Bridal Shower

A few weekends ago, I hosted a bridal shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law at my house. When I told people I was hosting, they looked at me like I was crazy for having the shower at my home. It's really no big deal to me, even though it can be stressful to do. I do it for a few reasons. One, I truly enjoy hosting people. I enjoy the up front prep and just having people relax and enjoy themselves in my home. Two, hosting = organizing = excitement for me (yes, I'm a nerd). For some, all that thinking about hosting and theme and food and drink equals stress and craziness in their brain. For me, I thrive on it. I love thinking about the decor, the food, the invites, and all that good stuff. Finally, it's typically a cheaper option that hosting outside the home. Between a rental space and food and an alcohol package, it gets expensive to host at a restaurant!

In my mind, hosting this event takes place in two major steps: all the upfront, early preparation and the day before/day of prep. Let me break it down for you and give you some simple ideas for hosting your next party!

• What's your theme? -

• In my opinion, this has to be your first step before you prep anything. Depending on the type of party you want to throw, the guest of honor, where you are throwing it (indoors vs. outdoors, in your home vs. at a venue, etc.), you need to choose a theme. This doesn't have to be elaborate! What color scheme do you imagine? If you're throwing a baby shower and the mom-to-be knows the sex of the baby, there's an easy start - blue or pink! If you're throwing a bridal shower, maybe you try to play in with the colors the bride has chosen for bridesmaids dresses? If you're hosting a mom's night in, keep it simple and cute with the existing plates and serving trays you have and grab some bright flowers from the grocery store for a casual theme and environment. This doesn't have to be a stressor for you, but I think if you choose theme first, everything else will fall into place. This is going to be part of your upfront prep.
• For the bridal shower, I chose a modern, chic rustic theme and used navy blue as my main color. My brother's groomsmen are wearing navy suites and the bridesmaids are all wearing a different shade of grey. The bride is using gold and silver accents on her tables at the venue, so I chose to incorporate these colors with a rustic twist. Why a rustic twist? It would allow me to keep things simple and affordable! I had all of the serving trays, platters, flower vases, and most of the decor accents already, so why not utilize those? And, adding some rustic twists in terms of flowers or decor usually isn't too expensive. Read more below on how I kept decor simple and affordable. 

• Invites, Games, and Other Printables - 


• Etsy: make Etsy your new best friend! Seriously, the creativity of some people in the world amazes me and the simplicity of the site makes some of the upfront planning for your next party mindless. I chose a beautiful invite and some fun games from two different Etsy sellers that both sent me digital templates and copies. The invite was amazing because it was sent to me using a site where I could customize the text on the invite (i.e. change fonts, sizes, colors, etc.) and the games were pre-made printables. So simple and so easy yet beautiful! Look for Etsy sellers that will send you digital templates for you to edit and save. Then, keep it simple by taking these files to Office Max/Depot or Staples on a flash drive to have them print your invites and games on the paper of your choice. This is also part of your upfront prep. 

• Thinking up the menu - 
• Food: if you're going to make all the food, think about food items that are simple to prep and fit the theme or time of your gathering. Having a BBQ type party? Think about what can be done on the grill and what sides are quick and easy to whip up. Hosting a brunch? Think about making some egg casseroles, a fruit salad, and buying some pastries from a bakery or the store. For our party, we did a 2 pm bridal shower so it was going to be a late lunch. Light finger foods were on the menu. Some people might have eaten a late breakfast or even had lunch due to it being at 2 pm. But, we didn't want to fill our guests up TOO much before dinner time. Planning your menu is upfront prep. Same with shopping for food. Then, your day before/day of prep will include making the food or at least getting your kitchen ready to cook the next morning. My mom helped me with the food prep. She's a great cook and could work her way around the kitchen with her eyes closed. We served chicken salad on french baguette, egg salad on oat bread, cucumber with herbed cream cheese on rye bread, caprese skewers, charcuterie, and caesar salad. For dessert, my mom knows a lady who bakes aaaaahhhhhmmaazzziinnggg cupcakes, so we did pumpkin spice with cream cheese frosting. YUM. At the bottom of my post, you can find a link to a separate post for my recipes for these simple finger foods (check my food and cooking page for this post!). All simple, all delicious. In fact, I've been eating the leftover chicken salad for lunch for a few days now and will be really sad when it's all gone. 

• Beverages: depending on the number of guests, keep it simple with alcohol and other beverage choices. Since we only had about 20 ladies at this shower, so we offered one alcoholic beverage, which is my favorite red sangria (see my other post on drink recipes!). We then offered water with lemon and iced tea. Simple! I like the beverages to fit the time of day and type of event. If you were going to throw a bridal shower brunch, think mimosa bar with various types/flavors of orange juice, champagne or prosecco, and different fruits such as strawberries or raspberries to top off your guests' drinks. If you were to host a bridal shower at an actual event space, they will have drink packages and options for you to work with, but you can still customize your drink options to fit the event or time of day. Maybe you even want to have a special drink of the day that fits the personality of your guest of honor? Maybe your guest loves craft beers and you can buy their favorite beers? You have many options in terms of beverages, but like I said, keep it simple and be sure to offer a couple options. 

• Decor - 
• Why a modern rustic twist? Many of my serving trays are beige or white. The beige edging and exteriors on my bowls and trays fit perfectly with the neutral colors you often see in rustic decor settings. Those paired with the clean, white trays and bowls I have provided a good contrast in colors. I have many wood serving items like cutting boards and salad tongs. The wood accents also paired well with the beige and white serving items. My mom let me borrow her wide mouth mason jars she used for my baby shower to use as vases on the tables outside (rustic and free to me!).  Since the shower was going to be outdoors so I knew I could incorporate simple, affordable flowers. I used baby's breathe that I picked up from a florist the day before with some eucalyptus. Simple, affordable, and pretty. I bought white plastic table clothes for the tables outside and one plastic blue one that I cut into long strips that I used as table runners. The mason jars with flowers were placed in the center of the tables. At Party City, I found small see through brown gems that I scattered on the tables where guests would eat and on the beverage and favors tables. These gems provided a little bit of a modern and chic twist to my rustic theme. Indoors on my food table, I placed a large, wooden J, S, and & symbol (bride and groom's first name initials) that I found on sale at Marshall's (affordable!), a wooden LOVE frame and a couple other wood picture frames I had lying around with a few printed engagement pictures, and small succulent planters I had at home that all have gold accenting designs on the pots. Simple, affordable, rustic with a modern and chic twist. I thought it all came together well :) Combining some purchased decor with what you already have ensures that you can customize and personalize the decor without breaking the bank. 

• Favors - 

• You don't have to offer favors at a bridal shower, but I chose to in this case. I think it's nice to have something for guests who have taken time out of their day to attend and who have, typically, purchased a gift for the bride and groom. Because this shower was right at the beginning of September, had a rustic theme, and was outdoors, I chose to make homemade apple butter (see recipe below) and give them away in small mason jars. I bought small circle stickers that I could print on (see Avery link here: Avery 2" Blank Labels) and stacked the jars outside on the favor table with a cute little saying in a frame.  This was simple for me because I enjoy cooking and had the time to jar all the fresh apple butter. But, if you don't have time or don't want to provide food as a favor, think again about your theme or something the bride likes. I recently attended a bridal shower where wine was a theme. There were corks around the venue as decor and mini bottles of wine as game prizes, so the favor was a wine stopper with a heart on the top. Cute! I recently had a baby and last fall, my mom and mother-in-law were each kind enough to throw me a shower. My mother-in-law bagged chocolate covered nuts with a cute little sticker that said "thank you for helping us shower our little peanut". My mom bagged popcorn kernels with a sticker that said "ready to pop!". I love the play on words and a favor that fits the theme. Bring out your creative juices and don't be afraid to steal ideas from the internet!   

Homemade Apple Butter

A simple apple butter recipe perfect to use as a spread or a warm sauce over ice cream. Yum!

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 10 Hours

Servings: About 15 cups

6 1/2 lbs apples, cored and peeled (best to use gala, red delicious, or macintosh apples)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1. After all apples are cored and peeled, cut into slices or chunks and place in slow cooker.

2. Add the sugars, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla and mix well into apples.

3. Cook on low for approx. 10 hours. The apple butter should be dark brown and fairly thick**. 

4. If desired, use a blender to puree the apple butter until you achieved your desired consistency.

5. Keep refrigerated up to two weeks or freeze in small containers. 

** When I've made this before, the apple butter does not turn out to be as thick as I have wanted. Here are a few things you can do:

- Make a slurry and stir into pureed apple butter. A slurry is a mix of cornstarch and water. 

- Turn your slow cooker back on after pouring your pureed butter back into it and cook apple butter a couple hours longer on high to essentially boil off some of the excess water in the puree. 

I have done a combination of these two to thicken up my apple butter and it has worked well!