Well, I'm still here. I survived the weekend, and I still have all my hair! I will admit that I am exhausted and I was late for work this morning because I'm just so exhausted.
However, the bridal shower went off perfectly, everything was amazing, and my sister was super happy with everything. I did manage to finish cleaning, and make and do everything before people showed up, and everyone was completely impressed with everything I did.
Every time someone walked in, they apologized for not dressing up. I was dressed to the nines, with an original 1950's housedress, my hair curled and my makeup done. Although I wasn't actually the
only one dressed up. I have a friend who loves vintage as much as I do, and although she's never met my sister, I invited her, and she was thrilled to dress up and come! So the two of us were very housewife-y, as was the house and party.
I spent awhile collecting vintage melamine dishes, real napkins, napkin rings, vintage flatware, and some old wooden spoons, which you can see here. I had a million napkins, which went hardly used, although I loved having the old dishes and flatware, because I wasn't worried if anything broke, or even worried about washing it after. I planned to throw most of it out right after the party. You can also see some of my
World War II era posters above the table, and a couple of dishes, because a few people had shown up before I got these photos in.
The doorway between my dining room and living room had some lovely bunting that spelled out my sister's name.
The only thing I didn't spend a ton of time on - my little
bride and groom clothespins which I reused my sister-in-law's shower a month ago. (Also, funny timing on this one, but on Saturday, that post was featured on another blog,
Pinstrosity.) I had these on a small vintage table and doily right by the door.
My main dining table, which didn't come close to seating everybody, but was set with 12 tea cups, each with a Werther's and Riesen candy inside.
I had this cute little game set up - there were six little bowls with a different spice in each one, and people had to smell them and guess what each spice was.
I made up a bunch of little printables for the games. There was, of course, a little square with six number and some picture of spices for the spice game, and another little square to fill in advice for the bride (the guests don't write their name, and the bride has to guess who said what) and then some blank bridal bingo cards. Before opening presents, each guest fills in what they think the bride will receive, and then as she opens presents, they mark off and compete to get a bingo. I like this game because it keeps the guests entertained while the bride is opening presents.
As for the potluck aspect, there was quite a bit of food that people brought, and it all looked delicious. A few people specifically cooked with me in mind - there was a gluten-free soup, and a cheese ball with gluten-free crackers - and then a couple other dishes I could eat like devilled eggs, fruit, veggies, taco salad and my chocolate covered strawberries & raspberries.
For the prizes for the games, I found some pink and blue oven mitts and some wooden spoons at the dollar store. I put three wooden spoons of different sizes in each set of oven mitts, and then tied a bow around it (I had blue bows on pink oven mitts and pink bows on blue oven mitts). It had a vintage feel, while still being unused items, and in a very cute presentation.
Overall, everything look spectacular. A couple of details that you probably can't see... I put candies in each cup so that people would know which cup had not been used, and everyone got a little candy. I also designed and printed little place cards for each dish so everyone would know what was what and who made what. I had a binder with page protectors on hand, and as everyone handed me their recipe, I slid it into a page protector.
It went off amazingly, everyone had fun, and everyone had lots to eat. I love bridal showers, and I'm excited to go to the next couple that I don't have to host. Yay!
