When Emma was planning to marry she didn’t want a bridal shower. She had only ever been to showers that were in her words “skanky” and “embarrassing beyond words”. Well that’s not who we are and I know that if I turned the party over to her sisters, sisters in law and aunt that those words would not come up or even be spoken.

The other problem in that most people are so accustomed to bad shower games and icky presents that it’s hard to get people to attend, especially if you’re inviting people from the ages of 18 to 70 something. But this shower turned out to be quite lovely!

First ingredient must be food, good food makes people very happy. Our family has a reputation for having great food at parties! Miniature sugar cookie bowls were made and filled with all the goodies you would pile onto a fruit pizza, Chicken crescents, veggies, dips, chips, cheesballs, lots of goodies! We all pitched in to help with the food and it was yummy.

Second, who said games at a bridal shower have to be corny or dumb? The girls really did a good job coming up with activities that could be enjoyed by a wide range of people. There were bride and groom sugar cookies to be decorated and judged by the bride for prizes. There was a wide range of candy bars to be turned into stories or advise or whatever and then read and judged by the bride. I have to say that one really brought out some talent, especially by our local drama teacher! There was a game of bridal word searches and “don’t say it” and then of course everyone needed to write some sage advise in Emma’s scrapbook.

Third, it was decided that the theme would be rooms of the house and each guest was assigned to bring a gift to be used in the room they were assigned. This was a great way to help furnish Emma’s new home and the gifts were quite inventive and fun. This also prevented any embarrassing or inappropriate gifts, and that relieved Emma’s mind! It was an excellent party and Emma loved every minute of it. She told me later that she didn’t expect to have fun, but she had a blast! Once again the room was full of people who loved her and laughter and stories and that is truly what makes the best parties.

Now of course the party ends at some point so it’s important to give you some clean up tips, and these are the cutest clean up girls I could find, Brooke and Cecily helped aunt Kim frost the rest of the cookies and find a convenient mouth to store them in. The little sisters, Aleena and Natalie helped clean the floor.