open gifts at bridal shower or not

I think it’s rude to have an event that’s entirely about getting gifts then not even take 30 minutes to open them.

I personally don’t like to open gifts in front of people. And a lot of people find it boring.

The sole purpose of attending a bridal shower is to shower the bride with gifts. I would be kind of irritated if I showed up with a gift, but it wasn’t deemed important enough to open it in my presence.

I plan on opening my gifts during my shower. I would be upset and bummed if the bride didn't open my gift. One of my favorite parts of gift giving is to see the reaction of the person receiving the gift.

View Quoted Comment I agree with Trista. Giving gifts is one of my love languages so I LOVE watching someone open a gift I gave!

Also I’ve seen the cards get separated from the gift and I want to make sure I thank the right person for the right gift in my thank you notes. To me, that’s pretty important but I’ve been to showers where the bride didn’t like the idea of opening gifts. It’s all preference and what’s important to you.

I just had the same issue at my bridal shower. Invited 108 and ended up with 75 coming. What we did was host the lunch and games at a restaurant and let everyone know if they wanted to come back to my moms and watch us open gifts they were welcome to. (We live about 15minutes from the restaurant and printed out little address with direction cards). I had about 35 come back to the house and we had champagne for everyone. It worked for us because people who wanted to watch could, those who didn’t could leave without feeling rude (some family drove from 3 hours away) and it let my FH be involved in the opening since most of the gifts were for both of us. Honestly with that many people/gifts it took way longer then 30 minutes to open them. I would say we opened gifts for close to two hours. Everyone wants to see and chat about their gifts and it was a fun social event without the pressure of 80 people watching just me.

I agree with others that I'd be bummed if my gift didn't get opened at a bridal shower. At daughter's shower we did a "gift bingo" game that helped keep guests engaged during the gift opening.

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Couldn't agree more with this! I attended a bridal shower with "gift bingo" and it made the even SO much fun! It also got me talking to other attendants whom I didn't know coming into the bridal shower, which made for a fun environment! Looking back on it, I didn't even realize how much time had passed because even once I had gotten my Bingo, I was going for black out solely for bragging rights!

That being said, I also loved Britani's idea about having gifts as a "separate" event - it seems like a good compromise and something I might use for my own bridal party

In my experience- and having just celebrated my own bridal shower this past Saturday 7/6- most guests prefer the bride-to-be to open gifts bc they love to see the recipient’s reaction. At my shower, my friend that traveled a few hours to be there asked me in front of everyone else when I was going to open the gifts. I just simply said, “I’m not sure...what the proper protocol for that is actually...” and everyone exclaimed”YES! Open them!!!” So, I think if you aren’t sure, you can always get a feel for what you should do from your guests. I’d say more often than not, people want to see you open them because they’ve come to celebrate you and want to see you receive something they’ve selected especially for you. Just enjoy your day! Do what you want. Bingo is fun to play - I’ve done that too. ...And for the record, who cares if someone is bored watching you. That’s not of your concern. They’ll have to navigate those choppy waters solo haha

The problem is not the opening of gifts. It is that far too many people are invited to one shower, and that would make gift opening too long. So invite fewer people . . . . By definition, a shower gift is a second gift for the wedding, and is only supposed to be asked of the closest and most intimate of bride's friends and family. I have a huge family, and still find it unbelievable that you have time for 90 close relationships. Perhaps the shower should be split up. And those not all that close should be invited to a no presents bridal luncheon. Separate. To socialize with bride and family with no expectation of this second gift. And those that are left, have in 2 smaller showers. Then you can properly open gifts you receive ( and yes, lots of brides enjoy opening gifts, and lots of us enjoy watching it.) from those who really are close, and only spend a reasonable amount of time doing it, not so long people get bored. You also avoid the perception that your family is extremely greedy, thinking that many people should be getting you two gifts for your wedding. 90?

View Quoted Comment We both have very large family’s!! Not really anyone to cut .. we tried so can’t do smaller🤷🏻‍♀️

Hmmm I can see your logic purely because you have so many guests the likelihood is you're going to have so many gifts to open that it would take such a long time.
I had about 17 girls at my shower and so I opened gifts but obviously that didn't take me long.
I think I'd skip that portion especially cause it does sound like it'd take way too long.

Personally, I think that is very rude. They came to shower you with gifts. My uncle's wife, doesn't open up my cousin's birthday presents at any birthday party I've been to of hers, which is heartbreaking btw. You spend your money on something for someone to not open it in front of them.

I recently went to a baby shower where the Mother To Be didn't open the presents.. I was honestly shocked. I get a lot of people are not interested in watching and I even hate opening presents in front of people, but the whole purpose of a shower is the gifts.. and not seeing someone open a gift I selected and get a "verbal thank you" kind of rubbed me the wrong way..

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I agree! I think it is weird to have a shower and not open the gifts you receive there. Sure, it's a time to social and celebrate, but the main event is opening gifts!

Thank you so much for all the advice!! This really helped me make the decision to open my gifts!! 💗💗

Gift are literally the only purpose for a shower - yes you should open them, it's rude not to.

I went to a shower recently where we played a game while she was opening gifts. We set a timer to go off every few minutes and when it went off, the person whose gift she was opening got a small prize! It made it fun, and it also made the gift opening go a bit quicker!

My gift opening took 20 minutes, I kind of rushed through it because it was awkward but it took up some time and some people like watching me open presents. Have all 91 people RSVPed?

I would definitely open them and keep people a little more entertained with the gift bingo or another game as someone suggested. Also keep in mind that maybe not all 91 will attend, and those that do, may not all gift separately. My shower lists are 49 and 39, but they include a total of 5 children who will not give something separate from their mothers attending, and two couples that would likely gift together. Hopefully your list includes some of those to bring the total down. Plus, some people go in on gifts together anyway.