Showered With Ideas
Or a drought of inspiration. It was more a drought.
Well there are a lot of parties that I will just jump at the chance to get to attend. While I am not a arty girl per se I do love having a good time and parties are as you may know a good chance for that. Well any type of shower is pretty much lame. I’m sorry they are.
I think that the hostesses get caught up with it and end up forgetting the point. That is the important part. Not that you spent all night cutting out anchors for the nautical themed shower. When you have a chance a to attend a shower most of you are probably like me. A lot of the times I don’t go looking for fun, strictly speaking, if I want that I go to the bar, club, etc.
But this last weekend saw me attending a co-worker’s bridal shower. And while I am glad that she invited me. It was mindbogglingly bad.
When I got home I began thinking of things that would have made it better. Honestly, the invitations were cute, and they promised a lot more fun than what the actual bridal shower turned into. But I realized that a) there are a lot of fun options for bridal showers, and b) they really don’t do anything for the actual party. That is up to the hostess.
So lets assume that is you. And you have you cute invitation and you take the bridal shower super serious.
The first part is ok.
We need to work on the second part. Because the chances are good that you are over thinking that part and need to loosen up.
So, here’s my “I wrote it in 5 minutes” guide to How to throw a fun bridal shower celebration. Let’s get started shall we?
Host It Somewhere Fun
This doesn’t have to be your home. If you have contacts you can organize special accomidations. Even if you don’t have the contact going for you there are places that you can rent. They will of course be more expensive.
Don’t get disheartened if you don’t fund something your first time out, you’d be surprised – a lot of places will give you specials just for asking – just ask them whether you could get any specials if you bring a group of 15-20 people in the next week.
Going from the assumption that your home does not work, how about your friend’s house? If they like to throw parties this might be a win-win. How about the park?
It doesn’t matter, work with what you got and you will be surprised how much you can actually achieve with the location.
Choose “Fun” Activities
For some reason the activites at a bridal shower are the worst. I think people feel they are expected so they go and take a bunch of geneirc ideas and then don’t even attempt to breath any life in them. They are DOA and you know it, deep down you are embarassed you even attempted activities at all.
Stop.
Most of your guests will be 20 somethings. We’re millinials. We’re a lot more relaxed than you think.
So they should be no excuse.
- Why not make it a dance party?
- A cool hat party (alright, this one is more fun than it sounds)?
- A barbecue?
- A Twister party?
- A movie-drinking game party?
- A video game drinking party?
- A make your own pizza party?
- A karaoke/murder mystery party?
You get the idea. The sky is the limit.
I think that a good rule of thumb is to make sure it’s something 80 percent of the people who are there will have fun.
So, obviously, dancing, drinking, and eating will be the most common activities.
She might not have a bachlorette party but that shouldn’t stop you from having some fun.
You can shake it up by adding things to that encourage participation.
Be A Good Host
I know that you are trying but, this is important. This is what will make your bridal shower stand out. This means you can get stressed, just don’t show it. This doesn’t mean spending a lot of money, this doesn’t mean being getting the organizer of the year award.
But, you invited people for a reason, right? The bride probably likes some of them, or are at least vaguely interested in having them attend.
As the hostess it is yor job to make everyone feel equally special. That means you need to talk to them.
Talk to everyone.
It a) let’s everyone know that you’re the person who can get them what they need, and b) it is overall good for building their comfort level and confidence. You are the one in charge of the shower – so be visibly the one in charge of the bridal shower.
Your Goal?
The shower needs to provide an environment where you can socialize with your good friends. It’s also an easy opportunity new people to meet.
Most shower are centered around the bride to be, but don’t put a magnifying glass on her. Bride’s hate that.
The normal ones at least!