The Wedding Shower
Wedding showers mean additional expenses for the bride's close friends and family, many of whom will also be spending money to attend or participate in the wedding.
Shower Etiquette
Showers are a snap for the bride. Your only responsibilities are providing the host with a guest list and showing up! Showers are usually held four to six weeks before the wedding itself. Only the bride's closest friends and family attend, and the guest list is typically around 15 or 20 people.
If the shower is not a surprise, you can let your friends and relatives know that you want them to keep it simple for the sake of everyone's budget. Emphasize that the shower is an opportunity for making great memories and female bonding, which is far more important to you than expensive gifts or a fancy party.
Fact
People are getting married later in life, and many of them have already set up their own households; in fact, 59 percent of women now live alone and many own their own homes. They don't want or need presents — or, at least, the kind traditionally given at weddings.
Theme Showers
There are all sorts of clever bridal-shower ideas. One popular way to make showers more exciting is to introduce a theme. This way, it's not just another boring pre-wedding event.
Basket Shower
At a basket shower, each guest presents the bride with a themed basket. Most commonly, each basket holds items for a certain room in the house. For example, a kitchen basket can be lined with a pretty kitchen towel and filled with cooking utensils, pot holders, and recipe cards.
Guests can be as inventive with the baskets as they want. A “first night at home” basket could include ready-made pasta, a jar of quality tomato sauce, a package of amaretto cookies, cappuccino mix, and a bottle of wine, all wrapped in a checked cloth.
Alert
Schedule these parties at least a few days before the wedding: You don't want the bride and groom to show up bleary-eyed at their own wedding!
Jack and Jill Shower
Invite the groom and his friends to a Jack and Jill shower. This joint affair lets the couple celebrate together.
Customarily, the groom put in a cameo appearance at the shower to thank the guests, but it is becoming more common for grooms to attend the entire event. Inviting his friends and male family members makes it less awkward. Men are increasingly involved in their own showers, and a couples shower is a recognition of this fact.
Lingerie Shower
Perfect for the bride who already has all the bathroom towels she could ever ask for. Everyone can always use more lingerie! Make sure that everyone — especially the bride — is comfortable with this concept.
What about guests giving money?
Some guests do give a check or a gift certificate as a wedding shower gift, and that's certainly perfectly acceptable — sometimes even preferred. Never ask for money, but you can drop a subtle hint that you could use money to pay for wedding or honeymoon expenses.
