Things I didn't know about Bridal Showers

Whoops! Never posted this. I feel like I can finally breathe because the bridal shower and roommate search are finally complete and done with. Now time to just look forward to the wedding and all the moving!

I've been perusing quite a number of bridal shower books lately in preparation of one I will be co-hosting at the end of the month week(!). Research research brainstorm and more research is my current mantra till it comes to crunch time and transforms to JUST DO IT!

Bridal showers I have attended have all been pretty similar so I want to find new ideas and traditions I might not have encountered thus far.

Here are some things I did not know:

Purpose
* The purpose of the bridal shower is to "shower" the bride/couple with gifts and items she/they may need for their new life. (I don't know how much lingerie couples really "need" but most couples these days tend to already have a lot of their household goods and tend to cater their registries toward larger items like furniture, the honeymoon trip and donations to charities.)

* Though called a bridal shower, they can be co-ed with the bride and groom in attendance.

Unlimited Party Potential
* The Maid of Honor typically hosts a bridal shower, but anybody can host a bridal shower. One book said that immediate family members should not host (what if the bride's sister is the maid of honor?).

* This means a bride can have multiple showers. Yay more gift showering! (This kind of makes sense because a bride might have different groups of friends.)

* Bridesmaids should attend all the bridal showers, which means they should give at least a small gift at each shower.

* The party can be a surprise party. It helps if the bride decides who to invite so you don't miss out on anyone. To make it a surprise, invite the bride to go out to dinner, grab drinks or go to someone's birthday party and surprise her then. It's nice to give an occasion where the bride will be dressed up so she doesn't feel under-dressed compared to attendees. (One book said to make the guest list with the bride's mother. What if she's lives out of town and you don't know her?)

Attendees
* This should be a given, but all people invited to the shower SHOULD be invited to the wedding.

* Invite the bride and groom's mother and female siblings. (Whoops!)

Budget
* If co-hosting, you need to talk with other co-hosts about budget. (The B-word)

* If some people are unable to spend as much, ask more well-off co-hosts to chip in more or split up duties and each person can pay however much they want for the specific duties they signed up for (e.g. if someone is unemployed with ample time and enjoys cooking, they can be in charge of food and make cheaper dishes from scratch whereas someone with more disposable income may have the event catered.)

* You don't want someone to shy from hosting simply because of budget. The event does not have to be over-the-top.


Gifts
* Gifts do not have to just be lingerie or kitchenware.

* Everyone can pool money together for a large gift- bigger registry item, honeymoon excursion, etc.

* The host can choose a theme for the gifts.

* Around the Clock - I do not quite understand this, but it was mentioned in a couple sources. Host designates different guests a different time slot to purchase "Around the Clock Gifts". You imagine what the couple will be doing and what they would need for your designated time slot either on the honeymoon or in regular life.
     - Morning slot gifts might include coffee appliances, bathrobes, etc.;
     - Afternoon gifts might include items for the beach (towels, sandals, sunscreen, portable chairs), activity items (travel book, camera, foreign language dictionary, etc.);
     - Evening gifts might include champagne glasses, wine, robes, lingerie, etc.

* Make sure someone is writing down who gave what during the shower for thank you cards. You can write them directly on the greeting card so the bride will never forget.

* I've never seen this done but a couple sources said it's tradition that someone secretly writes down funny expressions that the bride says while opening gifts then reads it aloud to everyone under the title "Things The Bride Will Say On Wedding Night". (yikes!)

New Ideas I Think are Swell!
* If the bride plans on sending out Thank You cards to guests for gifts- have an activity where everyone writes their addresses on envelopes, toss envelopes in a bag, do a drawing for a prize. Now you have pre-addressed envelopes so you don't have to worry about gathering that info. (We're just doing e-mail so this will have to be archived.)

* Possible surprise party option- have the groom bring the bride to a presidential suite of a hotel where everyone is ready to surprise her. Have the party in the suite (beautiful room, great view), stay up late and spend the night because the room is rented for the night. (This would have been a great idea if the bridal shower and bachelorette party are on the same day or combined. Might be awkward if everyone isn't invited to both parties.)