Jen's Bridal Shower

My sister is tying the knot this October!  As her eldest sis my Mom and I had the privilege to throw her an amazing shower, if I do say so myself ;)  We planned the shower for my parents front yard and prayed the weather would cooperate.  It did, we had brilliant blue skies and a warm breeze blowing.
I was inspired by so many blogs out there when it came to decorations for the shower.  I made a few tissue paper balls and hung them from the trees above the picnic tables. (We had wind and by the end of the shower a few of my strings had unraveled.)  I bought the twine, tissue paper and floral wire from the Dollar Tree.

I used Karen's tutorial (from Karen At Home Blog) to make the tissue paper balls.

I see felt projects daily in blogland and was inspired to create my own felt flowers.  I used a package of Styrofoam balls from the Dollar Tree as well as a few packages of felt.  First I cut the felt squares into fourths, then I pinched and gathered the felt in the middle of the square and applied a small dab of hot glue then applied to the Styrofoam ball.  This was a time consuming project but well worth the effort.  I placed the felt flowers in empty Mason jars my mom had.  I used this as the center piece for the dessert tables.

Our guests were seated among three picnic tables.  I used different shades of pink table cloths, again from the Dollar Tree.  For center pieces for the guest tables I used a gold charger from Michaels and placed pictures of the bride-to-be and family on the charger.  I spray painted dollar frames pink and gold to match the color theme.

The white "snowballs" are an awesome creation made from coffee filters!!  My cousin made these in second grade and I've had the idea in the back of my head for a long, long, time.  I used a large Styrofoam ball and pinched a coffee filter in the middle, dabbed a bit of hot glue then attached to the Styrofoam ball.  These large puffs take forever but again are worth the time!

For the present table I recycled an old picture collage that I no longer used.  I had several pictures of the bride and groom printed off at CVS (you have to love their cheap prices) and stuck them in the collage.  Jen's new last name will be Chaney so I picked up a large wooden "C" at Michaels along with a bag of moss (I used my 40% off coupon) and got to work gluing the moss on with my glue gun.  Check out Thrifty Decor Chick's tutorial.

I had tons of picture printed off of Jen and family members so at the last minute I decided to string them up!  My hubby (yes, he helped me string several things up) tied the twine around two large trees while I stole clothes pins from my mom's clothes line.  Guests loved seeing themselves with the bride-to-be!

The best part of the shower were the games.  Some at my sisters expense.  Before hand I told her we were  playing a funny game called "Pin the Veil on the Bride."  Little did she know it was actually "Pin the Panties on the Bride."  My youngest sis drew this awesome bride to be on bulletin board paper.  We covered the lovely lady parts with green leaves, hee-hee.  We made a fresh flower bouquet, courtesy of my mother's garden for the bride to hold.

Jen had the honors of getting the game started, after her turn she choose the next participant and so on.  I bought five pair of sexy, lacy, undies that Jen took home in the end.

 

Jenny with the end result!

One of my friends played a cute game at a baby shower in which guests created a baby out of Play Dough, then the mom-to-be choose her favorite.  She then but a bridal shower twist on the game and created her own version!  I bought the cute, tiny, party favor size Play Doughs along with pink paper plates and gave our guests a challenge...  Create a wedding gown that Jenny would actually like to wear, one that suites her taste!  

 The dresses turned out so cute!

Jenny with the winning dress created by our sister Katie!

We all had fun with the game Jenny/Jimmy 101.  In this game after guests heard a random fact they had to determine if that fact was about Jenny or Jimmy.  I made a game piece for each guests.  I cut standard index cards in half then glued to a craft stick.  I used sticky foam letters and spelled out Jenny on one side and Jimmy on the other.  To make the stick extra cute I punched a bell shape wedding hole in the corner of the card and tied a pretty ribbon through the hole.

Prizes were awarded to the winner of each game.  I've been on a Mason jar kick since discovering my favorite brand of salsa actually comes in a Mason jar!  I use Great Value salsa from Wal-Mart which sells for under $2.00.  I recycle all my jars so had a stock pile to choose from.  I spray painted the lids pink and gold and tied a cute ribbon around the jar.  I bought huge bags of bulk M&Ms, Skittles and gummy bears from Sams to fill up my prize jars.  One of the jars was an estimation jar full of 260 gummy bears.  Each guest put their guess in a jar and the winner which was 230, walked away with all that gummy goodness!

 

Another guest favorite was The Price is Right!  I filled a small laundry basket full of goodies for the bride-to-be.  Guests had to guess the price of each item then tally their total.  The total closet to my actual total for all the goods won. 

I put all of the extra candy to good use.  As favors I baked up yummy M&M cookies.  I stuffed favor boxes from the Dollar Tree with cookies for guests to take home.  To jazz the favor boxes up a bit I stamped a bride and groom on the side then tied the box with the coolest ribbon ever.  It says Happily Ever After.....ahhhhh.  

 

My mom and aunt slaved away in the kitchen creating delish food!  We served delicate finger sandwiches along with fruit, cheese and chips (my sister's fav!)

For dessert we created an ice-cream bar.  We mixed ice-cream and Cool Whip, then scooped it out ahead of time and froze it in in cupcake liners.  This saved us time from serving it and allowed our guests to move through the bar quicker.  For topping we used the rest of the candy from Sams, along with cherries, pineapple, bananas, chocolate chips, brownies, sprinkles and several syrup toppings. 

 We ended the party with the unwrapping of the gifts.

We had a blast!  Now for some fun photos taken during the shower.

Must concentrate on this dress!!!

Yes, my little man attended the shower!

Can I get a refill on punch girls?  Duke has been in attendance to all of our holiday, Birthday, random parties since 2004, we love this guy.

Congrats Jenny, only three more weeks until the big day!!!

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