How to Plan a Bridal Shower....Naija Style

A bridal shower is one of the things we do for the love of a friend who is soon to be married. It is a chance to hang out and blend with the bride before she ties the knot.

For some brides, bridal shower comes as a surprise, while others are expectant. Whichever way it goes, ensure it’s one fun day that the bride will cherish and hold for a lifetime.





Here are some factors to consider when planning a bridal shower:

1.     Time: Getting old and new friends together under one roof without inconveniences is not so easy. So you need time to plan and bring people together early enough. Most people do this via bbm group chat or whats app group chat. It’s much easier and cheaper to bring people together using this social platform.

2.     Pick a Date: Ideally, the shower should be held a month before the wedding, but these days’ it doesn’t really matter as long as it is convenient. Since everyone’s schedule varies, it could be difficult to agree on a particular date. So try reaching a general consensus with everyone or vote to pick out the most convenient date. This will ensure that everyone that has to travel in for the event is given enough time to plan and prepare.

3.      Choose a Venue: A venue adds to the special effect of the shower. Whether you choose a friend’s house, a hall, a hotel, the beach, a getaway trip to Vegas, a yacht or even a fancy restaurant, ensure that it fits your budget.

4.     Share Responsibilities: If you are the coordinator, it doesn’t mean you have to take all the work upon yourself. Sharing responsibilities is key to the success of a bridal shower. Remember these responsibilities should not be imposed, everyone should be allowed to say or choose what they are comfortable helping out with.

5.     Budget/Money: this is a key factor in planning a bridal shower. It’s one thing to make fun plans; it’s another to make it affordable for everyone. You need to consider that all pockets are not the same. Make the bridal shower list as agreed with everyone; attach a price to each item, and split the total cost equally amongst yourselves.

6.     Pay on Time: Agree on a deadline for payment and have someone be in charge of the finances. That way, you can keep track of payment made and encourage others who haven’t paid to do so.

7.     Uniform Dressing (optional): uniformity in choice of clothes gives some form of uniqueness to the shower. Choose a colour and have everyone agree as the colour of the day, that way, the bride stands out.

8.     Accessories for the Bride: some people go all the way by getting head to toe costume for the bride, others use tiaras, crowns, bridal sash etc. This depends on your budget.

9.     MC: choose someone fun within the group/circle to host the event.

10. Have Fun: that’s the reason for the shower in the first place. Don’t turn it to a tension ground or a brawl day; settle your differences before or after the shower. Always remember to put the bride first, and that means making her happy.

Bridal Shower Checklist

Make plans for:

1.     Venue

2.     Decorations

3.     Food/Chops/Cake

4.     Drinks

5.     Accessories for the bride

6.     Music

7.     Gift for the Bride

8.  Prizes for the Games (optional)

9.     Activities/Games

Games:

This is my favourite part. Here are some games you will enjoy:

1. How I met the Bride: Ask everyone to give a brief introduction of themselves and how they met the bride.

2. How well do you know the Bride: Before the shower, make a list of different questions you would like the bride to answer. During the shower, get everyone to randomly pick a number and answer any question tied to that number. The bride then gives the correct answer to each question. You can place a little nice punishment for wrong answers (if you like) to add to the excitement.

3. Karaoke: Play a popular wedding/love song’s instrumental and have everyone sing a verse of the song till the end of the song. What makes this really hilarious is when people lip sync or sing off key.

4. Do as the Basket Says: Put together random naughty girly questions. Have everyone pass a basket around while music plays, wherever the basket stops, the person picks a question and acts the part. Remember the kind of questions you make depends on the personality of the bride.

5. Words of Wisdom: ask everyone to write an advice on how to make marriage last based on personal opinion or experiences.

6. Tissue Wedding Dress Competition: Get lots of tissue rolls together. Split the girls in groups and have each group design a dress on a member of the group. This should be timed, say 10minutes. The bride chooses the winner of the competition.

7. Male Stripper: this is the part that gets ladies screaming over the roof top. Get a guy that can strip and dance at the same time. Remember moderation is key and everyone’s definition of moderation differs. Again this depends on the personality of the bride.

8. Tell Us About the Groom: This a popular bridal shower game. Before the shower, have the groom fills a questionnaire about himself and his relationship with the bride; questions like how they met, he’s favourite food, colour etc. During the shower ask the bride those same questions and see if she gets them right.  For every one she fails, give her a nice little punishment.

9. Memory Game: Let everyone write an embarrassing or most memorable moment they had with the bride. When everyone is done, it should be placed together and given to the bride to read out loud.

10. 20 Reasons Why I love her: before the bridal shower, ask the groom to give 20 reasons why he fell in love with the bride. Write them on different piece of paper and fold each piece. Give each piece to everyone present, play some good music and ask the bride to dance for each person individually before it gets read.

11. What Will Your Fiancé Do?

Before the bridal shower, create questions about what the groom will do if he finds himself in a particular scenario and ask her those same questions during the shower to see if they have similar minds.

12. The Bride from Head to Toe

Immediately the bride arrives at the venue, after all the hugs and screams from seeing friends, the MC should whisk her away to a part of the venue where no one can see her. Then ask everyone to write down what she wore from head to toe in 2 minutes; this should be timed. Bring the bride back to the venue and read all the answers to her. The best description gets to take the very first pictures with the bride.  

13. Truth and Lies

Everyone says one truth and one lie about their experiences with the bride. Then you all scream out TRUTH if you think it is or LIES if you think it’s not.

14. Imitate the Bride

Give your best imitations about the bride. The idea is to make her laugh really hard. The bride then picks the person that made her laugh the most.

15. The Celeb Game

This is similar to the children game: I am something, I like to do this but not that, what am I?

But you turn it into the celeb game on a whole new level. Describe a celeb in the most detailed way possible and have everyone guess who you are.

For example:  I am someone, I like to take selfies of my butt for the world to see, I have a baby named after the directional indicator on maps that points upward and I am married to a guy bearing the name of the directional indicator that points to the left…..who am I?

I just made that up and I am sure you guessed right #winks#.

Finally, spending a lot of money on a shower doesn’t guarantee you having the best time ever. The whole idea is make the bride the center of attention, unite her with friends (old and new) and have a great time.

JUST ENJOY!