Samantha's Bridal Shower

I absolutely love party planning!

It is so fun for me to sit down and plan everything out, but it is even more fun for me to spend hours to myself setting up all the decor.

Hunter just lets me be and watches Oaks because he says I'm in my element ;)

This particular party I'm sharing today was very near and dear to me!

One of my good friends is getting married in June!

I called dibs on planning a shower for her in Utah the second she texted me and told me she was engaged. 

I knew it would be smaller, but I still wanted it to be extra special for her and some fun time with girlfriends before the big day!

I've thrown a baby shower, a birthday party, holiday parties, and a few other miscellaneous ones but this was surprisingly my first bridal shower!

I got a lot of snapchat questions asking where I purchased some of the decor and if I made it... so I figured I'd just answer all that here!

I'll also be sharing a few tips I've learned to keep things budget friendly :) 

When planning out a party, the first thing I do is pick a color scheme.

It makes it so much easier to plan everything out when you have a color scheme in your head to go off of.

Then I plan by tables to keep myself organized.
I'll figure out which "stations" I want and go from there as far as tablescape and backdrop goes.

For this particular shower I wanted a gift table, a photobooth, food table, drink table, and a little something near the seating.

When planning backdrops I pull out what I already have and try to reuse some decorations in different ways to save money.

I used quite a few of Oaklyn's party decorations because I just love the pink and gold but I also threw in some mint and teal!

I wanted the gift table to be the first thing people saw when they walked in.

There wasn't really a good wall for the table so I just did some floating garlands.

I made the gift banner using lots of scrapbook paper and twine, the pink and white one is just two streamers sewed together, and the other one is just squares cutout of mint and teal poster board from Hobby Lobby and hot glued on to twine!

I actually totally loved how it turned out!

I added a lingerie raffle because let's be honest here, that's what every bride is hoping they'll get!

I also added a pennant banner to the front of the table for a little extra decoration.

To the right of the gift table was a photobooth!

I absolutely love when parties have a DIY photobooth because it gives an excuse to take photos ;)

I just set up a sheet and tacked these cute pinwheels to the wall! ( Go here if you want to learn how to make them)

All of the photo props have lasted through a few different parties now and they were purchased from hobby lobby in the party section.

It's an "unsaid" fact that everyone goes to parties for the food... So make sure your spread is tasty!

My tips here are, make sure there is something for every tastebud.

I went with muffins, coffee cake, donuts, Chicago Mix (if you haven't tried this, run to Costco and get it!), Quiche, fruit, and my favorite sweet kale salad from Costco.

A way to make the food table budget friendly is by asking some friends to help out.

I for one like to plan and decorate (depending on the size of the party) by myself because it's just fun for me, but the food is what can get out of hand!

You can ask a few friends that want to be involved to bring something specific and use your own dishes you like. 

A fun way to jazz up any table is by adding a colored plastic tablecloth as a runner!

It adds a pop of color and is still very much budget friendly.

I also added some fabric squares I got at Wal Mart for $1.

You can also add a garland or banner hanging from the front. 

To set up the food, work on having varying heights.

It appeals to the eye much more than just a few different plates set up.

Add some cake stands, apothecary jars, or stick a few shoe boxes under the table cloth to raise the plates.

I made my cake stands with candle sticks and plates from a thrift store. 

They only costed about $2 a piece! Score!

On the wall behind the food table I just added a few of the leftover mini pinwheels.

The other thing I recommend is snatching little bins whenever you find them for cheap!

I love looking in the Target Dollar Section and finding cheap and cute little bins to display utensils.

The drink table was much bigger than I originally wanted but our clubhouse only had long rectangular tables so you just work with what you got!

The backdrop for this was made with a gold pennant banner from My Paper Crush and the felt ball garland was made out of felt balls and twine from Pebbles in My Pocket.

The drinks sign was just cut out of poster board and would have been done much better if I didn't think of it so last minute... ha! Oh well...

We had lemonade and water in pitchers.

A little tip to dress up any drink, add some fresh fruit slices to the dispenser!

The clear cups are from the dollar store and the chalkboard labels are from Michael's.

Yes I did put on every single label... it saved me money!

Another little tip, save up paper straws!

I have so many in all different colors stored away that I don't think I'll ever have to buy them again, ha!

The Dollar section frequently has them!

Another thing I love doing is taking things from my house that I already have and using them as decor.

The chalkboard is usually in our bedroom but I wanted that saying at the shower and the chalkboard displayed it perfectly!

The chickenwire photo hanger is in our kitchen and I use it to hang invites, announcements, and Christmas cards. 

I also added some mini mint tissue poms around the table.

The little extra pop of decor I added near the seating area was just a burlap banner I found in the dollar section and I painted the "Ms. to Mrs" on it.

Behind that was the super simple square garland also at the gift table.

I'm a fan of having one or two simple games at showers because it helps break the awkward silence and helps the guests get to know each other a little better.

When everyone was close to finished eating, I passed around the "Pass the Love Story Game" paper and it ended up being pretty cute!

It started at the person to the left of the bride and they wrote down whatever sentence they wanted to make up their love story.

That person then folded over what she wrote so the person next to her didn't see what she wrote and we kept passing and writing sentences until it got to the bride.

She then read the love story we created for her and it was super cute!

We also did the "What's in your purse game" because it is so fun to see people get into it!

After that we did the newlywed game and the bride literally got every single answer correct!

I just love that game!

We finished with opening gifts, chatting about marriage, and taking photos.

If you want the printout of the two games click here for the purse game, and here for the love story game :)

I hope this answered some questions and sparked some creativity!

Let me know if you have any more questions :)

Thank you all so much for reading!

All my love,

Aleigh Joy