Tropical Bridal Shower for Destination Wedding

My brother and his girlfriend were having a destination wedding in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.  It only seemed fitting for me to have a surprise bridal shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law that had a tropical flair to get us in the mood for a vacation to paradise!

Games

Orchid Steal

 

As soon as guests entered the shower, they were greeted with our first game.  I must say that I am not really a fan of traditional shower games, so I tried to keep these games light and fun.  This was a mingling shower...no sit down game session here!  For this game each guest took an orchid upon entering the shower.  The orchids had pincher clips attached to them.  (I bought stems of artificial orchids at the craft store and took the flowers off and added the clips.)  The guests clipped the orchids in their hair, on their shirt, or where ever they desired.  They were told not to use the words, "Dominican" or "Punta Cana."  If guests were heard using either of those words they could lose their orchid.  Towards the end of the shower we determined which guest had the most orchids and she was awarded a prize.  We had signs placed randomly around the shower so that guests would be reminded to avoid the token words. 

 

This is a spin on the traditional baby shower game where you can't say the word "baby" or you would lose a diaper pin or something similar. 

 

Guess the Skittles



We had guests guess how many skittles were in the bottle pictured above.  The guest who was the closest got a prize.  The giant bottle of skittles went to my brother and sister-in-law as another little present.

 

Decor

Flowers, Shells, Burlap

We wanted the shower to have a tropical theme, but we also wanted it to be very elegant.  We used creative flower arrangements, sea shells, and burlap in a lot of the decor.  We bought a huge roll of burlap that was approximately 6" wide at Michael's Arts & Crafts.  We put this as a runner down the food table, on the front of the candy favor table, wrapped it around the cupcake stand, incorporated it into some of the floral arrangements, and even wrapped it around the prizes. 

We bought bouquets of flowers at the grocery store and then made unique arrangements with them, as you can see below.

 

Signs



Throughout the shower we had various signs.  They were printed to look like the Dominican Flag.  The flags explained the games, party favors, etc.  We placed some of the flags in flower arrangements, as shown below.

 

 

Bride's Chair

 

We made a string of pennants out of burlap.  The burlap is approximately 6" wide and can be purchased on a roll at Michael's.  We bought iron-on letters at JoAnn Fabrics and then cut the burlap into triangles, which were large enough to fit the letters.  We ironed the letters onto the burlap and then sewed the burlap triangles onto a piece of twine.  

 

Towel Cake

 

Another gift for my sister-in-law was a towel cake (also made by my mom - yes, she is very crafty).  The towel cake is a practical gift and also a fun decoration at the shower.  It is really easy to make a towel cake, just follow the directions on this web page.  Towel Cake Directions  You can then embellish the towel cake with ribbons, pearls, flowers, or whatever fits your theme.

 

Advice on a Shell

One of my favorite parts of the shower was the "Advice on a Shell" station.  The idea is that guests write a message of well wishes or advice for the bride and groom on a sea shell.  The shell is then placed in a large vase, which can then be displayed in their home.  In order to make this you will need to get a bag of large shells from the craft store.  Make sure that you use only the shells that have a large enough space to write a message on.  We then placed the shells in a trunk that we also found at the craft store.  We then found a large glass vase.  We placed sand on the bottom and wound a thin piece of twine around the top.  We hung a small metal charm frame from the twine and placed the wedding date on paper in the charm frame.  There was a small flag explaining the purpose of the "Advice on a Shell" station to the shower guests.  After each guest signed a shell, she dropped it into the glass vase.

 

Nautical/Tropical Cutlery



In order to create your own nautical cutlery, wrap it in a blue napkin and tie a thin piece of twine around the napkin.  Then knot a Lifesaver candy onto the twine.

 

 

Prizes

 

For the game prizes we awarded hand soap.  The prizes were wrapped in burlap and tied with a color ribbon.  This burlap was used throughout various pieces of decor within the shower.

 

Party Favor

 

For a party favor we set up a sweets table.  Guests could fill a bag with an assortment of treats and candy.  We had salt water taffy, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Starbursts, Jolly Ranchers, mini chocolate chip cookies, and white chocolate covered pretzel sticks. 

Gift

As a gift to my brother and sister-in-law, my mom made a window picture frame containing pictures of the two of them.  You can find the directions to make a window picture frame under my "For the Home" category.  The post is called "How to Make a Window Picture Frame From and Old Window."

 

Food

We had food in a couple of different locations so that people would mingle throughout the house during the shower. We had a main food table in the kitchen as shown above.

 

We had fruit, drinks, and dessert in a separate room of the shower.  We made umbrella skewers with pineapples, cherries, and blueberries.  We also had a large bowl of fruit and fruit dip as pictured above.

 

For dessert we had an assortment of cupcakes that we displayed on a couple of different tiered stands as shown above.  We elevated the one stand using a circular box, covered with blue paper and wrapped with burlap and ribbon.  We also adorned it with a tiny veil!

PINK and BLUE Baby Shower

So you’re going to have a baby but you don’t know if it’s going to be a little girl or a little boy?  If you want to keep the gender a surprise but don’t want a yellow or green baby shower, try out the PINK and BLUE option!

The big question is…What makes a PINK and BLUE baby shower special?  Check out the ideas below to learn the answer to that question and have a guide to follow when planning your own or someone else’s PINK and BLUE baby shower.

The Invitation

Create an invitation that lets guests know that the shower will have a PINK and BLUE theme.  You can create the invitation yourself using a graphic design program like Photoshop or you can use something like Microsoft Word.  After completing the invitation save it as a PDF and take it to a local print shop to get it printed.  This will be a lot less expensive than ordering the invitation through a website.

You will notice on this invitation that I asked the shower guests to wear blue or pink depending on whether or not they thought the baby would be a girl or a boy.  Almost everyone at the shower participated by wearing something blue or pink.  At the shower we positioned all of the “BLUE” guests on the left and the “PINK” guests on the right and then took a picture.  It is fun to look back at the picture to see which guests guessed my baby GIRL’s gender correctly!  Additionally, you’re guests become an extra decoration adding to the PINK and BLUE theme at the party!

Turn the House PINK and BLUE

We had the shower at my parent’s house so there were several rooms that guests would be in, including the kitchen, dining room, and family room.  We decided to make the kitchen completely PINK, the dining room completely BLUE, and the family room a combination of PINK and BLUE.

The PINK Room – food

When guests entered the PINK room the first thing that they saw was the “GIRL?” letters sign and light pink Chinese lanterns.  The sign is made of 10-12” white wooden letters that were purchased at Michael’s Arts and Crafts.  We painted various sizes of light pink circles on the letters.  You will notice that most of the pink décor incorporates dots in some way or another and a lot of the blue décor incorporates stripes. 

My mom surprised me by making a super cute diaper cake.  (You can find directions for making a diaper cake by doing a Google search.)  The diaper cake added to the pink room because it was wrapped in pink ribbon, and was decorated with baby girl toys, socks, and hair bows.

My mom also made a photo collage, which included pictures of me when I was little.  She mounted the pictures on pink scrapbook paper and then mounted the “framed” pictures on a ribbon.  The ribbon was then affixed to the back of a door to make it look like it was hanging over the door. 

We love flowers, so we used them to bring life to the décor and because they always make a room look beautiful!  We went to a local florist and picked up two stems of orchids and some greens.  We carefully placed the orchids in a vase that we had.  We wrapped the greens in a loose circle and then carefully placed them in the vase.  This simple floral arrangement became a pretty center piece on the food table.

The “GIRL?” sign is made of a small plaque board, dowel rod, and wooded craft ball (with a flat bottom) from a craft store.  Drill a hole in the board and craft ball, place a little wood glue in the holes, and then insert the dowel rod.  Paint the sign a desired color and add a design (like the pink dots).  The “GIRL?” letters were cut on a Cricut machine using scrapbook paper.  The back side of the sign looks the same as the front. 

We bought a tin container at a craft store and painted it white and then painted on the pink dots.  This became the perfect place to display our plates and napkins.

The BLUE Room – cake and Bellini’s

When guests walked into the BLUE room the first things that they saw were the cake and “BOY?” letters sign.  The sign was made just like the “GIRL?” letters sign, as described above.  The décor in the blue room contained a lot of stripes.

My mom also made me an adorable diaper wreath.  (You can find directions for making a diaper wreath by doing a Google search.)  The diaper wreath added to the blue room because it was tied in blue ribbon, and was decorated with an assortment of baby boy colored toys and socks.

As with the pink flowers in the pink room, we also decorated with simple blue flowers.  In this vase we placed greens (which were wrapped in a loose circle) and one hydrangea stem.  It was easy to create, not expensive, and looked great!

The “BOY?” sign is made like the “GIRL?” signs as described above.  The “BOY?” letters were cut on a Cricut machine using scrapbook paper.  The back side of the sign looks the same as the front. 

My mom also made a photo collage which included pictures of my husband when he was little.  She mounted the pictures on blue scrapbook paper and then mounted the “framed” pictures on a blue ribbon.  The ribbon was then affixed to the back of a door to make it look like it was hanging over the door. 

The above cake was purchased from Providence Divine Cakes and Pastries.  She makes beautiful and delicious cakes!  She custom made this cake to fit in our blue room!

The PINK and BLUE Room – gifts

The last room was the family room where everyone sat around to chat and also where I opened gifts.  We decided to decorate this room with a variety of PINK and BLUE items.  The first part of the décor were the large tissue paper pom poms.  Those can be seen in the picture above, hanging on the windows and over the white table.  Tissue paper pom poms are a little time consuming to make but they look cool!  I have recently learned to make tulle pom poms.  These are much easier to make and don’t get smashed and out of shape as easily as tissue paper pom poms.  Either option is a neat and cheap decoration.  You can find directions for creating these by doing a Google search.

The second decoration is the chair cover.  My mom is very crafty and great with a sewing machine, so she made a PINK and BLUE cover for the chair that I sat in to open gifts.  It was super cute!

The last decoration in the picture above is the clothes line.  My mom hung a clothes line with a variety of outfits for a baby girl and a baby boy that were on my baby registry.  She kept the receipts, of course, so that we could return the one set that we didn’t need!

In the PINK and BLUE room we once again decorated with some pretty flower arrangements.  We made a tiny vase with a blue hydrangea and a couple of light pink baby roses.  In the bottom picture we put an assortment of Gerber daisies, roses, and some greens. 

The A-B-C blocks above are cardboard boxes which have the tops cut off on three sides.  The boxes were then covered with white fabric and painted.  There is a short ribbon attached on the box underneath of the fabric on the top of the lid.  The ribbon wraps around a button which was stitched on the front of the box.  My mom made these boxes and then put a couple of small gifts in them. 

We did not play games at my baby shower, but we did ask guests to participate in one fun activity, which is shown in the picture above.  We asked guests to give us some name ideas for the upcoming baby.  Guests wrote their name ideas on the slips of paper and then dropped them in the box.  Although we didn’t use any of the names, we did have fun (and a couple of laughs) checking out what friends and family suggested.