Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of throwing my good friend Jill’s bridal shower. Let me tell ya – it was a labor of love. It was the first time I’d ever had to plan a party like this (at least for adults, when you’re a teacher you plan parties for kids several times a year) and add to the fact that I had to try and keep it as kosher as possible (given I’m not Jewish and don’t keep a kosher home) it was a challenge! That’s a lot of parentheses sorry. 😉
Well all the hard work paid off and I was super pleased with the results! I know a few of my readers are planning weddings and so I thought I’d share the decor I put together (on the cheap).
Jill’s wedding colors are navy/dark blue and silver, but trying to find navy party decor without ordering it is uh difficult and I had a tight timeline so I went with this more vibrant blue instead. To break up all the blue and silver, I decided at the last minute to add pops of bright pink. I really liked the overall effect.
Let’s take a look:
I used bright blue table cloths along three long tables. Then I layered on silver doilies at each end and popped on my homemade centerpiece.
I also created this fun “Congratulations Jill” banner using the Cricut Bridal Shower and Tie the Knot cartridges. I filled in the cut out letters with another, lighter shade of blue glitter.
These favors were fun and inexpensive. I just bought votive candles that came with a little glass cup and then popped them into blue plastic treat bags from the party store. To bring in the bright pink color, I created flags using the Cricut and hand stamped them with “Thanks” using silver ink.
Here’s a close up of the centerpiece. Each one took about 10 minutes to make start to finish! I’m putting together a tutorial on how to make these so stay tuned!
Jill’s not a big “shower games” person and neither am I, so we went with simple, fun things that could start conversation instead. I created some “Advice for the Bride” cards using white 4×6 cards, punched out some hearts in our shower colors using my Cricut and as folks finished writing their advice (which ranged from funny to poignant) I slid the cards into a pretty white album I picked up. Now the bride has all the advice she could need at her finger tips and she has a place to put all the pictures taken at the shower. I thought it was a nice keepsake.
Prior to the bride unwrapping her gifts, we all filled out Gift Bingo cards so we could play along as she opened.
Another awesome tip (and sadly, I didn’t get a picture of this):
If you’re going to throw a shower for someone – have all the guests in attendance address a thank you envelope to themselves. Then as the bride opens her gifts, have someone pencil in what each person brought on the underside of the envelope flap and slide in a blank thank you card. That way, when the bride goes to fill out her thank you’s the big work is pretty much done. All she’ll have to do is write a nice note, seal the envelope and pop on a stamp! I wish I could take credit for that idea – but it was her friend Moria who called me to propose it. She rocks. 🙂
