A bridal shower is just the beginning to celebrating your wedding and a great way to pamper the bride. Every bride should have a bridal shower and it should be an event to remember. Hosting a shower can be easy and fun with many themes and unique games to choose from.

Bridal Shower Etiquette

Bridal Showers are usually hosted by the maid of honor or a close friend or relative of the bride. Showers can be held anywhere from a family or friend’s house to a restaurant or even a hotel banquet room. You want to set a time where each guest will be available and ready to socialize with everyone. An invitation should be sent to each guest about 2 to 3 weeks before the shower will be held. They can be sent out through e-mail, mail, or even by phone.  When thinking of who to invite, showers are usually held for women who are close to the bride.

Theme it Up!

A popular trend for bridal showers this year is choosing a theme for the party. A lingerie shower with lace and frills can be a fun way to surprise the bride with a shower. “Kidnapping the bride” or having a pajama party can also be a fun way to celebrate. Some gifts for a lingerie shower could be teddies, bra, robes, panties, or a jewelry bag. Other themes to choose from could be a “stock the bar” shower or free bridal party makeovers, where everyone can enjoy getting their hair and make up done. When deciding on a theme it can also help with decorations. Balloons and streamers can be a good way to compliment an outside wedding or a small shower. Flowers can also accent the more elegant bridal showers or even home-made bridal decorations where everyone can each make a decoration with arts n crafts.

Have Fun with Bridal Shower Games

Every bridal shower needs games to spice up the party! There’s many games to play that can bring together everyone and allows the guest to enjoy the shower. “Lip stick” is a humorous game where you take an enlarged picture of the future groom and put it on a wall. Each guest takes a turn to put on a blindfold that has a cut out pair of lips hanging from it. They are then spun around in a circle and must try to place the pair of lips on the groom’s picture. Other popular games are bridal/couple trivia and bride bingo. Bride trivia is when questions about the bride are asked like what’s her middle name or her favorite breakfast food. It’s a great way to get to know a little more about the future bride. Bridal Bingo is an easy and fun game to play that is always popular with guests. The cards can easily be printed out and each bingo card has something related to the wedding on it. The host of the shower is usually the bingo caller and when an item is called out and a guest has it on their card they cross it out with a pen or pencil. When their whole card is filled they yell out “Bingo!” and are the winner of that round.

Unisex bridal showers can be a unique idea for including everyone. Bridal showers have traditionally been directed towards women and men weren’t invited, but showers with everyone are fun too. When making the guest list you can include the groom and maybe even some of the groomsmen to enjoy the shower with. A little creativity and a bit of thought can go a long way in planning a bridal shower.

Image 1 via Wedding Game Rules

Image 2 via Bridal Bingo