First Holiday Bridal Shower Ideas

Wouldn't it be nice to get a head start on the holidays for once? Even if every day seems like Valentine's Day when you're with your spouse-to-be, it is always more difficult to plan something romantic for your spouse than it is for your fiancé. Let your shower help relieve some of the stress by showering you with necessities for the holidays. Each guest will be assigned a different holiday to help the couple-to-be be prepared (depending on the size of the holiday as well as the guest list, more than one person may be assigned to each holiday). Be as funny, creative, and romantic as you possibly can be with the assignments. A few lucky friends or family members will even get to plan the couple's first anniversary!

Bridal Shower Invitations
Send a personalized holiday bridal shower invitation and your guests will be wowed! At the bottom of the invitation there is a spot to write in everyone's "assigned" holiday, so they know what kind of gift to bring. The best part is seeing all of the creativity in the gifts!

Sample List of Occasions

First Holiday Bridal Shower Decorations
At the front door are your greeters - a life-sized cutout of the bride and groom featuring their favorite holiday! Instead of a guestbook or sign in board, have plain craft ornaments laying out on a table near the entrance. Have guests leave a short message for the bride and groom, or even a piece of marriage advice. The happy couple will have a host of beautiful and touching ornaments to hang on their tree for their first Christmas.

Bunches of balloons in the bride's colors can decorate the entire room. You can decorate the tables with holiday decorations, and the buffet and gift tables with special occasion decorations. The best part is, the bride and groom can take home all of the decorations to use in their home!

Here are a few suggestions to get your ideas flowing -

• Valentine's Day - Use a red table cloth and heart confetti to decorate a table for this lovely holiday.
• Mardi Gras - Think green, purple and gold for this table. Scatter some beads and a few gold coins on the table and you are all set!
• St. Patrick's Day - Green, green, green! Poke a hole in the top of a green hat and have balloons coming out of the top. Sprinkle Skittles and more gold coins on the table (leprechaun gold at the end of the rainbow!).
• Easter - Dig out one of your baskets and fill it with Easter grass, plastic eggs and jelly beans.
• Cinco de Mayo - Olé! A few glow margarita glasses filled with candy and a small sombrero and you have a fiesta!
• Patriotic Holidays - Memorial Day, 4th of July, Flag Day, whichever... a patriotic centerpiece surrounded by red, white or blue confetti will do the trick!
• Halloween - A jack o'lantern or creepy confetti will make the table frightfully boo-tiful!
• Thanksgiving - A turkey centerpiece with a vase of flowers or a pillar candle makes a great fall decoration.
• Hanukkah - Scatter dreidels and gelt around a menorah. Mazel Tov!
• Christmas - Fill a clear bowl or low vase with Christmas ornaments. Or dig out that crazy singing/dancing Santa, set him in the middle of the table, and sprinkle snowflake confetti across the table top.
• New Year's Eve - A few noise makers and horns, surrounded by confetti will make everyone want to countdown to midnight!

Bridal Shower Games and Activities
Here are a few fun bridal shower games to play at your holiday theme shower:

"Love is..." - Write 25 romantic or sexy words on index cards, such as throbbing, lips, passion, candlelight, roses, chocolate, and so on. On another 25 index cards write some non-romantic images, such as ironing board, wallpaper paste, bikini wax, nose hair, motor oil, and so on. Stack the two piles separately, and distribute paper and pencil. Have each player draw a card from each pile. When everyone has 2 cards, ask them to write a silly love poem using the two words or phrases they have drawn. For example: "Roses are red, they make me hot! Your eyes are sexy, your nose hairs are not!" Have them read their poems aloud one at a time.

"Bride/Groom Trivia" - Test your partygoers' knowledge of the bride and groom to be. I was at a party somewhat recently where we played this game and it was really funny. Ask the guests questions like, "Where did the couple go on their first date?" "How did the couple get engaged?" "How did the couple meet?" The person who answers the most questions correctly wins a prize.

See our Bridal Shower Games for more great ideas!

Bridal Shower Party Favors
Buy little boxes of candy (chocolates are a favorite), and wrap them up like little presents. Doesn't everyone love to receive gifts? In fact, our personalized bridal shower candy bar favors are sweet treat

Or give each guest a personalized bridal shower mint tin. It's a sweet ending to a bridal shower no one will ever forget, especially the happy couple who will remember it every holiday!

Have fun, from Party411 and The Party Girl!