A Kitchen-Themed Bridal Shower

My brother, Nick, is getting married very soon, which means I am soon going to have a new sister-in-law! I decided to throw Kristin a kitchen-themed shower after ordering a fabulous custom made apron for her gift. This was my first time hosting a bridal shower, or any shower for that matter, so I really wanted to make it count. My mom and I hosted this party together, but she told me to go ahead and come up with whatever theme I wanted. I love having parties with a theme, and this one that I "cooked up" was a lot of fun! The color scheme originated from the colors in Nick and Kristin's kitchen.

Invitations:

{I made these fun apron shaped invitations.}

Decorations:

{I also made this nifty Kitchen Towel Cake.}

{Wooden spoons in a canning jar make a charming "bouquet." Add a bow and voila you have a simple and affordable table decoration! Tip: You can buy wooden spoons in packs of four at Dollar Tree and Walmart.}

{More canning jar decor: I filled these with dry split peas and lima beans, added candles and bows, and hot glued some paper flowers on a couple of the ribbons. Easy, inexpensive, and super cute; I loved them so much, I kept them in my windowsill!}

{My mom sets a pretty table! She took care of the food, too.}

Games/Activities:

Chef's Apron Game

{Like it? Get your own at so sarah designs!}

I used this apron for a gift and as part of a game by pinning on several kitchen utensils/items including: 
1) wooden spoon, 2) toothpick, 3) cookie cutter, 4) silicone spatula, 5) offset spatula, 6) wire whisk, 7) tongs, 8) measuring spoon, 9) vegetable peeler, 10) scrubber/sponge. Some of these I had purchased to include with the gift since I wasn't sure how many items I would need to make the kitchen towel cake. The rest I borrowed from my own kitchen drawers. Here is how you play: Have the bride-to-be walk around in front of the guests wearing an apron covered with kitchen items. Don't tell her why and definitely don't say anything to the guests! After about 2-3 minutes, remove the apron and tell the guests that they need to write down as many items as they remember. The winner at our shower remembered 8, which I thought was impressive. My mom had some small gift items for the winners to choose from.

What's Cooking? Challenge
For this game, I wrote down 10 of my favorite recipes that I wanted to share with Kristin. Then, I read the ingredients to the party guests one by one. The first person to guess the name of the recipe received 1 point. The person with the most points at the end is the winner, although we had a three-way tie. All of the recipes were added to a small photo album that I decorated to be used as a recipe book for Kristin.

Name the Ingredient
Gather some white powder cooking or baking ingredients from your pantry. Put a small amount of each into clear containers such as Glad lidded containers (what I used) or baby food jars. I used 1) baking soda, 2) sugar, 3) flour, 4) powdered sugar, 5) baking powder, and 6) salt, but you could also use cream of tartar, vanilla pudding, evaporated milk, etc. Label each container with a number only, but make sure to keep a list for yourself. To play the game, simply pass around the containers after telling the party guests that they contain common everyday ingredients from your kitchen. Their job is to identify them by sight only. People wanted to know if they could open them up, but I didn't want a mess, plus I figured that if they started smelling or tasting, it would be too easy! Again, the winner is the person with the most correct answers. It is trickier than you think!

A Recipe for a Happy Marriage

I forgot to save myself a copy of the recipe for a happy marriage that I wrote for Kristin and Nick, but this was a fun activity for everyone to do during the bridal shower. You can write your own as an example or just use this one that is quite popular. You can use index cards or store-bought recipe cards for this. I used the recipe cards that I designed myself with Microsoft Word. Once the guests were done with their recipes for a happy marriage, I then tucked them into the "advice" section I created for this recipe book:

{An inexpensive black photo album makes a nice little recipe book for the bride-to-be. I found this one, which holds 100 4"x6" photos, at Walmart.}

{I created several categories for recipes plus space for photos and advice. Each guest was asked to include a favorite recipe along with their gift. These were tucked into the recipe book as Kristin opened her cards and gifts.}

More Fun:

Party Favors

My mom bought some Michigan shaped cookies. (Actually, they were the lower peninsula only, but I guess that's close enough.) We tied an inexpensive cookie cutter onto each individually bagged cookie to make party favors for each guest. I found them in packages of 6 at Dollar Tree, which was an amazingly good deal! We also considered including a recipe for sugar cookies, but I have yet to find one that is just right. (If you have the perfect recipe for cut-out sugar cookies and are willing to share, please send it my way!)

Practice Bouquet

. Then we tied and taped them onto a paper plate so that Kristin will have a practice bouquet for the wedding rehearsal. We used one of the ribbons to make a looped handle so she will have something to hold onto. The curling ribbons trailed off the edge, resembling cascading flowers.

The Cake

{What's a party without some cake? My mom ordered this one from Continental Pastries.}