The term ‘bridal shower’ is thought to be stemmed from a Victorian custom of placing small gifts in a parasol and opening it over the bride’s head.  She would then be ’showered’ with gifts.  Although nobody actually pours presents on top of the guest of honor anymore, the idea of accumulating smaller gifts has creative potential.

Instead of the parasol idea, use baskets.  Purchase different size baskets that the bride would be able to use throughout her new home for decorative or storage purposes.  Give each basket a theme and ask your guests to bring a small gift for several of the themes you’ve chosen.  For example, a kitchen theme basket might contain salt & pepper shakers, dish towels, spatulas, etc.  A bathroom theme basket could be filled with toothbrush holders, loofahs, decorative soaps and so on.  A spa theme basket would hold manicure or pedicure items, nail polish, lotions, and maybe even a gift card or two.

Use your imagination when coming up with themes.  Keep your bride in mind when choosing the themes; does she own a pet, does her fiance like to barbecue, do they have hobbies liking hiking or swimming.  Make sure you incorporate some practical themes, but add some fun themes too.

This unique bridal shower idea is not only fun, but it will help to fill a lot of those lower priced needs that a bride doesn’t even think about until she starts setting up house.

Since the beginning of time, girls have started preparing for their married lives long before they ever meet their groom.  Hope chests have been filled and dowries have been put together well in advance of any courtship, engagement or marriage taking place. 

Today’s brides are no different, and with the trend toward getting married at a later age, most women have their households pretty well set up before their wedding.  Therefore, it’s really not a big surprise when newlyweds prefer to receive cash as wedding gifts instead of toasters.

Although it is still considered poor etiquette to request cash on any invitation, it is not improper for close friends of the bride or groom to discreetly spread the word.   Most wedding guests will understand and comply. 

Bridal showers are considered different than weddings, however, and it is still fairly traditional to give a gift instead of cash for a shower.  Therefore, it is a good idea to register for gifts at your favorite local store.  No matter how well set up your new household is, extra towels, bed linens, or kitchen utensils can always come in handy.  If you do receive something you really don’t need, take it back to the store and exchange if for store credit.  The store credit is as good as cash and can come in extremely handy down the road on future necessary purchases.

Who says party favors have to be strictly for party guests?  Favors make wonderful little ‘inexpensive luxeries’ for yourself too. 

My daughters and I have hosted many bridal showers, baby showers, anniversary parties and receptions, so I’ve ordered a lot of favors for each occasion.  Every time I place my order, I find a few items that I’ve always wanted but wouldn’t order by themselves due to prohibitive shipping costs.  I’ve found that when I place my regular favor order, the shipping rarely, if ever, goes up by my  additions and I get treated to my own little gift.

I have elegant silver salt & pepper shakers that I use whenever we have guests over for dinner.  I display photo coasters every day and never cease to get great compliments on them.  I’ve decorated with unique candles, sweet-smelling soaps and beautiful little picture frames. 

So, the next time you put together a party of any kind, do yourself a ‘favor’ and give a little thank you gift just to you. 

Newlyweds need so many things when they first start out, such as towels, linens, dishes, glassware, and zillions of other necessary household items.  The choices are overwhelming and you may even worry about duplicating gifts.  The first rule of purchasing a wedding or bridal shower gift is to relax.  Anything you give the couple will be appreciated and if you do happen to duplicate something or choose the wrong color, the item can always be exchanged.  Most stores now give gift receipts which allow the return or exchange of an item without announcing how much was spent on the gift. 

First check to see if the couple has a gift registry at one or more stores.  Even if most of the gifts are already purchased, the registry can give you a good idea of the couples’ decorating preferences and styles.  One gift idea that never seems to go wrong is a picture frame.  I’m not talking about the wedding cake-shaped, white and silver frame that is good only for wedding pictures.  I’m referring to simple wooden frames, maybe even collage frames that allow the couple to decorate their walls with any pictures they choose.  Displaying happy moments from their dating days or their honeymoon is a great way to add character to any room and create a loving environment. 

Photo coasters are a unique gift idea that you can customize to fit any celebration.  In a previous blog, I discussed using photo coasters to create a beautiful anniversary gift by framing pictures of special times in a couples’ life together.  Using that same idea, we can incorporate the use of photo coasters for nearly any special event.

If you’re looking for a bridal shower gift, consider using photo coasters and framing pictures that detail the ‘getting-to-know-each-other’ stages of the bride and groom that let to their engagement.

You can give your special Sweet Sixteen this same gift, marking the special times in her young life.  A few ideas can be a baptism, first date, parties, concerts, etc.

Your mother-to-be will love a framed ultrasound picture.  You can also frame pictures of the special mommy, but leave several coasters empty so they can be filled later with pictures of the baby. 

The best part of giving photo coasters is that they make such a practical gift.  They can be used daily, or even put away as part of a trousseau. 

Centerpieces are the focal point of your bridal shower table.  Keep the size of the table in mind when creating your centerpiece.  You’ll want to make it proportional to the table.  It shouldn’t take up so much room that it makes the table look too crowded, and it shouldn’t be so small that it gets lost among the food items. 

Color can really make a centerpiece ‘pop’ out.  Work in the bride’s wedding colors, or if this is a theme bridal shower, such as a kitchen shower, you can work with the colors the bride has chosen for her kitchen.

Making a centerpiece out of food such as fruit can be a wonderful way to have your centerpiece serve ‘double duty’.  There are specialty stores that make wonderful fruit creations that would work well as a centerpiece, but if you’re handy, you can also find a picture and recreate it yourself.

Consider letting your bridal shower favors double as your centerpiece.  Favor boxes can be stacked in order to resemble a wedding cake.  Decorate the sides with silk rosebuds and ribbons and place a tiny ‘cake topper’ on top to complete the look. 

Purchase a small lace umbrella or parasol, turn it upside down in the center of the table and fill with flowers or all of your wrapped favors.  Decorate the parasol with streaming ribbons, and you’ve got a beautiful centerpiece that your guests will remember long after the shower is over.

Bridal showers are an excellent way to help a new bride get ready to set up her new home.  With all the gadgets and gizmos required to set up a new kitchen, it’s no wonder that kitchen-theme bridal showers are quite popular.  In fact, they’re essential.

Here’s an idea that will not only help stock the kitchen with all the necessary utensils, but also stock up the bride’s recipe file as well.  Choose a specific food theme.  A few ideas could be soups, salads, breads, pastries, entrees, cookies, general desserts, etc.  For our example here, we’ll use the theme of cookies.  Have each guest bring a plate of their favorite cookies to share at the shower.  In addition, have each guest write out their recipe for their cookies and present it to the bride-to-be along with their shower gift.  If there is any specialty utensils required, in the making of their cookies, such as whisks, cookie cutters, etc., suggest that they include that utensil as part of their gift.

This type of kitchen shower also has the added benefit of helping to supply the refreshments for your guests.  If your theme is cookies, breads or pastries, provide several types of refreshing flavored teas for your guests to enjoy with their goodies.  For a soup theme, all you would need to add would be some small sandwiches or cheese and crackers. 

You can even opt to choose a style of food such as Italian, Chinese, Mexican, etc.  With a little coordination on your part, you could end up serving a beautiful full meal to your guests with a minimum of work.  Being able to taste each dish will also help the bride know which dishes she will want to make most often. 

Be sure to incorporate your theme into your invitations, decorations, and bridal shower favors.  This will be one bridal shower that everyone will be sure to remember!

Years ago, it was understood that if this was your second wedding, the proper thing to do was to sneak off and tie the knot without a lot of fanfare.  No invitations were sent out, no special wedding gown was worn and no gifts were expected.  Nowadays, probably because it has become more and more commonplace, planning a second wedding differs only slightly from the first.

Despite popular belief, white wedding gowns are perfectly acceptable even if this is not your first marriage, with the one exception of a wedding dress with a long formal train.  Although white originally was a symbol of innocence and purity, today it has become more a symbol of joy.  The wedding veil is also appropriate if you choose to wear one. 

The areas where planning a second marriage would differ the most deal more with engagement announcements, gift registries, bridal showers and wedding costs.  Formally announcing your engagement is still considered improper if this is your second marriage.  Gift registries should also be avoided if this is your second marriage.  However, if this is your first marriage and your fiance’s second, it is fine to register for gifts. 

Bridal showers usually are not thrown for anyone other than the first time bride.  Since the purpose of a shower is to help the bride furnish her new home, it no longer is necessary in subsequent marriages.  If your friends or your fiance’s relatives would like to throw you a party, you should make it clear that gifts are not expected.

The bride and groom are expected to pick up the entire tab for the second wedding.  If the bride’s parents offer to pay, there is nothing wrong with accepting their generosity, however, you should never ask them to foot the bill for another wedding.

When you think of bridal shower guest lists, you immediately think of women.  All of the bride’s friends, family, coworkers, etc.  However, it is perfectly acceptable to invite the groom to the shower as well.  If you are worried that the groom will feel uncomfortable or out of place in a roomful of women, consider throwing a couple’s shower, inviting other husbands or boyfriends.  If you’re planning games, be sure to adapt them to your couple’s shower as well as the bridal shower favors.

 Bridal shower guest lists need to be created with several things in mind.  First of all, you don’t want to invite the same people over and over to showers for the same bride-to-be.  Other than the bride’s mother, the groom’s mother and the bride’s attendants, no one should be expected to attend more than one shower for the same person.

In addition, you want to be sure that they people you invite to a bridal shower have also been invited to the wedding.  Double check the guest list with the bride in order to make sure that this oversight does not occur.  The only exception to this rule would be if the couple are planning a very small, exclusive wedding, inviting only immediate family.

Bridal shower guest list should be kept small.  Don’t go to the extreme and rent a large reception hall and invite every female on the wedding guest list.  Smaller parties are more intimate and special. 

Traditionally, the maid or matron of honor was to be the one to host a bridal shower.  It was considered in bad taste for any relative of the bride, even the groom’s immediate family, to host a shower.  Apparently it was thought that this made it appear as if the families of the couple were asking for gifts.

Today the stigma of such strict bridal shower etiquette is not as strong.  In many cases, the maid of honor is a relative, such as a sister, so it is becoming more and more common for bridal showers to be hosted by whomever wishes to host one.

A bride-to-be is not limited by the number of bridal showers she may have, however, the hostesses of the showers should be sensitive to whom they invite.  In other words, if one bridal shower included friends from church on the guest list, a second bridal shower might include the bride’s coworkers.  Other then the bride’s attendants and the mother of the bride and groom, it’s best not to expect people to attend more than one shower for the bride-to-be.