I purchased the shimmery champagne damask stationery in sets of 10 per pack at Papyrus, stamped and glittered the ring cutout, cut and pasted the scrapbook paper stock, and hand-tied the bow to the front. On the inside, I printed and glued the top and bottom on normal print paper, then slid the cloud-edged map print outs under the bottom panel. The picture doesn't quite do it justice, but it was a lot of fun putting it together from 'scratch'.
The Bridal Bingo cards were one of my favorite aspects of this project, because - out of instigated necessity and sheer OCD perfectionism - I personalized each and every calling card. Each card was peppered with images of the bride, groom, and flower girl (my daughter!), as well as an image of the proposal site, and items related specifically to them (i.e., Jen's affinity for the Apple brand, James' name over his favorite color). This naturally omitted irrelevant items including "nosegay" or "Vegas", which come standard on most bridal bingo games, but are completely obsolete in this case.
As a bonus, I printed a section behind the bingo cards for guests to bestow good wishes and advice in writing. This doubled as a keepsake that could be bound or displayed in some small way in the future. Normally, those old bingo cards would likely end up as unused rubbish after the shower. The bingo sheets were inserted by two opposite corners onto a single black sheet of card stock, which also worked as a firm surface for writing those wishes or placing the bingo markers (Hershey's kisses). Simple and sublime!
Another part of this project that I particularly enjoyed was that I was able to compile over twenty recipes from invited guests (but didn't get a photo of the finished product!), and present it to the guest of honor, complete in a chartreuse binder album and with plastic sheet protectors for when it gets messy.
Other games not already mentioned included a Door Prize via the nearest birthday or anniversary list, which the guests passed around at the beginning of the event. This list was also compiled just for the bride-to-be, for future reference! We also had a lot of fun playing Bridal Pictionary, and the Famous Couples Matching game, which included such duos as Peanut Butter & Jelly, Zeus & Hera, Bert & Ernie, Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette, and of course Romeo & Juliet, etc.
Finally, my absolute favorite were the prizes! These consisted of simple stationery items from Hobby Lobby ($1.99 each), a guest soap set and a Willow Tree praying angel figurine (both of which were re-gifted), a small Ikea vase ($2.99), and silver heart measuring spoons purchased online at beau-coup. I wrapped all in plain, inkless packing paper, embellished with satin ribbon I had lying around, and a pea-colored embroidery thread I'd had from a custom necklace I'd made years ago. Since a couple of our games, like Bridal Bingo, lasted for more than one round, I also gave a few pieces of my Fire Wire Gems jewelry from old collections as prizes.
All in all, it was a great event, and one which I had a great time organizing and hosting! It was a lot of work; particularly since I was in the middle of an out-of-state move. But I think everyone appreciated all the details of the big picture, and I hope to have the opportunity to use these resources again!
What is there more kindly than the feeling between host and guest?
~ Aeschylus
Posts
