How to Host a Honey-Do Bridal Shower

Most showers focus almost exclusively on the bride, often leaving the groom feeling left out and undervalued. Couples showers are gaining popularity as men are becoming more involved in the wedding planning process and conventional views surrounding marriage norms are changing. Honey-do showers are usually co-ed and center on home improvement and chores. Here's how to have a honey-do shower.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Make a guest list. Ask the bride and groom for a list of their couple friends. It is appropriate to invite single friends as well, just make sure there are enough to exclude feelings of awkwardness or loneliness at the party.
2. Pick invitations with an appropriate theme. Several retailers specializing in wedding stationary sell shower invitations specifically for honey-do showers or, more generally, for couples showers. Choose a design that appeals to men and women.
3. Include information about the couples wedding registry on the invitation. If the couple is not registered, assign each shower guest to a room in the house to minimize duplicate gifts.
4. Develop a menu. Finger foods and fancy desserts are typical bridal shower fare. In keeping with the home improvement theme, serve grab-and-go foods like pizza, potato chips and brownies. Instead of punch, serve wine, beer and iced tea.
5. Plan a game or activity for the shower with a small, inexpensive tool as a prize. A variation on a popular couples shower game determines which guest knows the bride and groom best. Have the engaged couple answer ten questions about their relationship on a sheet of paper, such as how they met. Each guest will answer the same questions and the guest with the most correct answers wins.
6. Assign a shower guest, or take it upon yourself, to record gifts on paper for thank-you notes. Be sure to write down a description of each gift and who it came from.

Tips & Warnings

• The maid-of-honor traditionally throws a bridal shower. Since the honey-do shower is typically for couples, the maid-of-honor and best man should share planning duties.
• Ask the bride and groom to create a guest list, complete with addresses and phone numbers, before you purchase invitations.

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