Hey ya’ll, Makenzie here, and today we’re talking about Kellie’s bridal shower. Kellie actually had two bridal showers, but we’re going to focus on the one I planned since I have all the details saved. I hope this can be a guide for anyone who may be planning a bridal shower for a friend or loved one. I had so much fun planning this shower and I absolutely loved how it turned out!

THEME

The first step to planning an amazing bridal shower is the theme. The theme for Kellie’s shower was Malibu Barbie. Malibu Barbie was the easiest theme ever to choose considering Kellie literally is a Malibu Barbie. I was inspired by the Show Me Your MuMu owners who had a similar shower. I was basically going for a tropical, pink, girly vibe.

LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but location is everything when planning an event/party (did I mention I’m an event planner??). I debated for weeks (okay, maybe months) about where to host this shower. Restaurants with private rooms are great for bridal showers, but I didn’t think it went with the tropical vibe. Kellie’s apartment (which at the time was in Newport Beach) would have been perfect besides the size and hosting it at Kellie’s parents house was out of the way for many of Kellie’s friends. We ended up deciding to host it at Kellie’s apartment clubhouse, which they rented out, however we were notified that they we’re under construction. This lead us to the Newport Bluffs apartment complex clubhouse. Their clubhouse is perfect for a tropical party with beachy decor and furniture.

INVITATIONS

I found the most perfect tropical invites on Basic Invite. I changed the colors to match the party colors and added in my own details. They were super easy to work with! I also ordered pre-addressed envelopes to make my life a little easier and I just added stamps and sent them off once they arrived to my home.

FOOD

For catering, we decided to order Island’s (a southern California favorite). The only downside was that they did not deliver. If I were to do it all over again, I would have done delivery since we were so busy setting up that we had to have Kellie’s brother go pick up the food.

For drinks, we had water with lemons and limes and a tropical party punch (9 cups pineapple juice, 3 cups orange juice, 2 cups orange peach mango juice, 4 cups Malibu rum, Grenadine, pineapple chunks, maraschino cherries + ice). Yummy!!

One of my favorite parts of the bridal shower was the dessert bar! We started with a plain white round cake from Costco and then added some fresh flowers to it. I also added a tropical “Bride to Be” cake topper. Kellie’s mom picked up some pink macarons and white mini donuts from a local bakery and we added the glitter pineapple toppers to the donuts. Next, we used glass jars of different sizes for pink candy (purchased in bulk on Amazon). Final touches were the picture frames with photos of Kellie and Jesse, tropical napkins, and pink paper plates. I also added this custom banner from ETSY. It turned out super cute and pink!

DECOR

For decor, I wanted Kellie to have a special chair for opening gifts in. I rented the peacock chair from Crowned Rentals in Long Beach (the chair is named Kelly). The chair was super reasonably priced, but just note that they do not deliver. I also added some fake flowers to the top and tied it with zip ties. It turned out to be adorable and Kellie loved it!

The balloon arch was ordered from Amazon (it came with the leaves) and I put it together the night before, then in the morning we fixed the few balloons that had deflated. I also ordered the flamingo and pineapple LED figurines from Amazon. I also bought several palm leaves from Amazon, which were spread around the room. Note: these balloon arches take awhile to make so be sure to leave enough time.

The sign was ordered from ETSY and we were sent a downloadable image to update with Kellie’s name and the date of the shower. We took this to FedEx to print and then framed it.

One of my favorite details was the photo booth. We used these fringe streamers that I found on ETSY (I ordered two packs). I used this tape to stick it to the wall. Then, I added the paper leaves and flowers, which I also purchased on ETSY.

For the centerpieces, we bought pineapples, cored them and added flowers. It was super easy and everyone loved them!

I printed out several photos of Kellie and Jesse from all their years of dating and used pink clothespins and string to hang them over all the doors. It was a super cute detail!

FAVORS

For party favors, I bought these super cute pineapple bottle openers from Amazon and added a custom gift tag which I ordered and printed from ETSY. We also had game prizes, which were Starbucks giftcards and candles.

GAMES

We played a few games during the shower. First, we played the toilette paper game. I’m sure you’ve heard of it, but it’s where you separate into groups and then create a toilette paper wedding dress together with a time limit. The bride picks the winner!

Next, we played several bridal shower paper games which I found on ETSY and we printed on cardstock.

During the entire shower, we played the ring game. The ring game is where everyone takes a plastic ring at the beginning of the shower and takes the ring of anyone who says “wedding” or “bride“. The person with the most rings at the end is the winner! I printed out the instructions from ETSY and bought the rings on Amazon. This one was a lot of fun and it was really funny watching people avoid saying “wedding” or “bride”.

If you are planning a bridal shower, please reach out to us! I would love to offer some help throughout the process. Side note: I also planned this shower from Texas (shower was in California), so if you have any questions or need advice on planning a shower out of state please don’t hesitate to ask. We hope you all enjoyed this #WeddingWednesday and we can’t wait to keep sharing our insights throughout the coming weeks.

As always, be sure to follow us on Instagram @tallglassoffashion. We’ll see you there!

XOXO Kell & Mak