Yesterday afternoon, I was so excited and honored to host a bridal shower for my cousin Amanda! We were born only three months apart and went all through school together, from pre-school through college. She is one of my closest friends and I am so happy for her and her fiancee, Justin. They are so cute together and I know they make each other very happy.

In elementary school, we started calling each other “cuz” {short for cousin} and the nickname has stuck!
She will always be my “cuz.”

My Gramps generously let us use his beautiful, large living room to host the shower. {Having a lot of space was a necessity, as we had more than 20 attendees!} Can you spot him peeking out in the pic below, preparing to make his escape before the twenty giggly, wedding-giddy ladies showed up? Haha.

We set enough chairs around the room so that everyone would have a place to sit, but also tried to keep the room open to encourage guests to walk around and mingle.

And we designated an area by the fireplace for guests to set down their gifts for the bride-to-be:

* decorations *

Amanda’s favorite color is pink and her wedding isn’t until June, so even though we held the shower right before Christmas, we went for a summery pink-and-white theme instead of having a Christmas-themed shower.

• Fresh flowers really brighten up a room!
• Dress up a plain tablecloth with colorful streamers and bright napkins.
• Use cups to corral forks, knives, spoons, and toothpicks.

* food *

We went with a simple veggie tray and some h’orderves. The real stand-out were the gorgeous cupcakes, made by one of my mom’s friends:

She’s a professional cake decorator; if you wanted to make homemade desserts, here are a couple of my tried-and-true recipes:
– red velvet cupcakes with coconut cream-cheese frosting
– carrot cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting

For drinks we did mimosas, red & white wine, soda and water. And of course coffee with dessert!

* games *

Amanda is a competitive person and specifically requested that we play some party games! After doing a little research for ideas, I settled upon two games: Pictionary using wedding-themed phrases, and a “Newlywed” style game to see how well Amanda could guess her fiancee’s answers to a series of questions.

Both games were a big hit, but they did require a bit of preparation. Here are the phrases we used for Pictionary:

• To Have and To Hold
• Happily Ever After
• Just Married
• I Do
• First Dance
• Bridezilla
• Father of the Bride
• Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride
• Tossing the Bouquet
• Bridal Shower
• Till Death Do Us Part
• Bachelorette Party
• Tying the Knot
• Wedding Cake
• Wedding Bells
• Going to the Chapel
• Flower Girl
• Ring Bearer
• Best Man
• Maid of Honor
• Honeymoon

The Q-&-A game was an idea I saw on the always-wonderful blog Peanut Butter Fingers. Here’s how it worked: a couple months ago, I sent a list of questions to Amanda’s fiancee to answer about her, himself and their relationship. Then I wrote out these questions and his answers out on pieces of paper and made them into a book. I used a small, inexpensive photo album and cut each piece of paper to 4×6 inches to fit perfectly in each slot. Then I decorated the pages with colorful stickers and markers.

Here is a full list of the questions I asked the groom-to-be {feel free to add or subtract to fit your needs!}

• When and where was your first kiss with the bride-to-be?
• Where was your first date with the bride-to-be?
• What do you think the bride-to-be’s favorite gift is from you?
• What is the one item the bride-to-be cannot not live without?
• What is the bride-to-be’s dream job?
• If the bride-to-be could move anywhere without having to worry about a job or family, where would it be?
• What is the bride-to-be’s most obnoxious habit?
• What is your most obnoxious habit?
• What turns the bride-to-be off the most about a man?
• What turns you off the most about a woman?
• What do you think is the bride-to-be’s favorite memory of your relationship?
• What is your favorite memory of your relationship with the bride-to-be?
• What does the bride-to-be picture when she looks into the future?
• What do you picture when you look into the future?
• What do you think the bride-to-be loves most about you?
• What do you love the most about the bride-to-be?
• What is a big dream of the bride-to-be’s?
• What is a big dream of yours?
• What is one thing the bride-to-be will never forget that you did for/said to her?
• When does the bride-to-be want to have kids?
• How many kids does the bride-to-be want to have?
• How many kids do you want to have?
• If the bride-to-be were an animal, what type of animal would she be and why?
• If you were an animal, what type of animal would you be and why?

To make it into a game, we asked every attendee to guess the number of questions Amanda would get right. Then we passed the book around the room, taking turns reading out questions and keeping track of how many of Justin’s answers Amanda guessed right. The trick, of course, is that the “right” answer wasn’t always what was true for her, but what Justin thought was true for her. She had to try to think like him, which is the fun part! This game certainly evoked lots of laughter. After we made it through the entire book, we tallied up the number of correct answers and the two attendees with the closest guesses won prizes.

* party favors *

We found these cute scented candles and thought they would make the perfect party favors! To make them festive and pink, we just wrapped them in a sheet of tissue paper {folded in half} and tied with ribbon.

Here they are all lined up and ready to go for the party!

The bridal shower was a blast and I think Amanda had a really fun time! I snapped pictures throughout the afternoon that I’m going to print up and slip into a pink photo album for Amanda as a little post-shower gift, so she can look back and remember the day!

It was a simple, successful shower! Have any of you hosted a bridal shower before? What are your favorite party-hosting tips or shower games?

* This post is linked up at Fine Linen & Purple!