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Open House Style Bridal Shower

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stephbolt

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Hi ladies, I am usually over at LIW, but I''m planning a bridal shower for a dear friend currently and I wanted to get some feedback from you all. She and her mother, at my request, put together a list for her shower, and it came in at 55 people! That is a ton of people to plan a party for, especially finding space for all of them (would probably have to rent somewhere), and I''m doing this from 6 hours away and on a grad school budget.

So my question is, how would you feel if you were invited to a bridal shower that was more of an open house, where people could come and go as they pleased within a 4-5 hour time frame rather than a a more organized shorter time period. As I see it, pros to this would be that it would spread out the guests more (I figure no more than 30ish at a time) and allow me to throw the shower at the bride''s family''s house. Cons would be that there wouldn''t be the "open presents in front of everyone" part of the party - the bride would open presents in front of the giver as they arrived, and it would also be difficult to plan games and other activities since people would be coming and going.

I would welcome any feedback on both how you would feel about attending a shower like this, and any additional logistical problems that I''m not considering - I need to get planning on this, as it will probably be late May to early June. Oh and very importantly, the bride and her mother are totally on board with this idea, but both of us are concerned about what other peoples'' reactions will be. Thanks everyone!
 

Cleopatra

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I had a shower like this and so did most of my friends. I enjoy showers like this for these reasons:

- I''m going TO GIVE a gift for the bride - I''m not too keen on the cutesy games that are sometimes planned at regular showers...
- Mingling is encouraged - at regular showers, you sit around and watch the bride open each and every gift - in an "Open House" style shower, once the gift is given, you can mingle and chat with whomever you choose, you can leave if you prefer, or stick around until the very end - it''s up to you and no one notices either way.
 

Clairitek

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Jul 21, 2008
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I think the open house style is a great idea and will make things a big easier for you on the planning end. Not to mention it could save you some money and will allow you to avoid renting out a restaurant. I agree that it will also increase mingling and such instead of putting everyone in a more structured setting.
 

elrohwen

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I, personally, would love a shower like that. The potential problems I see are:
- the bride (or her mom) might not like this type of shower
- the guests might all show up at the beginning, assuming they need to be there the whole time

If your friend likes it, and you can word the invitation to convey what type of party it is, I think it would be great! Some people like opening the presents and playing the games, but I think more and more girls would rather skip those traditional parts of showers and just have people over to mingle.

 

Haven

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If the bride is on board, then I say go for it. Who cares if a guest won''t like it? It''s not their party, after all.

I''m wondering if you gave this bride and her mother a max amount of guests when you requested a guest list? 55 people is alot of people, and I''m surprised that they gave you such a big list. When I was asked for lists, it went like this:
"We''d love to throw you a shower for 25 to 40 people. Could you provide a guest list with addresses and phone numbers, please?"
 

mrscushion

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That sounds like a pretty cool bridal shower to me...
 

stephbolt

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Thanks for all the replies everyone! I''m glad to know people don''t find this idea unusual and have even had or attended showers like this. The bride has said she especially likes that she will not be the center of attention. I''m hoping to find a way to word the invite to indicate that people can come and go within the time frame like elrohwen suggested- any ideas?

Haven, I never even thought to give a suggested number of guests for the shower! The bride has a large family and also was very involved in her hometown church for many years, so a lot of her "church family" will be attending. If I every plan any other showers I will be sure to give a suggested head count in advance.
 

teapot

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Jan 5, 2009
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We did this. It worked out great. People showed up at noon and didn''t leave to after midnight. We didn''t play any games, we just ate, drank and partied.
 

Cleopatra

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We worded our invites along this line -

"please visit any time between the hours of 2 and 4 in the afternoon"

people understood that they could come whenever they wanted by that phrase...
 

ponder

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Where I am from (the south), these are fairly common. They are actually very traditional and are comming back in popularity. The are called "Come and Go" showers. If you dont think many of your guests will be familiar with this an short explaination on the invite like Cleopatra stated will clue them in.
 

honey22

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Jul 28, 2007
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I think it sounds much better than the traditional ''open gifts and play games'' type. People are more relaxed and no-one has to worry about keeping to a schedule or feel pressured to participate in things they don''t want to. Sounds perfect.
 
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