would think if you threw one in July or August that should be good. It kinda depends on who you're going to invite, who can attend, the location, etc. I'm naturally cheap, so I tried not to spend too much for my sister's but we still wanted it to be nice. We ended up having it in the party room of the apartment building where my mom lives. It was pretty cheap to rent, and it was a nice place. We played 3 games or so, all of which we found online on bridal game websites. We had more planned, but time ran short. I told the women to bring a favorite recipe for my sister if they could. When people first walked in, we had a table set up there where people could bring their gifts, where my sister and her fiance had made a picture board for people to look at pics of them, and where those who came could sign in and put their recipes. We started with an introduction type game so people could get to know some about everyone that was there. I would recommend that just so everyone there can become more comfortable with people they don't know. After that, we gave them time to eat. As for food and drinks, we bought a meat and cheese platter from the grocery store and the rest of it we prepared ourselves. We had things out like buns, olives, pickles, carrots and dip, chips and different dips, peanuts, m&m's, etc. We also got her a cake to have for dessert at the very end. Then we had a pitcher of water on each table and a huge cooler with pop in it off to the side so people could take what they wanted. We also had a couple lit candles on each table. We didn't have enough time to get many other decorations up, but balloons or streamers would be cheap and not too hard to do. If you're on a budget, you could handmake the invitations like we did. Once you get an idea of who's coming, you'll know how much food to purchase. You could then start saving coupons and keep an eye out for sales in the grocery store. As for prizes for the games you might play, we purchased the majority of ours at the dollar store. People never knew the difference and they had a good selection of nicer items there like picture frames, lotions, body washes, candles, etc. We also gave each person a candle to take home as a parting gift. Definitely check out some dollar stores if you can though because that can save you a lot of money! We got all sorts of other things there besides prizes like the tablecloths, some of the plastic silverware, napkins, etc. If you need more advice or help, feel free to contact me. Good luck with it! It kinda stressed me out, so if I can help you get through it at all, I wouldn't mind.