I hosted a wedding shower this past Friday, and it went really well. It was hectic because my sister (the bride) had to change the bridesmaids get together from Thursday night to Friday morning at 10:30, and the shower was already scheduled for 12:30. But I made most of the food ahead of time and had out-of-town guests who were staying with me prepare some of the food while I was at the bridesmaids breakfast, and it turned out great. I thought I'd share my menu and games in case any of you were planning something similar.
I made a lot of the food ahead of time and froze it. I made 8 dozen mini muffins (blueberry and apple spice), chocolate cookies, spritz cookies that I sandwiched together with strawberry filling, and cream cheese meltaway mints about 2 weeks before the event. They were all in the freezer, and I took them out the morning of the shower.
The night before the shower, I made fruit salad, broccoli salad, filling for chicken salad sandwiches, spinach dip, and I assembled a breakfast casserole. I'll post the recipes for the salads and casserole separately because they turned out really well. Then while I was at the breakfast, my guests prepared finger sandwiches with the chicken salad, hollowed out a round loaf of bread for the spinach dip, and put the casserole in the oven. I picked up a veggie tray for the dip and a cake from the grocery store on the way back from the bridesmaids breakfast.
The food was great, but it was the games that really made it a blast. For the first game, I had set out all of the ingredients for a chocolate cake, plus 2 extras. My sister had to guess which ones to use and how much, then we put her concoction in the oven. It actually turned out to be palatable but very heavy.
For the second game, I divided everyone into 2 teams, and each team designed a wedding gown with white tissue paper, tulle, ribbon, white floral sprays, tape, and staples. They had matching bags with supplies and were only allowed to use what was in them, so when they ran out of tape, they had to use staples. One team actually designed a very pretty dress.
The last thing we did was pass around 8 baggies with different spices and cooking ingredients and have everyone guess what they were. That was a lot of fun. One of them was tapioca, but the guests insisted it was cocaine!
We also wrote down my sis's reactions to her gifts and read them out loud as what she would say on her wedding night. Some of them were really good, like "I told my mom I wanted this" and "This is just the right size and the right color." I was laughing so hard I was crying while I read them.
I made a lot of the food ahead of time and froze it. I made 8 dozen mini muffins (blueberry and apple spice), chocolate cookies, spritz cookies that I sandwiched together with strawberry filling, and cream cheese meltaway mints about 2 weeks before the event. They were all in the freezer, and I took them out the morning of the shower.
The night before the shower, I made fruit salad, broccoli salad, filling for chicken salad sandwiches, spinach dip, and I assembled a breakfast casserole. I'll post the recipes for the salads and casserole separately because they turned out really well. Then while I was at the breakfast, my guests prepared finger sandwiches with the chicken salad, hollowed out a round loaf of bread for the spinach dip, and put the casserole in the oven. I picked up a veggie tray for the dip and a cake from the grocery store on the way back from the bridesmaids breakfast.
The food was great, but it was the games that really made it a blast. For the first game, I had set out all of the ingredients for a chocolate cake, plus 2 extras. My sister had to guess which ones to use and how much, then we put her concoction in the oven. It actually turned out to be palatable but very heavy.
For the second game, I divided everyone into 2 teams, and each team designed a wedding gown with white tissue paper, tulle, ribbon, white floral sprays, tape, and staples. They had matching bags with supplies and were only allowed to use what was in them, so when they ran out of tape, they had to use staples. One team actually designed a very pretty dress.
The last thing we did was pass around 8 baggies with different spices and cooking ingredients and have everyone guess what they were. That was a lot of fun. One of them was tapioca, but the guests insisted it was cocaine!
We also wrote down my sis's reactions to her gifts and read them out loud as what she would say on her wedding night. Some of them were really good, like "I told my mom I wanted this" and "This is just the right size and the right color." I was laughing so hard I was crying while I read them.
