Bridal Showers at Home, Planning Advice from OurWeddingDay.com

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Bridal Showers at Home

Planning Your Wedding Shower at Your House

While the Maid of Honor is scouting out sites for possible bridal showers, here’s a motto you might want to remember: There’s no place like home. While your shower can be an extravagant weekend trip to Vegas or Atlantic City, it’s also great fun to have it at the bride’s home or the home of a close friend.

The obvious advantage to home bridal showers is money. Since the Honor attendants are expected to chip in for the shindig, it’ll save them a bundle. As you talk to your Maid of Honor about the shower (or whoever is the official hostess), keep finances in mind. Other advantages abound. If your shower is close to the date of the wedding, you’ll already have the women in the immediate area (a shower can be six months or six days before the ceremony). There’s a personal feel to home bridal showers as well, and your friends are more likely to open up and reminisce. If any members of the party have children, you can decide to invite them, and tuck them off to bed as it gets late.

Nowadays, many couples have joint co-ed showers, and let’s face it: At home, you can invite the men, moms, anyone you want to be there. Chances are, the talk will be a little less risqué, but it’s a great way for your male and female friends to interact and get to know the new couple.

Big bridal themes are not quite as popular as they were a couple of decades ago, nor are wild games. But you can still hoot and holler and go all out. Themes are great, as they help with food ideas (a barbecue? Most people will have an easy time figuring out what to bring). People will bring theme gifts as well, should you have, say, a “First Night” party—teddy, anyone? The two most popular games are still the ribbon collecting, in which a selected friend grabs all the bows for the “practice” bouquet, and makes the bride-to-be wear it; the other must-do is having someone write down all your quotes when you open gifts (“My, it’s so big!”), and then read them aloud later as a “premonition” of what you’ll be saying on your wedding night. Variations of Truth or Dare are a hoot, too. However, many brides simply like to eat, drink, and be wonderfully merry with their nearest and dearest. You don’t need any instructions on the rules for that time-honored tradition.

Check Out Balancing Family Traditions with Your Modern Wedding Plans
Check Out Letting Your Maid of Honor Plan Your Shower
Check Out Modern Wedding Shower Ideas