Many people agree that the very first bridal shower, many years ago, helped to bring the end of the dowry system. Friends and family showered a young woman whose father wouldn't give her a dowry with many of the items she and her groom would need to begin a life together.

It evolved into parties held by the bride's closest friend, was all women, and was an afternoon of games, gifts and laughter. Today, it could involve mixed genders and held at all times of day.

However, planning bridal showers should be done with care, as this is a gift giving event celebrating a gift giving event. This is also an optional pre-wedding party. So, these parties are not requested.

Who Hosts? Bridal showers can be hosted by a variety of people, such as a friend, member of the wedding (any gender), and it could be single gender, or co-ed. However, family members should never host, with the exception of a sister if she is also a bridesmaid. It is considered self-serving and as if begging for gifts. Hosts should be close friends of the bride. Friends of the bride's mother are not a good option if the bride doesn't know them.

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Note: The Maid of Honor typically hosts this with the help of the other bridesmaids. But, this is a choice. It is not mandatory or part of their duties.

When? It should be scheduled after all engagement parties, after the couple registers, and at least a couple of weeks before the wedding.

Any time of the day is fine, with the afternoon still the most popular time. Typically the time of day is closely tied to the theme of the party. An after-five party would suggest that this will be a cocktail party.

Multiple Parties? There could be multiple parties, but never invite the same person to more than one. They are usually informal, but can sometimes be quite elaborate. It can be held anywhere, a home, restaurant, hotel; you are only restricted by your imagination. It could be a lunch, brunch, barbecue, pool party, cocktail party - co-ed or no. However, having more than two showers hosted for the couple can create an atmosphere of double gift grabbing. So, plan carefully.

Important Note: Do not use any of the gifts until after the wedding.

Who is Invited? Family, friends, and those who are participating in the wedding are invited. The bridal party is expected to attend all parties, but is not expected to give gifts at each one.

Bridal showers are partly used to help involve those closest to the couple in the celebration, to bring the excitement closer to everyone. So it follows that only those invited to the wedding should be invited to the bridal shower. The guest list should not be a repeat of all the female guests invited to the wedding. And, hosts should send the invitations at least two weeks before the shower.

The one exception to the "who is invited rule" is the work shower. These participants don't have to be invited to the wedding. Generally, the bride's associates host a surprise bridal shower directly before the wedding. Refreshments and often a group gift are provided.

Words of Thanks! These thank you notes should be written as soon as possible, by hand and have included a personal note regarding the gift. Guests have bought a bridal shower gift and more than likely will give the couple another gift for their wedding. Weddings can be very expensive for guests. Show your appreciation, please.

A Word of Caution: A disturbing trend has been developing to produce the "mega-bridal shower", some even as large as 60 to 100 guests. Many of these are hosted by the bride's mother, which is a faux pas for obvious reasons.

Bridal showers are meant to be small, intimate gathering of friends and family who want to give the bride gifts and share in the joy of planning the wedding. This party helps the guests feel as if they are a part of the wedding planning process. If you plan this pre-wedding party wisely and use these bridal shower ideas, you'll have a happy bride and happy guests.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/weddings-articles/ideas-for-planning-a-positive-bridal-shower-539824.html

Author: Donna Ennis
About the Author:

TeamWedding.com - Home of Top Bridal Showers Sites where you can get more terrific bridal shower ideas.

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Fortunately for many brides who don't have time to devise creative bridal shower ideas, their close friends are often responsible for the festivities, alleviating the extra planning responsibilities. With lots of colorful decorations, unique bridal shower favors, and delicious food, a shower gives members of the wedding party, the bride, and her friends a chance to get together and celebrate the upcoming day.

If you've been chosen to plan a shower for a close friend, you have quite a few options. From bridal shower favors, decorations, and refreshments to all of the little details, ensuring that the event is successful is a major concern. If you're unsure where to start, here are just a few fun bridal shower ideas to get you thinking and planning constructively!

Bridal Shower Favors, Decorations, and Supplies

Decorating for the festivities is perhaps the most fun, and all of your more creative bridal shower ideas can flourish. For a Victorian tea theme, for instance, you can set the tables with elegant china, tea cups and saucers, and luxurious, lacy fabrics. Or, focus on making the event a classy affair with simple flowers, muted tablecloths and settings, and crystal accessories for fun without the fuss.

Do you want to host a successful bridal shower?

The bridal shower favors can also help you make the event a hit if you supplement your chosen theme with charming scented candles, wine bottle stoppers, kitchen and house goods, photo albums, and coasters. Personalized bridal shower favors are also a wonderful way to thank your guests for their attendance. Another way to spice up the party is to have your guests dress up, keeping with the theme. For a festive Christmas-themed shower, give bridal shower favors like ornaments and require guests to show up in deep reds, rich greens, and soft winter whites.

Personalized Invitations with Flair

Many of your bridal shower ideas and choices can be based on the bride's likes and interests. If you're contemplating a themed shower, your invitations can reflect that. Plus, many card shops will customize invitations for you that can include special sayings, favorite quotes of the bride, pictures, and colors. You can also choose from embossed and engraved and a variety of other font styles.

It's important to remember that your invitation is the first glimpse of the shower your guests see, so keep the theme and/or color scheme cohesive. Many invitations also list where the couple is registered (you'll need to find this out beforehand), and depending upon the venue, the dress code. Above all, make them special and indicative of the bride's and groom's personalities.

Games that Stand the Test of Time

There are hundreds of bridal shower ideas for fun, interactive games that have been played over the years, most of which can be somewhat nonsensical but engaging nonetheless. At a co-ed bridal shower, the bride and groom have been known to be wrapped up in rolls and rolls of toilet paper resembling their gown and tuxedo respectively. More than keeping your guests entertained, games are also essential ice-breakers that help your guests get to know each other. Keeping multiple bridal shower favors on hand to reward guests who participate and/or win a game is a good idea.

Bingo, famous couples, toasts to the couple, and 'how well do you know the bride?' are all great bridal shower ideas. Another way to get guests mingling is by having a scavenger hunt. Before guests arrive, place wedding-related memorabilia and/or bridal shower favors around the house or backyard, leaving clues by each trinket directing guests (who should be split into teams) where to look next. Reward the winning team with a gift for their efforts.

Festive Food and Refreshing Drinks

Depending upon the season or theme, the sky's the limit when it comes to your menu. For a spring shower, you can serve dainty finger sandwiches, fruits, and delicious tarts. Or, for a wine and cheese themed event, wow your guests with rare, vintage wine choices paired expertly with fine cheeses. Some hosts even elect to serve catered food, which saves time for everyone, meaning that more time can be devoted to decorating, purchasing personalized bridal shower favors, or even thinking of more bridal shower ideas to keep guests entertained.

You can have a lot of fun coming up with bridal shower ideas for your food and drinks, including creating beverages for your guests to sample. Just make sure you have both alcoholic and non-alcoholic choices to please everyone in the crowd. You can serve a fruit-infused punch as well as devise new recipes for cocktails that are both delicious and follow your theme or colors. For a garden party, martinis such as a creamsicle, lemon drop, or any other fruity concoction, for instance, are perfect choices to blend the theme with food and drinks.

Planning the Perfect Event

It's not hard to plan the perfect event, and if the bride asked you to play hostess, she knows you'll do a great job seeing the party from start to finish, coming up with fun bridal shower ideas that keep the event exciting. Though it may take some planning (and coordination with the bride), use inspiration from the bride herself - note her likes, needs, interests, and personality. But most importantly, if you make the event fun with engaging games, delicious refreshments, and personalized bridal shower favors and keep everyone laughing, mingling, and interacting, your many bridal shower ideas are sure to pay off and ensure a fun time for both the guests and the bride herself.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/weddings-articles/spark-your-creativity-with-fun-bridal-shower-ideas-865770.html

Author: Cherie Johnson About the Author:

Cherie Johnson is the founder and owner of Creative Bride, a one-stop shop for personalized, unique baby and bridal shower, graduation, quinceañera, anniversary, and wedding favors, helping countless couples and families make their big events a success. Before she launched the company in 2006, Cherie worked as a professional wedding photographer, capturing the most special moments of the bride and groom's big day. For more information on Creative Bride or to find a variety of colorful, customizable gifts and favors, please visit www.Creative-Bride.com.

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The tradition of hosting a bridal shower for the bride to be grew out of a desire of the friends and family of the bride to get to know each other better, strengthen the bonds between new friends and offer moral support and assistance with marriage planning for the new brie. The idea of offering bridal shower gifts did not actually surface until some time in the late 19th century. Prior to this time, traditionally, a young woman would come into a marriage with a dowry intended to help a new family set up their home.

Legend has it that the very first bridal shower originated in Holland when a young Dutch girl fell in love with a poor miller and the two had no money to set up her home. The girl's father refused to support her marriage to the poor miller, despite the fact that he had spent a lifetime helping those needier than he. Because the bride had no dowry due to her angry father, friends of the bride and groom joined together to shower the couple with gifts to help them set up their new home. Thus, the bridal shower was born.

In contemporary times a majority of brides do not come into a marriage with a dowry, and bridal shower gifts are almost a necessity, offering a new couple the opportunity to acquire the materials needed to set up their home. Most couples register for specific items including towels, linens, pots and pans and other household accessories.

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Typically bridal showers are thrown by friends, co-workers or members of the bride or groom's family. Not uncommonly, the maid or matron of honor hosts the bridal shower for the bride to be. This is not an exclusive privilege however, as it is not uncommon for a family member or close friend to also hold the shower.

The purpose of a wedding shower should be to help the bride and groom acquire the items necessary to establish a first household, though this rule is not hard and fast. Many brides who are re-marrying also enjoy all the benefits of a traditional shower thanks to a more relaxed atmosphere and expectation in modern times.

Most brides to be register before their shower, though this isn't always the case. And while you can rest assured that if you purchase bridal shower gifts from a bridal registry your bride to be will be pleased, many ladies decide to acquire bridal shower gifts that are more personalized in nature. There are several couples who wed who don't necessarily need household items; in this instance it is always nice to "shower" the bride to be with pampering items including body scrubs, lotions and mini spa treatment items.

Bridal showers are a fun way to celebrate the union of two people and provide the couple to be with keepsake and other cherished items that will not soon be forgotten.

By Adriana Copaceanu

About The Author

Adriana Copaceanu provides people with creative gift ideas that don't blow the bank. Gift Baskets for Baby to Birthday and Beyond, are just some gift ideas you'll find at her site: http://www.abcgiftsandbaskets.com. Want regular reminders on gift-giving? Sign up for her free monthly newsletter at http://www.abcgiftsandbaskets.com/gift-news-signup.htm

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When it comes to bridal shower games, visions of "pin the tail on the groom" and "toilet paper wedding dress" usually come to mind (with a resounding groan!). Relax, you´re not restricted to these traditional, albeit a tad cliché, bridal shower staples. There are tons of other shower games please all types of crowds – from the sentimental, to the slightly scandalous, to everything in between.

Here are nine categorized top picks for bridal shower games:

The Classics

1) What is the Bride Wearing?
The Gist: Memory/Observation Skills

How to Play: The bride discretely leaves the room about halfway into the shower (after everyone has had some time to visit with her). The host then asks each guest questions about the bride´s outfit: What fabric? High heels or flats? Hair up or down? Necklace or no necklace? Etc. Each guest with a perfect score wins a prize.

2) Bridal Bingo
The Gist: Duh, it´s bingo with wedding-related bingo cards

How to Play: This one´s pretty obvious. Create bingo cards, but replace the word BINGO with BRIDE along the top. Instead of numbers, list items related to weddings or to the bridal couple inside the squares (i.e. where the couple got engaged or the name of the wedding venue). Play the game like traditional bingo: the first guest to complete a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line wins a prize.

3) Spice of Life
The Gist: Tests culinary knowledge

How to Play: Gather a number of spices and place them in unmarked, numbered containers. Have each guest write down what she thinks each one is. The guest with the most correct answers wins the collection of spices.

Get Sentimental

4) Words of Wisdom
The Gist: Guests "shower" the bride with advice.

How to Play: Include blank cards in shower invitations and instruct guests to write a nugget of advice for a happy marriage on the card (you can also request a recipe, cooking tip, words of encouragement, etc.). Guests will take turns reading their advice aloud at the shower. The host will gather all the submissions into a scrapbook keepsake for the bride.

5) Memory Lane
The Gist: Reminisce shared memories and friendships.

How to Play: Include a blank card and a request to write down a favorite memory of the bride with the shower invitations. At the shower, each guest reads their memory aloud, and the bride must guess which guest wrote it. The host can then compile each story into a memory book for the bride. At the end of the day, the bride has a pile of keepsakes representing her life´s milestone moments and the bonds she shares with each guest.

6) Poetry Reading
The Gist: Treat a bride with a literary passion to a feast of poetry

How to Play: Have all attendees bring a poem containing wisdom or sentiment about love or marriage, and take turns reading. The day will be intellectually enriching and inspiring.

Spice It Up

7) Wedding Night Preview
The Gist: Good for laughs with a racy undertone

How to Play: As the bride opens each gift, a guest will secretly write down everything she says (i.e. – "I´ve always needed one of those" or "What a beautiful piece!") After all the gifts are opened, that person will read back the bride´s comments as the words she´ll say on her wedding night.

Honeymoon Scavenger Hunt
The Gist: A sexy take on the traditional scavenger hunt

How to Play: Hide sexy items like lacy lingerie or fuzzy handcuffs throughout the party location (house, backyard, or wherever the party will be). Divide guests into teams and give them a list of items to find. The team that finds the most item wins.

9) Never Have I Never
The Gist: Skeletons in the closet

How to Play: Guests take turns completing the phrase "Never have I ever…" with a scandalous deed (i.e. "never have I ever kissed two boys in one night"). Anyone who has done it takes a drink, and if only one person drinks – that person has to cough up the details to the rest of the group.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/weddings-articles/bridal-shower-games-9-ideas-593438.html

Author: Cori Russell

About the Author:

Cori Russell is editor for Elegala.com and Gala Weddings Magazine. Elegala.com is a complete Weddings and Wedding Planning resource with a national directory of wedding venues and services, how-to guides, photo galleries, checklists, and expert advice to walk brides through every step of the wedding planning process.

View the complete sitemap to find everything you need to plan your wedding.

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Where did we get the idea that sitting in a circle and opening hand towels or scandalous underthings was the best way for a woman to spend some quality time with female friends and family before her wedding? Somehow a bridal shower focused on kitchenware and awkward games seems to fall short of adequately preparing a bride-to-be for the significant transition involved in getting married.

Looking for a more meaningful way to usher yourself – or your friend – into marriage? Here are some ideas and rituals that will help the bride come away from her shower feeling nourished and connected with herself and her friends.

1. Showers for a Cause

The bride doesn´t necessarily have to be the one getting showered with gifts. Instead, shower for a greater cause, and give something back with a day dedicated to a charitable contribution that holds special meaning to the bride.

Some ideas:
Pink Envelope Bridal Shower -
Help the fight against breast cancer. Have a Pink Envelope Bridal Shower through the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation. They´ll send special pink donation envelopes for inclusion in the shower invites, and guests can make a donation to Making Memories on behalf of your bridal shower. Be sure to take plenty of pictures, as they´ll feature your bridal shower on their website.

Green Bridal Shower –
For the conservation conscious, host a bridal shower that´s good for soul and the earth. Make the event focused on green causes instead of perfunctory shower games. Plant a tree instead of playing pin the tail on the groom. Serve locally grown vegetarian cuisine, register for eco-friendly items and housewares, and of course, make sure invitations and paper products are recycled.

Click Here for more information on Bridal Shower Ideas! 

2. Thought Exchange

Have a shower focused not on the exchange of tangible gifts, but rather on the exchange of heartfelt gifts like advice, emotions and feelings. Using the bridal shower to involve sharing and listening will help the bride connect with her friends and her own feelings about the wedding and marriage.

Some ideas:
Have attendees "shower" the bride with advice on being a good partner. Each guest can come with their thought to read aloud, or the maid-of-honor can gather submissions from everyone ahead of time to compile into a scrap book that´s presented to the bride at the shower. Another idea is a traditional recipe exchange with a twist. Each guest brings a recipe card, one side featuring the recipe for a great dish, and on the other side, the recipe for a good marriage.

3. Memory Lane Shower

Have a shower focused on reminiscing shared memories and friendships. This pseudo-separation ritual will help the bride reconnect with her old self as she prepares to take on a new identity.

Some ideas:
Create a memory book – asking every attendee to write a page or two detailing their fondest memory with the bride. Gather these stories along with photos into a memory scrapbook. Or have each attendee bring a gift that represents a memory – a cd of favorite songs from high school, a photo album, that old cheerleading uniform once worn every Friday. Another idea is a slide show of photos set to music, where everyone contribute some of their favorites. You can also play memory games; each guest describes a memorable past event – and the bride must guess the year, location, and people who were there. The evening is sure to provoke a lot of heartfelt reminiscing.

4. Slumber Party

Break out the PJs, sleeping bags, and tubs of ice cream – it´s time for some serious female bonding. A slumber party is another great way for the bride to revel in that special connection she has with the women in her life, and it affords her an encouraging setting to share openly any feelings she has about her upcoming marriage. Consider incorporating some of the above ideas into the slumber party – such as exchanging advice or creating a scrapbook.

Click Here for more information on Bridal Shower Ideas!

5. Poetry Shower

John Donne, T.S. Eliot, Constantine Cavafy, Robert Frost, Robert Herrick… treat a bride with a passion for the literary arts with a feast of beautiful poetry. Have all attendees bring a poem containing wisdom or sentiment about love or marriage, and take turns reading. The evening will be intellectually enriching and inspiring.

Get even more ideas for bridal shower games at Elegala.com - Elegant Galas Made Simple.

Click Here for more information on Bridal Shower Ideas! 

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/weddings-articles/bridal-showers-5-unique-bridal-shower-ideas-923657.html

Author: Cori Russell

About the Author:

Cori Russell is editor for Elegala.com and Gala Weddings Magazine. Elegala.com is a complete Weddings and Wedding Planning resource with a national directory of wedding venues and services, how-to guides, photo galleries, checklists, and expert advice to walk brides through every step of the wedding planning process. Request from top vendors across the nation.

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