Autumn Themed Bridal Shower

My beautiful sister in law, Katie, above, is getting married in December.  A couple of months ago, I ran some fun, bridal shower theme ideas by her, and she loved the idea of a cream, gold, white and tan autumn shower.  It was so fun putting all the pieces in place, and I got to plan and prep with my other beautiful sister in law, Sarah.

It was raining, which was predicted, so we decorated and held the event inside.  Katie had a fantastic day, and it was so fun to see her smiling and glowing with happiness as we celebrated her upcoming wedding!

For the menu, we had a "He popped the question popcorn bar" for appetizers as guests arrived.  I made cones to hold the popcorn, which I bought from the Ma and Pa Kettlecorn store. 

After guests had mingled, we served lunch, which was a harvest salad, cornbread muffins and fruit kabobs.  I'll post the recipe for the harvest salad this week.  It is a go-to recipe for parties.

We also had a coffee bar set up in the kitchen and lemonade and water in another little serving area.

Finally, we ended with sweet treats. 
We had a caramel trifle, which I found off Pinterest here.  I will share this recipe later.  I would make some flavor and ingredient adjustments, which I'll share later.  It was still delicious, though.

We also had double chocolate, sour cream, chocolate chip cake pops and cake balls.  I'll also share that recipe soon!  Finally, my sister in law made a beautiful plate of pumpkin bread to round out the autumn theme.

If you have read about my candy bar baby shower game here, we adapted it to a wedding shower theme.  I'll write an upcoming post with those candies and words soon.  Here is the board after we played the game. . .

To end the party, we gave each guest a caramel apple with Heath bar and drizzled chocolate.  I used my Silhouette to make autumn leaves and write a cute little tag that tied in with the autumn theme.

It was a wonderful day and party.  Here are some more pics!  Thanks for stopping by!

My beautiful sisters in law

Centerpieces

I didn't get a very good picture of the pretty banner I made, but you get the idea. . .

New apron

The guests

Marina made a beautiful ribbon bouquet

Katie and my mother in law, Susan.

We love you, Katie!  We had fun celebrating with you!

Fun Candy Bar/Memory Card Shower Game

Most of you know I recently hosted an owl themed baby shower.  You can see pictures and read about it here. 

I promised I would write about the game that I played at the shower, so here are the details.  I apologize for the picture quality.  I didn't take many pictures of the game the day of the shower since I was running it, and the pictures I do have of the board are in our poorly lit family room at night. 

The game is a memory/matching game that I learned a few years ago from my friend Jen.  It is so unique and fun, and most guests haven't seen the game before.

You start with a posterboard.  I wrapped mine in wrapping paper that coordinated with the shower theme and colors. 

I then cut out 24 rectangular pieces of cardstock and folded them over so they looked and opened like a card.  (My cards were hinged on the lefthand side and the cover opened to the side).

I glued wrapping paper to the front of each "card" of cardstock and then glued the cards to the front of the posterboard. 

There is no magic number of cards to use.  You need to have an even number, since each word has a pair/duplicate written on the board.  I threw another shower last summer where I only had 18 cards glued on the front of the posterboard.

I glued large font, typed words inside each card, so they are only visible to read when you open the card.  You could also use pictures or images of the word instead of written words.  If you make 24 cards, you need to come up with 12 baby related words.  You will write each word twice and scramble them around on the board so the same word is not directly next to each another.

I then glued a number on each card front so the guest can tell me which numbers to open.

I used tiny pieces of velcro that I cut up to keep the flaps of each card shut when they weren't yet matched (a little hard to see in the picture). 

That is it!

Here is how you play:
--Go around the room and have each guest give you two cards to open.  They are trying to find a "match."  If the two numbers they choose are not a match, you close the cards shut again and go to the next guest.

--If they do get a match, you give the guest who got the match a candy bar that cooresponds to the word they matched.  This is the fun and creative part.  See my examples below.
Leave the cards they matched slightly open or have a way to mark them as "done", so others don't pick those numbers again. 

--Keep going around the room until all the cards are matched.

So here are the 12 words I used and the candy bar "prizes" for each pair of words:

Epidural--Lifesavers
Dirty Diaper--Tootsie Roll
Breastfeeding--Milky Way or Milk Duds
Daddy--Pop Rocks OR Sugar Daddy
Ultrasound--Look Candybar
Baby Giggles--Chuckles Gummy Candies or Snickers
College Fund--100 Grand Bar
Preemie--Runts Candies
Ob Gyn--Butterfinger (gross, but it always gets a good laugh)
Contractions--Whoppers Candy
Colic--Cry Babies Candies
Aspirator--Goobers chocolate candies

There you go!  Be creative and make up your own word/candy associations.  You don't have to use mine.

I went to the Powell's Candy Store near to where I live to get the candies, and they carry almost every kind of candy imaginable.  I'm sure you can find candies you need online as well.

You could adapt this game for any type of party.  Here are some examples for a wedding shower:

Diamond--Ring Pop
Nicknames--Sweettarts
Vows--Gushers
Groom--Mr. Goodbar or Big Hunk
Commitment--Now and Laters
Honeymoon--Red Hots
Argument--Warheads or Rocky Road
Love--Good N Plenty
Babies--Junior Mints or Runts
Wedding Night--Skor Bar
Hugs and Kisses--Hershey's Hugs and Kisses

Have fun trying this at your next wedding or baby shower!  I'm know it will be a hit!

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