Let’s take a look at some great spring wedding favors options. If you want to incorporate the blossoming of flowers during spring into your wedding or bridal shower theme, you’re in luck. There are so many elegant wedding favors that incorporate a floral theme, you just have to choose which one is your favorite.

Orchid gel candles or the Two Peas in a Pod candles make great floral candle favors. Prefer to stay away from candles? Your guests are sure to love the Calla Lily bottle stopper or Calla Lily bookmark – both very practical favors your guests will want to use throughout the spring and summer months.

How about wildflower seed favors? What a fantastic way to bring a little green to your day by giving your guests favors that give back to the environment. I know when I’m driving down the highway and see miles of wildflowers blooming along the side of the road a smile comes to my face as I think how beautiful the flowers are. Your guests can sprinkle your wildflower seed favors wherever they would like to see a burst of color in their own yards. Seed favors are very thoughtful and add very little waste to our environment.

The Magic Love Bean is such a unique spring wedding favor your guests are sure to talk about for months to come! Absolutely adorable in a hand-painted pot, this spring favor is magical. Your guests follow the planting directions of the bean and voila! In a few short weeks, the magic bean sprouts from the soil with LOVE on the bean.

The best favors are those that your guests will truly use again. Pretty sachet pillows your guests can use in their lingerie drawers are also welcome favors as are bookmarks, photo frames, key chains and place card holders that can be used to hold notes. Spring theme options include butterflies, calla lily, roses, daisies and more.

The worst thing is to spend your money on favors that get thrown into the garbage can because your guests really just don’t know what to do with them after the wedding or shower. Putting a little thought into your wedding favors ensures your guests will want to receive them and will use them again in the future.

For a superb selection of Spring Wedding Favors, Check out
MyWeddingFavors.com

About the Author

Advice on Marriage, Brides, Diamonds and Weddings. Copyright 2009. All Rights Reserved.

One of the most fun — and occasionally dreaded — parts of a bridal shower are the games. Although they’re meant to be bonding experiences, bridal shower games aren’t for everyone … and if your gal group meets exclusively for cosmos and indie jazz, you might want to skip them.

But the fact is, bridal shower games serve a purpose. No matter how familiar or unsophisticated they might seem, they still serve as icebreakers. And icebreakers are especially useful if your shower combines guests from different walks of life. A shower might toss the bride’s work friends together with her hometown friends and a handful of relatives — and these groups probably don’t know each other — but an icebreaker can bring them together (of course, so can a few chilled bottles of Veuve Clicquot).

So if your guest list is a mixed bag of ages, backgrounds, tastes and styles, here are some true-blue games that will bring your shower through with flying colors.

Bridal Shower Bingo

One of the most popular is, of course, Bridal Shower Bingo. To play this game, dream up a list of words for each bingo card that relates to weddings, wedding gifts, the bride herself, or romance. For the cards themselves, arrange a grid of squares in your favorite desktop publisher, placing each word or phrase in its own square. Make the center square “free” (you’re just generous that way). Or just grab some of those no-cost, printable bridal bingo cards from the internet.

Give each guest their own card. Or if you really want to press home the icebreaker effect, get two guests to share one.

Next, print out your word selection with lots of letter spacing so you can cut up the sheet into strips and toss them in a basket.

Finally, have the hostess act as the caller. She’ll pull the words out of the basket and call them out. Once a player gets a complete marked-off line of words, either horizontally, vertically or diagonally, she shouts out “Bingo” (or “Bride”) in return for a prize.

Uncool, you say? Angelina Jolie would never be caught dead playing Bridal Shower Bingo? Maybe, but you’d be surprised how jiggy things get when you turn up the music and start calling out those words. There’s a reason why hundreds of people flock to bingo halls on a weekly basis — it’s freakishly fun. Leave the anthropologists to wonder why, and just roll with it.

Bingo Redux

One of the funniest variations on Bridal Shower Bingo is to give guests blank cards and have them fill it out with predictions of what gifts the bride will get.

Or for another twist, fill your cards with titles of songs relating to love and romance, and then play 10 second snippets from a CD you’ve burned ahead of time. This gives your guests the double challenge of identifying what they’re hearing, and crossing off the titles. Choose a sweet Starbucks-y combo of Cole Porter, Diana Krall, Ray Charles, and obscure Beatles tunes. It’s fun and cool.

Kiss George Clooney

You could also “kiss the groom,” but why not kiss George Clooney instead?

Take a sturdy board, and staple on a men’s shirt and pants combo from the thrift store. Draw in the hands and shoes, and glue on a life-sized printout of George Clooney’s winsome face. Have each guest apply a healthy dose of lipstick. Now blindfold her, turn her around three times, and have her try to kiss George Clooney on the lips. The closest kisser wins a prize (how about an inexpensive autographed photo from the man himself? Try eBay). The rest get to dream.

Lottery Tickets

Fast and simple, not too costly, and who knows? Someone might go home with special memories … to her new penthouse suite. It could happen!

Purse Pursuit

Or try a scavenger hunt — through a purse. In this game, give your guests a list of things you might find in one. Guests mark off items for points as they hunt through their own purses.

Give expected items (aspirin, cosmetics, mints) a few points. Hand out higher points for odder objects (tiny airline liquor bottles, a granola bar, crochet hooks, a Canadian coin). Award really high points for random items that might show up in a purse (a rock, toilet paper, chopsticks).

If all this seems too complicated, weigh each purse and hand out a prize to the heaviest handbag — since a gift certificate to an orthopedic specialist probably won’t fit your budget.

About the Author

Blake Kritzberg is editor of FavorIdeas. Stop by for continually-updated celebrity wedding news, ideas for a Tiffany blue wedding, exclusive hairstyling articles and thoughtful bridal shower favors.

Advice on Marriage, Brides, Diamonds and Weddings. Copyright 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Destination Honeymoon! – Get the Bride ready for her honeymoon by creating the shower theme around their post-nuptial destination. Are they heading for Paris? Why not serve yummy French favorites like croissants and fancy pastries and ask guests to include something in their gifts that will signify France or will be useful when they’re there. One Bride recently told me about the Bridal Shower her best friend and Maid of Honor hosted that was themed all around the tropical Mexican honeymoon that her Groom had planned for them in Cancun. She cleverly asked a local Mexican restaurant to help her out by saving their Cinco de Mayo decorations for her (which they were going to just throw out), served Margaritas and all kinds of yummy Mexican appetizers and a traditional tres leche cake for dessert. She requested that guests brought a little something with their gift to add into a beach bag for her. She received some wonderful sunglasses, beach towels and sunscreen along with a couple of fun girlie novels to take for her time at the beach. In turn, all the guests went home with a shower favor of mints in a colorful tin with palm trees and the ocean, the Bride’s name and “Viva Cancun!” personalizing the front. I’m sure it reminds them not only of the fun time they had at the shower, but makes them think of the couple off in their tropical spot.

Floral Delight! – Another friend recently told me about a shower she had just attended for a family member. Apparently the budget for the actual wedding was quite small and so as is very often the case these days, corners had to be cut wherever they could. The Bride-to-Be had been shocked when she was quoted thousands of dollars for the professionally done flowers she had always dreamed of having fill the church and reception. Because of cost, she had to cut back dramatically. Knowing this, her close friend and the hostess decided to include flowers she could do herself wherever possible for the bridal shower. From the invitations to the décor, the cake and the shower favors, live flowers or floral decor was everywhere. She even had shower favors for the guests that were fun plantable daisies that would grow into their own wildflowers reminding them of this day and the Bride for seasons to come. She filled vases with all colors, shapes and sizes of the Bride’s favorite flowers and used them to brighten the tables and decorated the whole shower with them. The Bride was even given her own mini-bouquet, a simple but pretty posey, at her seat to take home and the bridesmaids all had corsages that matched. To all the guests, it was simply a floral themed delight, but unbeknownst to all but a few, it was deeply meaningful and special to the Bride who had her dreams come true in a different way.

As you can see, with just a little planning and attention to the Bride an event like a bridal shower can be unique and really fun to plan – right down to the shower favors! The possibilities really are endless and it doesn’t take much to think of something special. Once you’ve established if the guest of honor has any expectations for you to follow, just get creative and start imagining. The Bride-to-Be will have a day she’ll always remember and your guests will enjoy something different than what they thought would greet them!

About the Author

Copyright © 2007 AllInOneFunFavors.com . Cheryl Salto loves helping to make celebrations personal and meaningful as the owner of AllInOneFunFavors.com specializing in providing an extensive online selection of Bridal Shower and other event favors at http://www.allinonefunfavors.com/bridal-shower-gifts.html for life’s special celebrations.

Advice on Marriage, Brides, Diamonds and Weddings. Copyright 2009. All Rights Reserved.

So, your friend or loved on is soon to be a bride-to-be. Are you struggling to find that perfect gift for the bride? If so, give yourself a break, take out a pen, and jot down these ideas for the ultimate bridal gift.

In the past, according to tradition, bridal shower gifts were geared to help the couple get household items for their new home as well as items to decorate and maintain their home. Taking a trip over to the local Target or Wal-Mart and checking out the registry to purchase these items was a snap.

However, times do change! Don’t get caught brining a set of dishes to the bridal shower while everyone else brings things that are perfect for the bride-to-be. In reality, items to pamper and assist the bride with her upcoming wedding should be the theme of bridal gifts.

Since today’s bride usually has set up her home, has a career, and has lots of household items anyway, what really is need are gifts to pamper he. She also needs gifts that she may not think to buy for herself or can’t remember due to her upcoming wedding day.

Here is what really works when it comes to ultimate bridal gift giving:

1. Think Sentimental: these types of gifts work best for best friends, sisters, or a bride who hashad lots of special times and memories. Giving something that will help the bride-to-be recall special memories in her life will surely bring a smile to her face. A picture of she and that special friend, brother, sister, or parents, etc., engaged in a memorable activity from the past is the ultimate sentimental gift.

2. Think Pampering: there are tons of bridal gifts that meet these criteria. Gift ideas include her favorite bath soap, lotion, or shower gel. Think “Bath and Body Works” or “Victoria’s Secret”. Choose a bottle of perfume with a scent you know she will love to wear on her wedding day. A special coupon for a massage or trip to a day spa would also make awesome gifts.

3. Think Lingerie: Help gear her up for her honeymoon. Assist her by purchasing some fancy lingerie.

4. Think Wedding Day Survival Kit: Wedding days are exciting but also can be quite busy and nerve wracking. Think what might she miss, as she?s involved in all the hustle and bustle prior to the wedding. Gift ideas include hair spray, hairpins, clips, lipstick, and even deodorant! Place all items in a special bag with a note that says “Just in case your forget!”

These are just a few gift ideas for the bride-to-be. Keep in mind the types of pampering the bride enjoys, what special memories she might have, what will make her day less stressful, and what you can do to help her have a rocking honeymoon! If you think along these lines, you’ll be sure to give the ultimate bridal gift!

About the Author

Monique Hawkins is the owner of Monique’s Music Box. Located at http://www.My-Music-Box.com is a music box gift store specializing in products such as inlaid music boxes, wooden keepsake boxes, ballerina music boxes for ballerina rooms décor, and musical jewelry boxes. The company also provides interesting information for music lovers of all ages. Monique also is an associate with USANA Health Sciences. One of her passions is encouraging and supporting others in their endeavors to obtain optimal health and wellness. Visit http://www.usana.com/en/products/us/essentials/what_essentials.shtml/

http://www.usana.com/en/products/us/sense/index.shtml/
Copyright © 2007 Monique Hawkins

Advice on Marriage, Brides, Diamonds and Weddings. Copyright 2009. All Rights Reserved.