Bridal Shower Shows: Ideas for Making It Special!

[Tash]

Hi everyone.

I am wondering what you all do with your bridal shower shows? Do you dress up your table or tool turnabout? Is there anything special you have for these shows? I feel like I should be doing something "special" and I'm not sure what. It is my first bridal shower and there are a few people who are engaged that are going to be there so, I want to wow them into having one too.

I really liked the tree idea someone had (to hang pictures of the brides wish list on). Where can I get the branches to make this tree?

If you have a special way you present the show or a special order or something, please help me with some ideas. I need to get the creative juices flowing.

Thanks
Tasha

 

[dianevill]

Bridal ShowHi Tasha,

I've only done one bridal show, but I have to admit, it was a huge success for the bride (well, and me, too ). The maid of honor was the host, and she bought a lot of the items at an earlier show, such as the following:

Tool-Turn-About. She decorated it with beads and put a bouquet of scrapers in the top.
Seasons' Best Books: she bought one for each of the guests as a thank you for coming (and the bridesmaids wrote inside "Thank you for coming to Kari's shower - June 9, 2005").
Mini Spatulas and other $4-$10 items for bigger door prizes.
-------------
I bought the Pampered Bride apron and had the bride wear it for the show (you can have the guests sign it if the bride wishes, but she chose not to).

On the invitations, the host had each guest bring a spice and a recipe, and used that to have everyone introduce themselves.

At the show, I had 3 ring sandwiches (there were 35 people). I followed the Calypso Club Ring recipe in the "It's Good For You" cookbook and made that one at the shower, and then for the other 2 rings I just did a standard turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato ring (I made those before the show, made the actual bread rings at home). For dessert I made a bride's cake ahead of time (using the Classic Batter Bowl) and at the show I made a brownie pizza (baked the brownie ahead of time). Some of the other guests brought the side dishes.

Because there were so many people, to keep their attention, I warned them that there would be a quiz after the presentation. I threw out lots of kitchen tips, too (that always seems to help). The quiz, however, really had nothing to do with my presentation - it was all about the bride. The maid of honor did one more game, and I don't have it but I'm sure someone that frequents this site does. It's a letter that the groom sends to the bride, and it's a fill-in-the-blank type of letter where the blanks are names of vegetables. "Lettuce be together forever" type of thing...

I didn't have a tree for gifts, but I cut out pictures and descriptions of her wish list items and pasted them on to index cards. I color-coded the cards by price range. I passed them out during the presentation and people looked through and picked. When they came to order, they just brought up the cards with their order form filled out w/ their personal info. Then, the maid of honor had bought blank cards, and we had the guests write a note to the bride letting her know what they bought. When everyone was done ordering, the bride opened the cards.

At the end of the show, she had about $1300 worth of Pampered Chef product, and that wasn't even including the host benefits! Plus, people gave her over $400 cash, so she used that money for the half priced and discounted products. As a thank you to the maid of honor, I let her order at the 30% discount, too.

Hope this helps and I hope it wasn't too long!

Diane

Almost forgot...don't forget to remind guests that they can purchase product for themselves, as well. You just have to keep track of it (I used an Excel spreadsheet)

 

[Tash]

Wow.

Thank you very much Diane. I appreciate all the details, it has given me a clear view of the order to run things in. I really like the recipe book idea. I think it is a little late for this shower since the maid of honor has already bought the gifts, but I have another one in a few months and I am going to suggest it to the host.

I like your idea of color coding instead of putting prices on the cards I think it will be a little more tactful.

I know there is an order form for a shower I got from this site that has a section for the guests to order for the bride and a separate section to order for themselves, I think I will use those.

Thanks again for your ideas. I appreciate the help.

Tasha

 

[proudmama02]

I haven't had a bridal show, but I have heard of decorating the tool turnabout, and also make a cake in the classic batter bowl, and decorating it as a bride, using the top of a bride cake piece.

 

[Sk8Mom209]

Done severalWhat a great show! My BS have been successful, but not that successful.

The way I track bride orders vs. guest orders is this:

I use the outside order forms at my shows, do not like the PC forms, too busy! I have the guest put their orders at the top of the form and the bride's gifts at the bottom of the form. Then when I enter it into PC, I setup a guest order in the groom's name and add all of the bride's gifts to that order. That way, when the orders arrive, there is a receipt for all of the bride's gifts.

I usually decorate the tool turnabout and order the bride's apron and have each guest sign their well wishes. I have done the tiramisu brownie and tuxedo brownie for dessert.

I try not to overdo the booking or recruiting portion of my presentation. I like to keep it more about the bride and me. I do hit on these items, but less than a regular show. Also, I found the bridal show tape from PC to be helpful.

 

[PamperedChefAlicia]

SuggestionsI have a bridal shower tomorrow (my first) but would be very interested in knowing where to get that combo order form for the bride and the guest.
Thanks,
Alicia

Wow.

Thank you very much Diane. I appreciate all the details, it has given me a clear view of the order to run things in. I really like the recipe book idea. I think it is a little late for this shower since the maid of honor has already bought the gifts, but I have another one in a few months and I am going to suggest it to the host.

I like your idea of color coding instead of putting prices on the cards I think it will be a little more tactful.

I know there is an order form for a shower I got from this site that has a section for the guests to order for the bride and a separate section to order for themselves, I think I will use those.

Thanks again for your ideas. I appreciate the help.

Tasha

 

[Tash]

Bridal order formHere you go Alicia.

This was posted by pchefjulie.

Thanks Julie.

Tasha

 

[Mom4kanda]

New to BizHey to all
I am having my first show sept 17 and already have 4 kitchen shows and 3 catalog parties. I am so excited that this is taking off so quickly. I need some info on what to serve and do you let the host choose? Do you need to try before your show? What

 

[Jennie4PC]

First of all congrats on your business taking off im really excited for you
i know alot of people will tell the host what they need to buy but i always let the host pick the recipe so they can go off of their budget and yes it is a very good idea to do the recipe before the show so your nose is not in the cookbook and you can devote more time to your guests. I have not done a feew recipes before the show and i feel that those shows were totally horrible, the guests just talk and i feel are not listening so then i get flustered and forget everything i want to talk about so i think it would be good to do a practice recipe before the show

 

[Mom4kanda]

thank you I will definately try before I go to the show. I am sure my husband wont mind the food.

 

[Mom4kanda]

bride cakeAlso where is the receipe for the bride cake, that sounds fun

 

[Jennie4PC]

The classic batter bowl has the recipe for the doll cake in the care and use package. but what you do is you make the batter put it in the bowl and bake in the oven you do need to make another cake unless you want the doll to be short then you use white frosting and put a stick doll in it and find a little veil and put frosting on the doll for the dress. i did a doll cake for my daughters first birthday turned out way cute and the bride dolls turn out way cute to

 

[Mom4kanda]

Bride CakeThanks I will try both cakes. So the receipe comes in the kit with the bowl, right?

Thank you for the help anymore receipes would be great if any one else has some to share?

 

[kcjodih]

recipesclick on recipes at the top of this page and you'll find lots

Also, this website is great for PC recipes

http://joycesfinecooking.com/pamperedchefs.htm

Enjoy!