Bridal shower (real life)

Dollar store has lots of cute valentines decorations right now. I just bought some for my wedding which is May. Hearts etc. Do have fun. How nice to host. You can have a taco station in one room and margaritas in another sort of thing.

Girl, don't stress over pinterest photos! Pinterest literally only shows staged stuff, and most of the time it's impossible and expensive.

I'd make sure you have some basic statement piece decorations (balloons, flowers, table cloth, and a welcome sign), and then let everything else fall into place. The dollar store and party city are great places to start. The dollar store has some tissue paper garlands which are cute. TJ Maxx and Marshalls sometimes have cute napkins for parties.

You got this!

I helped throw a baby shower this past weekend and came across the best decoration ever. You can purchase a DIY balloon arch kit on amazon for $20 and it looks super Pintrest worthy. Below is the specific one we ordered. We had the guys blow up the balloons and we put together the arch. It took about an hour to get it assembled, but came out just like the pictures. We put the arch over the desert table as the focus of the party. I highly recomend looking in to them if you need some cheap but wow worthy decorations. Good luck!!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZGHG8RL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It did come with the hand pump, but it didn't work well. It was faster and easier to blow the balloons up by mouth.

My mom found a lot of cute party things at party city & walmart for my bridal shower!

Mantle

Dessert

First, BRIDES - tell your maid of honor who is available to help her! Being the maid of honor is a huge job and it's expensive. Ask your other friends, mom, MIL, sisters, etc to help your maid of honor.

I was a caterer for years and then a wedding photographer for 16 years. Don't worry and stress. It will be fun - and that's the main thing. If you are worried about space, make a few different treat stations around the room/house to encourage people to move around and chat. That way, nobody is sitting and cramped and awkward.

If her color is blue (for example) sprinkle that color around the room. Then pick another color (white or cream) to complement it. Coffee and tea or mimosa bar on the kitchen counter with blue napkins. Treats on the TV stand (move the TV back a bit out of the way) include blue napkins and balloons floating above the TV. Main sandwiches or whatever on the dining room table - include blue napkins and blue streamers from the dollar store. (or something fancier if that's her style)

Big thing here - if you've got a full/ messy/ small house, move a few things of yours off the counters and put your family's shoes and a few things away. (I mean put the blender under the sink, clear a bit of clutter, your dog's bed in the garage for now, etc.) This creates more space and feels more relaxed for guests.

The dollar store also has $1 plastic buckets (maybe in her color) that can be used for icing water bottles or the wine, etc. They can also be little trash cans at each station, which helps clean up a lot. Then maybe she can use them at the wedding too.

ASK FOR HELP! She probably has a mom or sisters or other friends who can help. You don't have to do this alone. Ask three people if they can bring something. Then tell them that YOU already have buns, store bought chips and salsa, drinks, etc. (meaning that YOU get to do the easy and quick stuff and you are asking them to make a dessert or bring a few sandwiches, etc) Or ask for help setting up and/or for clean up help. Be specific in what you need!

Hope that helps.

Wow, Jennifer, you rock! Love the yogurt bar!

Thank you! My bridesmaid (6 of them) did an AMAZING job! It helped that my best friend has a big beautiful beach house where it was held so there was lots of room and a beautiful deck/pool area outside on the water & my SIL is an interior designer.

I could never have imagined what they did for me. So thankful. I wish I could relive it again!

We live in a small 900 square foot house and cannot host more than like 8 people in one room at a time, but we've had indoor parties of a dozen or so people and it works out. We have a good outdoor hosting space so have had larger parties (30 people or so) in the summer without issue.

The difficulty we usually run into with hosting is having enough places for everyone to sit. When we do bigger parties we tell people to bring lawn chairs so there is enough seating. We've purchased some inexpensive but nicer looking folding chairs from Ikea (Target also has good options) for indoor/outdoor use as extra seating when we have guests over. We also have TV tray tables that we can use to extend dining areas or convert our sofa and chairs into places where people can enjoy a meal.