Bridal Shower Tips
What is a bridal shower? It is a time to celebrate the bride before the wedding with food, drinks, games, and gifts. Throwing a bridal shower can be intimidating, as you want your party to be the absolute best it can be for your bride to be and guests. We offer mobile event trailer rentals for weddings and bridal showers, and we have lots of suggestions for making bridal showers great within your budget. Here are our top tips for throwing a pre-wedding event everyone will remember.
Bridal showers are best planned at least 3 weeks or up to 3 months before the wedding. They can take place to coincide with another wedding event, such as the bachelorette party for a combination party. You don’t want to plan the shower too close to the big day, because everyone will be too busy with last minute preparations to enjoy the shower. A bridal shower gives the bride’s family and dearest friends a chance to meet and bond over fun games, delicious food, drinks, and gifts for the new bride. The key to success is to plan early for the bridal shower, particularly if there will be guests traveling long distances.
Typically, someone close to the bride will plan her bridal shower to celebrate the upcoming wedding. Usually the maid of honor, a very close friend, or relative takes on the planning with help from the bridesmaids. Bridal showers can be everything from a blow-out all girls party at a larger venue, to a smaller backyard event. Co-ed events still include food, drinks, and gifts, but the groom, male relatives and friends are included.
Although the bride may wish to be involved in planning her bridal shower, frequently it is a surprise. As the hostess of the party is commonly the maid of honor, best friend, or close relative, they will likely know the bride’s preferences in terms of location, number of guests, time of day, preferred gifts, etc. It is important to know whether the bride would like a small part;, or wishes to include anyone invited to the wedding; if the party should have a theme, and what type of games or activities the bride prefers.
Shower gifts may be purchased from the wedding registry, or may be specific to those the couple will actually use. For example, instead of home related gifts from the registry, a “stock the bar” party where guests bring booze or barware can start the couple off with a completely stocked bar. These are great parties for designer cocktails, and you’ll want to include particular types of drinks the bride and groom prefer.
Other bridal party shower ideas include “bon voyage” showers, with gifts related to your honeymoon, or contributions to your airfare and activities. If the bride and groom are moving into a new home together, the shower gifts could include items for home improvement, maintenance, cleaning, etc. If the couple loves adventuring in the great outdoors, that is an excellent idea for gifts involving camping, traveling, hiking, etc. If the party is in an outdoor location, consider hiring one of our mobile event trailers for the bridal shower!