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.

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!

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.

A maid of honor has a big responsibility; planning a bridal shower can be stressful and tough. A bridal shower should be fun and practical. The focus should be to assist the bride and groom in establishing a new life together. A bridal shower is also an occasion for friends and family to get together and relax before the big wedding day.

The following tips may be helpful to a first-time shower organizer:

• Don’t invite people to the shower who haven’t been invited to the wedding.
• Decide whether you want “girls only” or a couple’s party.
• Remember most showers are held during the afternoon.
• Encourage the bride to register for gifts.
• Don’t forget to give bridal shower favors to all guests.