"From the moment I laid eyes on my 50s inspired tea length wedding gown, I knew I'd eventually have a "housewife" themed bridal shower. Besides that parallel, I love the era, music and clothes. The decade is also perfect for the theme because of its emphasis on cooking,cleaning and appearance, which really lends to the kinds of gifts you receive at a shower. We found invites on Etsy and printed them out on cardstock paper at Mr. Kopy when we did our DIY invites in February and—after a long wait and lots of hard work— we (my mom, maid of honor and I) were able to throw a Pinterest-worthy shower!
The first part in planning this shower was finding a venue I could afford in my $200-250 budget, meaning free.
Pictured at left is our bridal shower VENUE, which is actually a small clubhouse at my great-grandparent's mobile home park in Los Molinos, CA. The tables, chairs, couches and full kitchen were all provided, for free, by the park and it could easily seat 40 people, though only around 20 came.
The decor really already added to the theme, with it's mismatched chairs and floral cushions, but we added checkerboard tablecloths from Party Town (found in the Spring/ Easter section) and strung my mother's apron collection from clothesline around the whole party. We also added baloons (not pictured) outside and the "bride to be" banner is from the dollar store. {Sidenote: I had no idea my mother was such an apron connoisseur. I love it…}
We had really nice engagement pictures gifted by my good friend Chanie (at left), owner of Chanie Bee Photography, that were displayed in my home already. We decided to bring them over to add to the decor and blew up one shot (on top of the display) into a 16x20 at Walmart for SO cheap. It's fake canvas, cost around $20 and we were able to bring it home later to hang. What a deal!!!!
We also used more pictures scattered around centerpieces and table decorations.
All the flowers were bought at the supermarket and cut down by my MOH to fit cute little vases. We had so many extra after that we made a bouquet for my mom to take home.
FOOD AND DRINKS
For drinks we served pink lemonade (with strawberry slices) and ice water (with lemon/ orange slices) in large, 3 gallon, beverage containers I got at Walmart for $20 each. My MOH created little labels for everything out of craft paper to match our theme, which really helped with all the food.
We got quiche lorraine and artichoke/spinish quiche in pie form at Costco and also served crustless chicken salad sandwiches with almonds (my mom's recipe) and tiny cucumber sandwiches. In addition to heavy food we also provided watermelon fruit bowls and spinach dip, which we ordered pre-made from our local Raley's.
The real star of the shower was my AMAZING cake gifted to me by my MOH.
She got it at Cake is the Best Part in Redding and it was strawberry filled in one layer and banana flavored in another (my favorites). I really love the fondant detailing in the cake which featured aprons, necklaces, a sewing machine, heels, cupcakes and a "homemade pie"/ rolling pin.
DECORATIONS
We used a combination of old household items and floral arrangements as centerpieces, which we scored at an antique shop. Among antiques were cookie jars, scales, pots and pans, picnic baskets, timers and handheld mixers. We also had framed "housewife rules" from a real issue of "Better Homes & Garden" from the 50s.
My MOH re-configured the images/ text on her laptop and just bought cheap frames.
