Today was wedding shower day! For months, I have been planing and hoping to pull off a beautiful {budget friendly} bridal shower for my brother and soon to be sister-in-law. Today was the moment of truth. As soon as the clock struck noon, it all became a blur. There were lots of smiling faces, lots of laughter and hugs, lots of presents and plenty of yummy food to go around. I’m pretty sure it was a success, but ask me again when I wake up from my nap :)
We had heard of the idea for a “mad hatter” themed shower and loved the concept of wearing hats! We didn’t really want to commit to a completely Alice in Wonderland thing though, so I revamped a poem found on-line to include the hat thing, but nothing else mad hatterish.
This is the invite we sent out to everyone:
We’ve done the whole, bring a cleaning product, recipe card or bottle of spice before. For this shower, our bride and groom are both huge cooks – so we asked guests to bring a separate spice of their choice. These were collected at the gift table in a separate basket.
Our plates, table clothes and bowls were purchased at Party City. The paper straws were found at Target and the cups and flatware were from Gordon Food Service.
We were going to skip out on doing a favor. Then, at the last minute we decided to make these! {Stay tuned for a feature post on how we made them using Dollar Tree materials} They ended up costing us about 40 Cents a piece and included 3 gumballs and a Hershey’s Kiss. Simple, yet cute and colorful!
We put together prize baskets for winners of the hat wearing contest and bridal bingo. These were wire baskets I had gotten from a friend (originally from the Dollar Tree). I filled them with trinkets from the Target dollar section, bottles of soda, kettle corn, chocolates, lotions and a couple re-gifted items! These probably cost me under $4 each to make.
The flatware was wrapped in napkins and paper doilies, then tied with ribbon.
I used baby’s breath to fill vases because I like the billowy effect it creates, and you get quit a bit for your buck. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as much as I would have liked. I should have called a few different floral shops the week before. I thought it would be easy to find, but was told over and over that they could have ordered it in bigger quantities for me at a cheaper price had they known. Only one local florist had enough in stock for this event. It was in small bunches for $1.99 each which is still pretty good.
Print your own bingo sheets like the ones found here! (I’ll have the file up soon) Have your guests fill in the spaces with things they think the bride will be receiving. As she opens her gifts, guests can check off the items she has received until someone gets a bingo! This is a fun, non-cheesy game to play!
This ribbon bunting was inspired by the one found here. I cut strips of scrap fabric using a rotary blade and mat. All I did was tie them to a ribbon and hang! What a cute and colorful backdrop. I will be keeping this for future photo ops and parties.
The colorful vases on each table were a weekend project – read about it in a post coming soon :) We used several different glass coloring techniques via Pinterest, only to discover that none of them were truly waterproof. About an hour after filling them with water, the paint started showing signs of wear or completely peeling off and bubbling away from the glass. I carefully poured the water back out and inserted a plastic cup filled with water into each vase. This worked, but keep it in mind if you attempt a glass coloring project!
This festive bunting was cut out of burlap and strung on a ribbon. The letters were painted on freehand.
Our Menu
Soups
Loaded Baked Potato, Chili, Lentil, Chicken Tortilla
Toppings and Sides
Cheese, Pita, Green Onion, Bacon, Oyster Crackers, Tortilla Chips, Sour Cream
Salads
Broccoli Salad
Pear and Cranberry Tossed Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette
Rolls and Butter
Coffee
Pink Punch
Cake, Cupcakes, Candy
Every soup and every salad was made by a separate individual that lovingly agreed to make something and bring it to the shower!! This was a huge burden lifted off of me and other family members. I would highly recommend asking friends to help in this way, rather than tackling every aspect of the planing yourself.
Candy for our candy buffet was purchased on the after Valentine’s Day sales and after Easter sales. I got additional things to fill space and look cute from the Dollar Tree.
This metal “lace” tray and vase are from IKEA, in case anyone was wondering!
My mommy and my baby brother = awwww!
Check out my Showers and Gifts for the Happy Couple Pin Board for more ideas!!
Cheryl @ mycuprunnethover312
Wonderful Party!! I just love the soup and salad idea for a luncheon. All the decor looks do great and I am in LOVE with the fabric strip backdrop – great job!!
Miss H.
Good ideas and tips! I love the hat thing. A lot of grown women still like to play dress-up. :-)
Good to know about the vase coloring.
Off to check out the pin board!