Amy loves vintage. Really loves it. So I attempted to use decorations that were mostly vintage, and also very Amy. I think we were pretty successful.
Megan, as the Game Master, put together some great games, including Housewife Olympics, Memory Lane, and the NearlyWed Game. Housewife Olympics consisted of 3 contestants putting on an apron, then oven mitts, and then pantyhose while wearing the oven mitts. When guests arrived, we had each person write down a unique memory they had of Amy. Amy then had to guess who each memory was from. The best game was the NearlyWed Game. Megan wrote 10 questions about Amy and/or Amy and Steve. Things like how they met, or what kind of animal Amy would be if she could choose First we went to the groom-to-be and recorded his answers. He was game for it, and gave great, interesting answers. When it was time to play, we had Amy pull a question out of a little jar, and read it. Then she would answer it, and then we would play Steve's answer. They were often the same, but sometimes completely off, but each answer was either touching or humorous, regardless of right or wrong.
The food was great. Megan made her famous dill dip in a relish tray. Lisa brought delicious cupcakes, and Karen provided some food to go with the chocolate fondue.
But the decorations were the best. Everyone helped me make them. Everything I chose was something that I thought Amy would love.
Here are some photos from the shower. Best of luck to Steve and Amy!
Since the event was held at a clubhouse in a gated community, we wanted people to know they were in the right place. These pom-poms are from Oriental Trading, but were really just supplies. Megan, Lisa and Karen put them together. We also hung a couple of them from the ceiling inside. I'll be honest. They were a pain. They rip easily and are impossible to make look perfect. But they were cute enough, and very Amy.
When I was a kid I always imagined Bride and Groom clothespins to be two people kissing, so when I saw this as an idea on Pinterest, I immediately repinned it as an idea for a bridal shower that I knew would be in my future.
These banners are very popular right now, and I knew Amy liked them since I gave her access to pin things to my Bridal Shower Pinterest board when she got engaged. Looking through a couple of Cricut cartridges, I found some pieces to put together. I won't lie-this took a long time. Bur with Karen's help I was able to complete it, and it turned out beautiful. I chose "Here Comes the Bride," but "Bride To Be" or simply "Bride" would also have been lovely, and a lot less time consuming.
Here is the bride standing under the "Bride" section of the banner.
Candy bars or buffets are also very popular right now, but I wasn't sure where to start. I looked up a couple things, and found that 1/4-1/2 cup per person is about right. But having no idea how that translated to the pounds I would be buying, I made a guess and bought 8 pounds. We ended up with a TON leftover, and I think that's due to the amount of sweets we had elsewhere. Not a lot of people take candy when chocolate fondue is available, I think. But the real tricks were making it look nice. I hit a couple thrift stores, went through the house for glass, and finally went to Michael's during a 40% off glass sale. That was the jackpot. Glass can be expensive. I also have several large candle holders that I could've painted and used as pedestals to give it a little more variety, but I think it turned out pretty nice. RetailMeNot lead me to Candy Galaxy, a very reasonably priced candy website, where you can sort candy by color, which was exactly what I needed. I chose mostly pink and brown to go with the vintage theme, and pina colada sour balls (delicious) because they were a pretty pearl, and a favorite flavor of Amy's. I got a coupon from RetailMeNot, and their customer service was exemplary.
Here is a photo of part of the food table. You see the white powdered donuts, here. We got toothpicks, and cut diamonds with the cricut, which were taped to one end of the toothpicks, so that the donuts look like engagemtn rings. We used a chocolate fountain from Oriental Trading and Megan made fondue with simply chocolate chips and oil. We had the usual, marshmallows, pretzels, strawberries, etc., but also raspberry brownie bites, and coconut to roll the chocolate in. We also provided cupcakes, a relish tray, water, strawberry-lime water, and strawberry lemonade. One thing I would change if I were to do it again, is more savory options, and maybe even a little more healthy.
This was one of my favorite things. It doesn't show in this photo, but I cut about 50 tags with my cricut in a beige color. On one side I stamped, in brown, something vintage-y, a little design, key, or crown. On the other side, guests signed in. I used a 40% off coupon to get the tree (a jewelry holder) from Michaels.
I ordered these little jars from Big Dot of Happiness, a fantastic resource for party planning, especially showers. The plates and napkins are also from them. These jars were $.99 a piece, and I ordered ten, without really having a plan for them. We decided to just make them cute, and put the Amy/Steve questions in them. Megan lovingly wrapped them in burlap and lace from Michaels. We fell in love with them. We found that they can also kind of balance a tea light at the top of it, for an outside, evening event.
This is one of the tables. I basically just gathered a bunch of stuff that I thought would work as sort of center pieces. A lot of this was from our local Party City. The glass diamonds, in clear and black, tulle flowers and butterflies in black and white. Paper doilies and bridal dress favor boxes from the local dollar store (ten for a buck!), and the clothespin bride and groom. Again, plates and napkins from Big Dot, plastic silver-colored forks (unused due to the nature of our refreshments), from Party City, and matchbox notebooks from Oriental Trading.
Here are the girls (Megan in the background helping a late guest with Memory Lana), and the rest of us trying to enjoy the shower while simultaneously making sure everyone was having a good time.
Next up, Karen's Baby Shower. This time I'm the aunt.
Photo credit to Melissa Linford. She did a beautiful job.
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