Showering the Bride…

I love a good party.  I get  even more excited when I get to help plan it.  With an upcoming wedding in the family, after all my own bridal excitement, I was even happier to help throw a future sister-in-law a bridal shower.

At my own I had a few specific requests: favorite foods, the toilet paper wedding dress game and no clothespin collecting.  I never was very competitive when it comes to sports, but man, come shower time, I dominate.  My goal is to win one of the games by the end because who doesn’t love to take home that prize gift that says you won something?

We kept it simple for this shower.  Everyone had to bring a recipe card and fill out a return address for thank yous.  We also had a few surprises for guests with some trick guessing games.  What the bride took home is pretty sweet.  After several bridal showers in my family, I stole my favorite ideas and they were a hit!

Stocking the shelves –
My aunts did this at mine, and even though it isn’t the same poem, I loved getting all of these household goodies.  Still not having to buy cleaning products after being married for almost two years is awesome.  The dollar store was surprising also on how much we got from the list.

Dear Bride,
In a few short weeks you and your HONEY, (Groom’s name), will PLEDGE your love to one another, leaving your SOLO lives in the past as your FAMILY AND FRIENDS cheer while you walk down the aisle. Ahead, you will find a new adventure full of BLISS as Mr. and Mrs. ______.  Before that happy day, we would just like to fill you in on a few SECRETS:

Your Prince CHARMIN’ may be BRAWNY and SUAVE, but he won’t always be SPIC & SPAN or a MR. CLEAN in the kitchen.  Things may not always be a FEBREEZE and there may be some ups and some DOWNYS, but try not to SHOUT, send out an SOS, or let things CASCADE into a PUFF of anger. No matter what, ALL will be RESOLVED by DAWN. You two are a FANTASTIC couple, and will be able to BOUNCE back from anything in a JIF.

You and _________ share a ZEST for life, and your marriage will include endless love, a BOUNTY of happiness, and a HEFTY DASH of SNUGGLES, HUGS & KISSES. We feel so much JOY to be able to GAIN a you into our family on September 13th. We look forward to seeing the SPARKLE in your eyes on your FABULOSO and PICTURE perfect day.

My other favorite gift during the shower is this beauty:  A Wine Basket for Every Occasion!

I found a few different sources online and made it my own.
Feel free to bless a bride with one or both of these great gift ideas.  My wine tags are printable.  I simply printed them out on cardstock, glued them to a scrapbook cardstock, punched some holes and found some ribbon to match each of the descriptions.  Hobby Lobby had that ribbon in the scrapbook isle.  You might want to do a few of the first wines, or the whole package.  We picked out wines that went with each occasion.  Wines like Naked, Ambiance, Winter White and Little Penguin.

So have an upcoming bridal shower or wedding coming up?  These gift ideas could be perfect!