Picnic Themed Bridal Shower

Date: Saturday, March 28th, 2009
Time: 11:00 am

Guest of Honor: My future sister-in-law, Shelley
Party: Picnic Themed Bridal Shower

Invitation:

Created the invitation (and name tags) in an art program called Corel Draw. I then saved them as a JPEG and emailed them over to Walmart Photo Dept and had them printed like photos. They were about 5 cents a piece so came out to be a really cheap and cute invitation.

Name Tags:
Since the party was for the "in-law" side of the family, the bride did not fully know everyone's name. I had name tags made for everyone that they grabbed upon entering the party and attached with a small safety pin.

Guest Book:

I picked up a ceramic pitcher/vase for everyone to sign. Michaels/Joann's sells permanent pens for ceramic pieces. Each person signed the vase, then after the shower you bake it for about 1 hour to make the writing permanent. For my personal bridal showers I had 2 casserole dishes and a chip/dip dish that everyone signed at each of my showers.

Decor: 
I had the brides mother and mother in law send me wedding day photos from their family (parents/grandparents). Then framed them for guests to view.

Also bought floral material that I cut into triangles (half square) that I layed on the table. I purchased plastic plates from Walmart because I knew I would reuse them and they were close to the same price as disposables.

Because we needed more space we added an easy-up to the end of our patio for the bride, her MOH and her parents/grooms parents to sit at. I draped material from the edges to make them feel enclosed/secluded and providing more shade

Centerpieces:

I cut the small watermelon's in half and inserted fresh flowers into them. Then tied a ribbon around them.

Food:
Because we had a tight squeeze for our guests, we did not serve buffet style. Instead we pre dished the food and had it on display to serve family style. We served chicken salad and egg salad sandwiches. Pasta and cucumber salads, along with watermelon and grapes. We had 5 plates of each type of food to pass to each table. For dessert we served cheesecake (brides favorite) drizzled with raspberry sauce.

Games/Activities:
Bridal Bingo: Had each guest fill in gifts they thought the bride would receive. Then when she was unwrapping each gift, the guests would mark off if they had it written on their bingo board. The first to get 5 in a row WON!

Famous Couples:
Passed out the famous couples form with only one half of the couple written down. The guests then had to fill in the other half of the couple. For Example: Ricky Ricardo = Lucy or Al Bundy = Peggy Bundy

Little Extra's:

I always like displaying the gifts that the bride received for all the guest to view. So as she is unwrapping the gifts I help to move them out to a table where everyone can see them as they are leaving. The Guest of Honor always seems to enjoy it too!