Pink, White and Black Bridal Shower

My cute little sister is getting married in a week. My mom, sisters and I threw her a bridal shower last week. We decided we would go with the theme of pink, white and black with stripes and polka dots for the pattern. I designed these invitations using Photoshop. The shower was held at my mom's house.

This was the back of the invitation.

DECORATIONS: For the decorations I made pom pom garland (tutorial coming soon) and we clothes pinned some of their engagement pictures above it. It was fun for everyone to see some of the pictures that they didn't pick for the invitation.
I made tissue paper balls in polka dots to hang above the light. I think a lot of the ideas that have always had tucked away in case I ever got to plan a girl party were used on this little gathering.

When people came in we had a little table for them to write Michelle a note, memory or give her some advice.
It is always good to hear what other people think is important in marriage.
I love bunting. I had to find an excuse to use it!
I used the crepe paper balls I made previously as centerpieces for the food table. I scattered dozens of paper roses around the table.

Here is what the roses look like close up. I have used these a lot lately.
THE FOOD: We had SO MUCH food. It was all so good too. We served my mom's chicken salad sandwiches on homemade rolls, crab macaroni salad, brownie bites, Raspberry Marbled Mini Cheesecakes, chocolate covered Oreos, chocolate dipped marshmallow pops, cinnamon rolls (my aunt's brought those, I must get the recipe), homemade Oreos (I will post that recipe soon on my food blog). My sister Debby brought her trademark fruit salad that we call "Yummy Jello," because it is that, so yummy. I need to post that recipe too.
We also had these vegetable cups that people could just grab. The dressing is in the bottom. I found the idea somewhere and now I can't remember where...
These were the brownie bites. They are SO EASY and so good (beware, they are hard to stop eating.)

I finally got to use the treat stand that I made.
And of course a pink shower had to have pink lemonade.

And I LOVE stripey straws, so with our stripe theme I had to get pink stripey straws.
THE GAMES: I actually really hate shower games. I think they are usually lame and the focus on random things when really you should be focusing on the bride and groom. I found this game on the wonderful web and I thought it was perfect. Everyone gets a mustache AND a tiara. Then you read some questions (pre-answered by the bride and groom), and ONE of their answers.
Then the guests have to guess it was the brides answer, and hold up a tiara or if it was the grooms answer, and hold up a mustache. If it was both of their answers, because some of them were the same, they hold up both. It is a great ice breaker. I decided I wouldn't put anyone's picture on here holding up the mustache, because it was pretty funny and I don't want to embarrass anyone, but everyone that came was such a good sport and we were all laughing. It was fun to get to know the bride and groom more. Most of the questions were way random or silly.

The next game we played was to get to know the bride and grooms together, and see how well they know each other. My sister Debby and her husband put together this awesome video of Michelle's fiance answering questions. He answered them about himself and Michelle. We would watch the video for the question, and then pause it. Michelle then had to answer the question for all of us. Then we would play the video again. If her answer was the same as Tyler's then she would get a kiss (Hershey's kiss), if she was wrong she had to put a gumball in her mouth.
This was Michelle with a mouth FULL of gum. It was cute to watch them talk about each other. As opposed to the mustache game, these questions had a lot to do with their relationship and more normal questions (what is Tyler's favorite color, what is Michelle's favorite food). Although my brother in law did throw in "If you could be a ninja or a pirate which would it be." We all got a good laugh over it.

Then we did gifts. We had a chair next to Michelle. The person giving the gift would sit in it and Michelle would share a memory or experience with that person. I loved it and it made it all so much more meaningful.

This is what I gave Michelle. I bought the vinyl and got the idea from here. I just had to put it together. Easy peasy and I think she liked it.

It was fun to throw this shower for our newest bride to be in the family. She and Tyler are so cute and will have such a happy marriage.
This was the favor that the guests took home at the end of the shower.
I bought the take out boxes from here.
We filled the boxes with chocolate covered Oreos.

I LOVED putting together this shower. I just love a good party!