Parties and showers will be held to celebrate your impending union. How can you assist your party givers in saving a buck or two? There are many ways to cut corners and costs without cutting out class. Read on to find out more.
Have the event at the home of one of the shower hosts. A potluck dinner or one cooked by the hosts and bridesmaids might fit into their budget.
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Consider a couples shower. This is becoming increasingly popular as opposed to the “girls only” tradition. You can also save by combining the shower festivities with the bachelor/bachelorette party and celebrate the events all at once.
Scrimp & Save
Have a potluck shower where each guest is assigned to bring food and beverages.
Consider using potted plants, confetti, or balloons as centerpieces instead of elaborate flower bouquets.
Scrimp & Save
Make homemade, edible favors such as cookies or fudge.
Other cute, inexpensive shower party favors include small plants, sachets, scented soaps, candles or bath oils, a decorated tin full of colored jelly beans or pastel-colored candies, tiny glass vases with fresh-cut flowers, homemade brownies or pretty cookies wrapped in colorful cellophane and ribbon, a box of festive tea bags or coffees, miniature books, picture frames, stationery, and pretty notepads.
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Supply free entertainment. Guests can bring anecdotes about you, compete to dress you in a toilet paper gown, or take trivia quizzes about you and the groom.
If one or more groups of friends are giving you a shower or engagement party, see about consolidating decorations. Concentrate on purchasing centerpieces, banners, tablecloths, and so forth, that can be used for the showers, parties, and reception. It’s like getting things half or two-thirds off. Avoid items such as crepe paper or balloons that will not hold up from one event to the other. If you are having different showers with different groups of friends at each one, few would notice a repeat of decorations.
—Charlene W., Lakeland, FL
Frugal Freebie
Play board games for entertainment: Pictionary, Scattergories, bridge, poker, or charades are fun choices. The more interactive and team-oriented the game, the better!
Rent a karaoke machine for hours of embarrassment and singing fun. Videotape the singers!
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Inexpensive door prizes or gag gifts are a good incentive to break the ice and get people into the swing of things.
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Have one of your bridesmaids collect the ribbons off of your shower gifts and insert them into a paper plate or box top. That way, you’ll have a great souvenir and free bouquet to practice with at your wedding rehearsal.
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Finally, a note to the bride: Of course you will write a thank-you note, but don’t forget to bring a gift for the hosts of your shower to show your gratitude. A plant, cut flowers, wine, and homemade fruit basket or cookie bouquet are inexpensive ideas.
Economical Locations and Activities
Consider some of these fun and less costly locations: a spa or golf club weekend getaway (hopefully someone is a member and can get you a complimentary room or discounted rates); a winery that offers free tours and tastings; a live sporting event (seat location doesn’t matter!); a weekend at a beach house or ski lodge (which belongs to someone you know or who can get you a price break); a retro disco dancing place; a karaoke or dueling piano bar; a sports bar; a western theme bar with electric bull and line dancing; a funky, new restaurant; a comedy club (be sure to let them know who the bachelor/bachelorette is so they can be razzed!); or a ceramics-painting studio where partygoers can drink wine and decorate items for the couple’s new home.
My maid of honor brought me to a dueling piano bar, tipped the pianists, and had me go up on stage to be serenaded in front of everyone. I also had to do a shot with my hands behind my back. It was fun, harmless razzing and not as costly or raunchy as going to a strip bar. We all sang songs until dawn!
—Colby M., Fullerton, CA
Microbreweries can be rented out for groups to brew and bottle their own beer. Some establishments even have personalized computer label-making capabilities, so the bride and groom’s names and wedding date can be printed on the bottles. Free samples are also available at some microbreweries if you choose simply to visit instead of renting out the place.
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If you have a co-ed bachelor/bachelorette party, the group can celebrate together by playing a co-ed softball game or a round robin volleyball tournament, renting a boat and hanging out on the water, having a beach barbecue, joining in a men versus women scavenger hunt, or another fun group event that doesn’t cost too much.
Bring a disposable camera on your night out to record the highlights of your evening. Later on, write captions on the pictures to chronicle the activities, and put them in an inexpensive album to keep as a memento.
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A scavenger hunt is also an inexpensive activity. You or the groom can pose for pictures with members of the opposite sex you encounter throughout the evening. You and the groom can be required to collect risqué things from these folks such as an article of clothing, a kiss on the cheek, or an autograph.
Super Duper Deal
Have an ice cream sundae social or pizza-making party. Good eats and making things together make for great ice breakers and memories.
Economy-Priced Attire and Fun
You and the groom can dress in a way that distinguishes you from the rest of the group—a headband with white fabric attached to represent a wedding veil for you, a “groom” sign hung around the neck of the groom, or a baseball cap emblazoned with “bride” or “groom” will do!
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Dress up with a cheap necklace from a gumball machine and, throughout the evening, have men bite off one candy at a time. Photograph these moments.
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One group of bridesmaids baked a cake shaped like male genitalia to eat at the party. It makes for great photo opportunities and funny memories.
Dirty magazines, videos, or funny sex toys are much less expensive than hiring a stripper and also less potentially harmful to you, the groom, or a raucous group of revelers.
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Chip in on cab fare or a responsible designated driver to chauffeur you throughout the night.
Plan a theme for the rehearsal dinner and weave it throughout your centerpieces, attire, or entertainment. Then hunt for deals that reflect the budget. One couple had all the guests arrive in western garb for their hoe-down barbecue rehearsal dinner complete with hay bales and square dancing, while another served up make-your-own-fajitas at a Mexican fiesta.
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Better yet, forego the centerpieces, decorations, and other extraneous elements entirely.
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Consider alternative locations for the rehearsal dinner such as the back room at a fun pizza restaurant (which can be reserved for free!), a beach cookout, or a public park where you can barbecue.
Many of the following ideas can apply to both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding reception.
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Put together a “slide show” on a laptop computer with scanned-in photos (as opposed to organizing and paying for a video or slide show presentation) chronicling your relationship. Then play it on a projector.
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Have photos of you as babies or as a couple enlarged to poster size at your local printer or copymat and hang them as decoration. You can transform a black-and-white photo reprint from a photograph to an eleven by fourteen-inch poster on a copy machine for under a dollar, and it looks as good as a professional photo enlargement.
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Make several posters with photos or a collage of you and your fiancé with your friends and relatives. Put small captions beneath the photos so the wedding guests can find themselves and remember the fun times you have shared.
Frugal Freebie
For minimal cost, put together a photo album or scrapbook of your relationship for guests to peruse.
Make a poster-board time line of your lives and relationship with short descriptions of significant dates and events such as when and where you were born, where you attended college, how you met, where you shared your first kiss, and how you or the groom proposed.
Frugal Freebie
Collect and label photos of your parents, grandparents, siblings, and fiancé’s family’s weddings and share them on a display table.
Q. Is having just a couple’s shower enough for the bride and groom, or should the bride have an additional shower of her own?
A. One shower is plenty for a couple getting married and may save money by combining the events and having a group celebration. Plus, the event may even be able to double as a bachelor/bachelorette party, if the couple does not feel the need to have these prenuptial events, too. Fun themes that both genders will appreciate are “Around the House,” for which each guest brings a gift that corresponds to a preassigned room of the house, or “Outdoor Activities,” for which guests bring items such as sporting equipment, beach towels, or exercise gear. The “Handy Couple” shower is also popular for the honorees to stock up on tools and home accessories, and “That’s Entertainment” is a fun theme for stereo or video equipment, CDs and videos, and maybe even a popcorn popper.
