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We all know that not everyone looks forward to their bridal shower. Previously we've talked about anxieties over someone bringing a gift to a no-gift shower, getting stuck when it comes to including dudes, and agonizing over not wanting a shower at all.
Then Offbeat reader Julie offered an awesome suggestion for a bridal shower perfect for both literary nerds and those who don't want a typical wedding shower…
My wonderful friends offered to host a shower and didn't understand the concept of a feminist, gift-less, pre-wedding party. So I sized up my priorities and asked if we could do a book shower. Each person brought a book that reminded them of their relationship with me. We played one game, too. It was a nice way to meet them halfway.
Oh, and think of all the fun decor options. I'm thinking use some of these book decor tutorials (Psst: If you're worried about the horrors of book mutilation, Offbeat Home has great advice for you)…
- Use this origami book folding tutorial to make awesome centerpieces.
- Turn your plain ‘ol votives into themed votives and party favors with this book page votive tutorial.
- Turn your old books into decor with the tear drop folded book tutorial
- Use these book origami peices both decor items and the prizes, if you're going to play games!
Speaking of games, what kind of game ideas can y'all come up with for a book party shower? Let's crowdsource the perfect book party shower right now!
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How cool! I did something like this for a birthday party once — I asked everyone to bring a copy of a favorite book, wrapped, & then we put them in a pile, & ppl picked a book (other than their own). When they unwrapped it, the person who brought the book explained a little about why it was a great book. We had some fun conversations about literature & everyone left with a gift. Could do the same thing as a wedding shower, with or without a theme, like books about love, romance, marriage, your relationship w/the couple, your wishes for the couple’s life together, etc.
The only game we played at my shower was the “name game” & that could work with a literary theme too. As each guest arrives, a name tag is put on their back with the name of a famous person & they have to ask the other guests questions to figure out who the person is. Could use famous/favourite writers’ names.
The name one mentioned above is awesome. You could also have a list of one half of famous couples from literature and have people fill in their partner or brief discriptions of couples and a “name that couple” challenge.
A play on the old How a Well Do You Know The Bride: have the bride compare various aspects of her life or her partner with characters from her favorite books and have a matching game. “Maria said her childhood was most like…. Anne Shirley” “Maria said Adrian is like— the queen of hearts— when he’s hungry”.
I’m about to throw my second book shower within my friend group. We come up with a theme and ask people to get books around it. The first was Love Stories and the second is Journeys. It’s great to see how people interpret the theme with their favorite novel, children’s book or cook book.
We also played Mad Libs during the first one… and had a lot of mimosas. 🙂
Now I want to throw a literary birthday party or something since my wedding is over! Maybe I’ll tweak this for a baby shower in the future. Guests bring their favorite children’s book!!