A Little Creativity with Your Bridal Shower Invitations

02/20/09

The cost of a wedding can cost more than most couples put down as a down payment on their first house. Many couples get lost in the details of table decorations and menu planning and forget about the whole idea of gathering loved ones together to help them celebrate their nuptials. The materialistic trend of the uber wedding has even trickled down to bridal showers. Guests who receive bridal shower invitations often cringe at the thought of having to buy yet another gift for the same couple. Guests should look forward to a bridal shower, not feel a tug on their bank account.

In this day and age when couples are waiting longer to get married and are already established in their careers, there should be a trend in bridal showers toward more fun and less gifts. Prospective brides now have an opportunity to throw great alternative bridal showers that their grandmothers most definitely were not allowed to. So get your thinking cap on and start brainstorming for the sake of the people who will receive those bridal shower invitations. I will give you some freebies, in case you need a jump start on the brainstorming.

Something involving food or wine will always make people happy. What guests would not want to receive bridal shower invitations to a hosted wine tasting soiree? Buy a selection of wines and have your guests help choose the wine that will be served at the wedding. Do the whole nine yards, by covering up labels and giving everyone comment cards. Another option is to have a "stock the wine cellar" party, in which everyone brings a bottle to stock your home collection. Have sharpie markers on hand, so guests can sign the bottles. You will smile whenever you get a new bottle out of the collection in later years, as you toast to the person who gave it to you.

Food and cooking can be the centerpiece of the party too. You can have everyone write up their favorite recipe on snazzy paper. All the guests can then glue the recipe on a page in the book and decorate it however they want. You then have a cookbook of tried and true recipes and will remember your friends every time you make something from it. Another idea makes your guests work a little harder, but is all in good fun. Have your guests make an appetizer. Let the attendees choose the best one by casting votes on slips of paper. Serve the best hors doeuvre at the wedding reception by calling it by the guest who created it (The Sarah Simmered Stuffed Mushroom).

Send out the bridal shower invitations and let your guests eat, drink and be merry. Put your thinking cap on and come up with something different. You will be happy that you did not put pressure on anyone to buy you more gifts and will have fun appreciating the fact that your guests are there to help you celebrate.

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