Shespeaks Giveaway!

April is in full swing, which means it's the start of wedding season! Brides and grooms-to-be are starting to plan for their big day by registering for wedding gifts and frantically trying to fill in that last minute seating chart. If you’ve been put in charge of planning and organizing the bridal shower but are having a hard time coming up with a theme, we’ve got you covered, because we’re sharing some great ideas for themes that will make for the perfect party.

Planning for a bridal shower is an involved process, one that takes time and careful preparation. To help you get organized and start the planning process off right, check out this planning timeline and guide from bridalshower.com.

To be entered to win one of our giveaway prizes this week, simply submit a comment below sharing your bridal shower stories or create a review for a Home & Garden product that you think would make the perfect wedding gift. Better yet, do BOTH and get two chances to win!

Without further ado, here are our ideas for some great bridal shower party themes:

Music Era Shower: Plan the shower around a particular music era. For example, a party themed around the 40s could feature music from Harry James, Glen Miller, or Benny Goodman. You can have the guests dress up to match the era and decorate the venue with posters of musicians from that decade. For a party game, plan to sing some karaoke featuring songs that come only from the chosen era.

Reminiscing Shower: Have the guests bring photos of themselves with the guest of honor along with a note about the picture or occasion. Combine all of these pictures and notes into a scrapbook at the party to present to the bride to be. You can decorate the party location with photographs of the bride and groom at different ages. As a party game, have all the guests go around and share their favorite memory of the guest of honor.

Dessert Shower: Ask every guest to bring a dessert to the party. You can set up blind taste tests as a party game and award prizes to the best overall or richest dessert. Try to set up a number of different categories so that there are many winners. For a fun party favor idea, hand out small gift baskets with different cookies wrapped in cellophane and tied with ribbons. For a wide selection of great dessert recipes, check out tasteofhome.com.

Alphabet Shower:This bridal shower theme starts with the invitations. Have each invite contain the letters of the bride to be’s name (first, middle, and last) and assign each guest a letter from her name. Instruct each guest to bring a gift that starts with their assigned letter and make sure that they write the letter on the wrapping so that it’s clearly visible. As guests arrive and gifts stack up, the gifts will begin to spell out the name of the bride to be. For a party snack, make sugar cookies and then ask each guest to write, in icing, a word that describes the guest of honor that starts with the letters in her name.

Now we’d like to hear from you! What was your bridal shower or wedding like? Did you ever attend a bridal shower that had an interesting theme? Have you ever planned for a bridal shower or been involved in a wedding party? To be entered to win one of our giveaway prizes this week, simply create a review for a Home & Garden product that you think would make the perfect wedding gift or submit a comment below sharing your bridal shower stories. Better yet, do BOTH and get two chances to win! Comments and reviews must be submitted by 6pm EST on April 23rd, 2012. Good luck!