Opening Gifts at Wedding Shower

The purpose of a shower is to "shower" the bride or couple with gifts. I personally think it's rude to have an entire gift giving event and not even take 20 minutes to open the gifts that people brought you.

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I agree with this. As much as I dislike opening gifts in front of people as a general rule, the bridal or wedding shower is an exception!

You do open them in front of everyone.
It can be kind of awkward but it's also fun seeing what they got you and showing everyone.

I went to a shower recently where the bride felt the same way (many of us do feel awkward about it). She made the gift opening part a game. 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 the gift opening even more exciting, and she actually did it fairly quickly since she wanted to be sure more people got prizes! (the prizes were small and inexpensive, like hand soaps and lotion form Bath and Body Works)

I opened presents at my bridal shower. It felt weird, I rushed through it, but people liked watching me open them and it took up about 20 minutes or so!

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That is such a cool idea! I wanted to make mine more of a game too so we are doing present bingo. If what I open is on your card you get to mark it. Get 5 in a row for a prize. I hope it keeps people engaged in the activity and not bored watching me open presents.

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OMG that sounds so fun!! Great idea!

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That is such a fun idea!! That really keeps everybody involved and makes it really exciting!!

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Thank you! I hope guests like it.

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Thank you!

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This 100%. Opening gifts is literally the whole point of having a shower. Very rude of you to not do it, I think.

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Another easy/fun game is bridal bingo. You can buy a template on etsy or make some yourself easily. Instaed of numbers, the space have typical regsitry items like: Mixer, cookie sheets, place setting, silverware, etc.. Easy to make with whatever you know is on your registry. When someone gets a BINGO they win a prize. We did $5 Starbucks and Dunkin' gift cards at my sisters shower.

You can have games and food, but I do think the point of a shower is so everyone can watch you open gifts.

As a guest I find gift opening to be very boring and it always makes me feel self conscious over the gift I brought. I’d be happy if someone decided to forgo opening the gifts during the shower. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I agree with pp’s. The whole point of the shower is for people to bring you gifts so I think you just have to work through those few moments of awkwardness for your guests.

The point of the shower is gift opening and giving so I'm not sure you can sneak out of that. Even though I also hate opening presents in front of people and honestly think it's boring to watch, I think many people like it.
Bridal bingo or a timed game for the opening actually sounds fun!

Is completely up to you but I personally wouldn't at the shower. Is not mandatory to do it. If you do you can always have your MOH write the gift and person down for you so you don't forget. I personally send thank you cards for our shower and our wedding but that was what I wanted to do.

View Quoted Comment The host can also put numbered labels on the gifts as they come in the door and then people can randomly fill in the numbers on a blank bingo card as the gifts get opened. My aunt hosts a lot of showers and this is her preferred way of doing bingo. 😊

View Quoted Comment Yes and you send thank you cards even if you open it in front of them.

I’ve heard of what I think they call a “display shower” where on the invite guests are asked to bring an unwrapped gift with a card and then all the gifts are “displayed” on the gift table. So then everyone can see what the bride got but you don’t have to spend time opening them in front of everyone.