Bridal Shower Part 3: Fun and Games

So you're planning a bridal shower.  You've got your venue, you've got your food, your drinks, your decorations and your favors.  Obviously you're going to eat and open presents but how are you going to keep your guests amused for the rest of the time.  Also, at this point, shower guests expect something -- some kind of activity, contest or drawing.  

Personally, I'm not a fan of traditional shower games.  This is probably the main reason why I planned my own shower.  When I go to showers, I don't want to make wedding dresses out of toilet paper, I don't want to have to think and do a word scramble and I definitely don't want to do math to figure out how many minutes there are until the wedding.  That being said, I wanted to make sure that my shower games were relaxed and simple.

As you recall from my last post, there were white envelopes and pens on the tables.  The envelopes were from the Thank You cards that I would soon be writing.  (Since it was such a hot and sticky day, some of the envelopes became stuck shut and I had to steam them open to put the thank you card in).  Each person at the shower wrote their mailing address on the envelope and then put it in a basket.  During cake, I drew three envelopes.  The first two winners got small collage frames with $20 Shutterfly gift cards.  The gift cards came with dress orders from David's Bridal and I ordered a couple of collage frames from Amazon.com.  

The third winner received a Movie Night Popcorn Bucket filled with popcorn, candy and three DVDs.  I picked Jane Austen classics: Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma.  I was going to add a bottle of wine, but I had that bucked packed with snacks.  There were red vines, snow caps, bunch a crunch and more.  Most of the items I picked up at the Dollar Tree except for the movies.

My bench filled with all the goodies as well as a notebook for writing down who gave what gifts and the baskets to put things in.

The last set of prizes were scented hand soaps from Kohl's.  They were mainly purchased with coupons and $10 Kohl's Cash so that they were essentially free.  The little lady bug in the basket with the soaps is an egg timer.  As my fiance and I opened presents, we'd set the egg timer and whoever's present we were on when the timer went off would get a soap.  A good amount a time to set the timer is about 1 minute and 30 seconds to 2 minutes, but it really depends on how many gifts/ people you have.  I bought 12 hand soaps for 35 people.  The egg timer was cute but it wasn't working.  At a certain point, we had to use the timer on a phone because the timer wouldn't go off.  So I suggest just using someone's phone to begin with.

In between lunch and opening presents, we had an activity for the shower guests to do if they so chose.  We cut 8" quilt squares out of three different colors of fabric (we also bought coordinating fabric for the back of the quilt).  Then we paper clipped wax paper to the back of  the quilt squares so that the fabric paint or markers would not bleed through onto the table.  We bought paint markers and puff paint as well as rubber stamps and stencils for those who weren't artistically inclined and placed them all in baskets on a table where everyone could decorate them.  We also included, paper plates, small sponge brushes and Lysol wipes to make things easier on them.

Everyone seemed to have a good time decorating although, if you choose to do this activity, be sure to tell your shower guest to leave at least a 1/4" seam allowance.  Once of my bridesmaids who couldn't make it to the shower and her wife are going to assemble the squares for me.  I also saved a 16"x16" square in one of the colors to put my new last initial on.  It will be the center of the quilt.

 They take a few days to dry and anything in paint marker needs to be set with an iron after it dries.  Also, not everyone wants to decorate a square so my artistically inclined sister decorated some additional ones so we'd have a good amount on the quilt.

You may be wondering about the potted plants we used as centerpieces that I talked about in last week's post.  We used those as prizes as well.  There was one at each table so whoever had been in the longest relationship at each table got to take the centerpiece home.  Any leftover plants went to whoever wanted them.

And that was the end of the shower.  I kept the tablecloths and whatever was left of the plates and napkins to use for my rehearsal dinner.  Despite the hot stickiness and the rain, it was a good day and we had a lot of fun.  I hope these post help you with your shower ideas.

DIY Children's Craft Smock

So my hours were cut at work and I've found myself with a little extra time on my hands.  With this time I've done things like go to the dentist and work on my wedding.  My parents live about 20 miles away and consequently my dentist is still by their house because I never changed dentists after I moved out.  Also, my maid of honor is my sister who lives with my parents so needless to say, I've been spending a lot of time at my parents' house lately.  My parents also watch my nephews once a week.  One is three and the other is six months old.  Since I've been spending more time with them, I've decided to do a few crafts with the three year old.

One craft I decided to do is to dye white school glue with food coloring and use it to color on dollar store picture frames creating a stained glass effect.  I did realize that this could possibly become a mess when in the hands of a three year old and he could potentially get dyed glue all over his clothes.  I then took it upon myself to make him a smock to protect his clothes.

I started with an old t-shirt my mom had given me.  She had won it in a casino on a cruise.  Then I cut off the side seem and sleeves on each side.

Save this because you'll need part of it later

This is actually the back side of the shirt

Once you cut the sleeves out, you can put a design on the front of your smock if you'd like.  I chose "Chicks Dig Me cuz I'm Crafty" with a chick on it because I can draw a decent chick and it was for my nephew.

Next, cut two 1/2 inch sized slits about a quarter from the top and half way from the top on each side of the shirt on the front and back of the shirt.  The slits should be about 1/2 inch from the edge of the smock.  These will be the holes that you tie the straps to.

I actually held the front and back together and cut them at the same time.

Take the sleeve pieces and side seems that you cut off of the original t shirt and cut the sleeve section off.  Fold the remaining section in half vertically and cut it into 4 strips long-wise.  Do this for both side seem/ sleeve sections so that you have 8 strips of fabric.

Once you have your 8 strips, pull on them so that they curl up and make a thinner strings like so

Feed the string through one of the holes you cut on the side of your smock and knot it.  Do this for each one of the holes on the side of your smock. Be sure to at least double knot it so it stays.

Now all you have to do is slip the neck opening over the child's head and tie the strings on either side in bows so that it stays on.

This was a size medium and it went down to my three year old nephew's ankles.  This didn't cover his sleeves and even though he was wearing a short sleeved t-shirt, he managed to get glue on them and we had to wipe them down right away to avoid staining.  Nevertheless, it did keep his front  clear of glue so I'd say it was a success.