How to Throw a Bridal Shower (On a Budget)

I love to host parties.  I love to host parties for selfish reasons; all the guests come to me and I can drink as much as I want since I don’t need to drive afterward.  Also, I get to pick the food to serve that I enjoy eating in case there are leftovers.  Lastly, planning is my forte. Recently, I threw my sister’s bridal shower and thought I would pass along some suggestions for planning a bridal shower without spending a lot of money.

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Pick a Theme

I always like to start planning a bridal shower by selecting an overall theme.  A theme doesn’t have to be that specific, it could be as easy as selecting certain colors to feature, picking a mealtime to plan around, or types of gifts the guests should bring for the bride-to-be.  A theme doesn’t have to be all-encompassing, it just helps give you a starting point.

For my sister’s bridal shower we chose to go with a brunch theme.  We thought brunch foods were much easier (and cheaper) than lunch or dinner.  

Plus, who doesn’t like mimosas? This theme helped me determine what foods I wanted to serve and the time of the day to have the shower.  Did I incorporate the brunch theme into every part of the party? Definitely not.  I gave flower seed packets away as favors, super cute – nothing to do with brunch.

   

Gather the Guest List

Make sure to ask the bride who she would like invited to the shower.  Obvious guests are all the bridesmaids, female relatives of both the bride and groom, and close friends of the bride.  Definitely, don’t invite anyone who is not invited to the wedding!

This is where your budget can be blown. More guests equals more money being spent on the shower. But it also means more gifts for the bride, yay! Remember that not everyone you invite will be able to attend and there will still be ways to cut costs.

If the guest list is getting out of control maybe ask someone else to co-host the shower with you to help defray the expenses.

   

Select a Venue

A venue is where a party’s budget can really vary. Places like restaurants will often have food and drink minimums that will add up when you multiply the cost per person by the number of shower attendees you expect to come.

Instead, choose a venue that is inexpensive or better yet – FREE! The best bet is to find a place you can serve your own food. For example, your house, a park, a church, etc.

*Planning Tip: The number one factor to consider when selecting a shower venue is can it accommodate the number of people attending the party?

   

Send Out Invitations

   

Invitations can be very inexpensive if you are on a budget (I always am).

• If you are purchasing invitations through a website such as Minted, Wedding Paper Divas, or Snapfish make sure to wait for an awesome sale and of course go through Rakuten first to get your cashback.  These sites constantly have great sales and promotions, use those promo codes!

• You can also purchase an invitation template from a website such as Etsy and either print the invitations at home or at a store like Office Max.

• Postcard invitations will save you money because the postage will be less than a typical invitation.

   

*Planning Tip: Do not e-mail invitations for a bridal shower. Although e-vites would save you money they are too casual for this type of event.

   

Decor

Depending on the venue where you are having the shower you may need a lot or very few decorations.  I am not a super crafty person so decor isn’t typically my strong suit. Plus, I live by the motto “quality over quantity” so I tend to go very minimal on decor.

You can save a lot of money on decorations by using items you already have. Not everything has to be identical.

Do you (or someone you know) have pretty tablecloths in the same color scheme? A bunch of random glass vases with beautiful flowers (or fake flowers) always looks lovely.

Another frugal idea is to print out pictures of the engaged couple to place around the party or as table centerpieces. Use picture frames you already have or hit up the local dollar store.

When in doubt, decorate with the essential “bride-to-be” banner and some balloons.

Food

It will be a lot cheaper to make your own food than to have the party catered.  This idea may or may not be an option for you depending on the restrictions of your venue. 

Once you decide on the food you will be serving, determine where and when to shop for the food. A store like Costco is a great place to stock up on bulk items like champagne. Produce you will need to wait to buy until closer to the party and can hopefully get inexpensively at a store such as Aldi.

*Planning Tip: Schedule the shower at a time that is not typically associated with a meal (example: 2 pm) that way you can get away with serving less food.

Food Ideas:

Yogurt Bar

Mini Doughnuts 

Egg Bakes

Tea Sandwiches

Mini Oatmeal Cream Pie Cookie Cups

Mini Cherry Chocolate Chip Bread

Veggie Tray

Cupcakes

Bagel Bar

Fruit Kabobs

   

Entertainment

Oh, the dreaded shower games!  I can’t stand cheesy games, the next time I have to play Bridal Bingo I will lose my mind.  That being said, what else is there to do at a shower full of guests who don’t necessarily know one another?   Games are a bit essential so I would stick to games you personally wouldn’t mind playing.

I really enjoyed making a Bridal Jeopardy game about my sister, her groom, and the two of them as a couple.

To play Bridal Jeopardy start by mixing up the guests into groups of people who haven’t been sitting by each other.  By mixing up the guests I figure each guest in a group will be better at one of the categories.  Then create categories and questions. My five categories were “Bride, Groom, Couple, Fun Facts, and the Wedding”.  I included questions such as;

• How old was the bride and how old was the groom when they first started dating?
• In what city is the wedding?
• What is the groom’s least favorite household chore?
• What is one of the couple’s favorite television shows?

Make sure that each question has a corresponding point number in terms of difficulty.  The more challenging questions should be worth more points and definitely include one “daily double” question.   The team with the most points at the end wins.

I received many compliments on the game and it seemed to help shower guests get introduced to one another. Clearly, this game involves some prep work including getting the answers from the bride beforehand but it is worth it.

Another game I thought went over well was “Would the Bride Rather?”.  I started the party with this game to help everyone get more acquainted with the bride since the party was for her.  

Each question had only two answers to choose from, that way guests who didn’t know the bride as well could just guess between the two answers and still come away with a pretty good score. For example, “Would the bride prefer a beach vacation or ski vacation?”.

I did include a third game that did not go over well. Romantic movie quotes were read and each guest was supposed to write down the title of the movie the quote was from.  I thought the game was incredibly easy . . . the guests did not.

*Planning Tip: Stick to two games maximum, make sure to include information/questions on both the bride and groom and have prizes for the winners. 

I gave away the floral centerpieces I used as part of the decor for the party as prizes. This way I didn’t have to transport a bunch of flowers back to my house, I didn’t have to buy extra prizes, and the guests walked away with something they actually liked.

   

Favors

I am also not a huge fan of favors.  Personally, I think favors are a waste of money and guests usually don’t care about them.  Still, favors are often expected at a shower.  If you feel the need to have favors for the guests here are a few cheap suggestions;

• Food (everyone likes food) – Put a cookie, chocolate-covered pretzels, or candy in a cute take-home package.
• Nail Polish
• Mini Champagne Bottles
• Flower Seed Packets

With any of these ideas you can attach a cute, personalized message to make the favor more special. For example, on the flower seed packets you could print, “Let Love Grow” plus the names of the couple and the future wedding date.

Please, no personalized koozies!

Happy Planning!