If you’ve been tasked with organizing a bridal shower, your initial emotion might be somewhere between panic and dread.

Don’t worry—at least you’re not the one marrying the guy! Ha!

But seriously, relax. Planning a bridal shower for your best friend or close family member isn’t anywhere near as difficult as you might expect. In fact, it can be a lot of fun.

We here at Confetti Couture are going to have your back throughout the whole process, and that’s why in today’s post I want to share with you some fun ideas, the most common pitfalls you need to avoid, and how you can make the bride-to-be feel like a queen on her special day.

Let’s dig in by quickly discussing a method that will take a lot of tension and confusion out of the planning for you and the woman of the hour:

How to Give The Bride-to-Be What She Wants Without Making Her Do All The Work

As the planner for the bridal shower, you’ve been tasked with a sacred duty… to take some of the stress out of life for the bride-to-be.

Her days are likely to be filled with planning the wedding itself, and if you’ve been married, you know exactly what that’s like. (Something along the lines of “No! For the love of everything holy, don’t seat uncle Jimmy next to cousin Freida! It’ll be a bloodbath!”).

But what if your friend is a little particular about their preferences, or you just want to make sure you don’t disappoint them?

After agreeing to plan the bridal shower, you’re going to set a ground rule with the bride-to-be: unless she explicitly tells you how she wants a certain element of the party to be (decorations, for example), then you’re going to do it for her.

For many women, this will actually come as a great relief. Instead of answering texts from you all day long asking questions ranging from the music selection to the color of the napkins, she can simply trust you to handle it for her. However, if she does have a preference about something, all she has to do is tell you what she wants. Simple.

Now that we’ve covered that important step, let’s take a look at the kinds of activities you might want to make available at the shower:

Why Party Games at a Bridal Shower Aren’t Just “Filler” – They’re Important Tools For Socialization (Yes, Really)

So… I’ll be the first to acknowledge that “important tools for socialization” is not the kind of sentence you think of when you’re thinking about ways to have fun at a bridal shower. But it’s true!

Party games have a lot of emotional and social benefits. Think back to a time in your life where you were at a party or an event. Maybe you didn’t know many of the people there, or maybe you were just having an off day—how did you feel?

If you’re like most people, you probably felt at least a little uncomfortable as you stood there sort of awkwardly holding a drink and looking for someone, anyone to save you from the embarrassment (real or imagined).

I think everyone has had an experience like that in their life. Here’s the thing: it probably could have been avoided if your host had been gracious enough to provide their guests with a party game!

Party games are a universal icebreaker. Anyone feeling social tension can find relief in them. If you’re feeling a bit out-of-place and don’t know what to talk about, you can always lean on the party game. Even if you feel like you know all of the guests at your bridal shower really well, I’ll just say this on behalf of awkward people everywhere: please include a party game!

The easiest way to do it is with one of Confetti Couture’s party game sheets (here’s a link to our second variety).

Ultra-affordable, flexible, and fun—our sheets give you the opportunity to play up to ten different games, like scavenger hunts, guessing games, charades, emoji clues, and many more. Clean or dirty? Well, that’s up to you and the rest of your guests! Each order includes enough sheets for up to 24 guests and includes free Prime shipping on Amazon.

Appetizers & Decorations: Less is More

Let’s take a quick moment and acknowledge the fact that you’re putting on a bridal shower, not a luncheon buffet. Your menu doesn’t need to be extensive—just a few treats, finger-foods, and a couple of your favorite wines. This will save tremendously on both costs and cleanup time, and will give the guests time to mingle instead of busying themselves with stuffing their collective faces.

You can take the same approach with decorations. Find out what the color scheme the bride-to-be likes the most (or pick one yourself, like we talked about earlier) and run with it—a few balloons, streamers, table settings, and fresh flowers is all it takes to transform a regular old living room or event hall into an elegant and fun party space.

If you want to go the extra mile, make sure the appetizers are presented nicely as well. For example, if you’re serving cupcakes, put them in some of our adorable cupcake wrappers.

Put the Spotlight on the Bride to Be

Your key focus throughout the planning process is that the bride-to-be is the key focus of the event. Think about seating arrangements and make it so that she’s the center, place pictures of her and her partner in strategic locations, serve appetizers that she likes, and overall do your best to make the day about her—she’ll love you for it.

If you’re looking for party favor boxes, cupcake wrappers, or awesome party games, then remember that we’ve already done the work for you here at Confetti Couture. Check out our Amazon store or get in touch with us on Facebook if you have any questions. Good luck and have fun!