Monday, June 28, 2010

Garden themed Bridal shower a success

My balloon lady/ friend taught me how to make these balloon flowers. Aren't they just adorable? They take about 5 minutes each to do but they were very fitting for a garden themed bridal shower.
 
I put some on the front porch right before the guests arrived. I also decorated with fresh flowers throughout the house (just didn't seem to get pictures of them).




























I used my friend's chocolate fountain again, I think at this point I have used it more than she has! I just love the thing, probably because I like chocolate so much.














We played a few games including splitting up into groups and designing wedding dresses out of paper towels, toliet paper and tape with a 10 minute time limit. This is what our brides looked like. Trashy eh?


















Another fun thing that we did was wrote down phrases the bride said while she was opening her presents without her knowing and after she was all done we passed around the list and each person read one of her phrases after saying.. "This is what Nida will say on her wedding night..." It was VERY funny taking what she said out of context. Here is the soon to be bride listening and highly embarrassed. ;)


Check out what I put my gift in. I found this at Home Goods  and it's made out of recycled magazines. My friend (the soon to be bride) is big into making things out of other things so I thought she would like this. It even had the little chalk board tag already on it.
















To drink I served lemonade, fruit punch, bottled water and June Bugs (recipe here).

To eat I served crackers and cheese, fresh veggies with ranch dipping sauce, the chocolate fountain with lots of dipping items including fresh fruit and for her cake I made Banana Split Cake, which was perfect for a steamy hot day! Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture before it was half way eaten, sorry!
















Here is the recipe if you want to give it a try...

Banana Split Cake
serves 15

Ingredients:
2 cups crushed graham crackers
1 stick margarine
2-8 oz. pkgs of cream cheese (softened)
1- 1lb box powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
5 bananas
1- 20oz crushed pineapple
8oz cool whip
optional 1 cups chopped pecans for topping
optional 1 small far mar cherries for topping

Instructions: Combine melted margarine and graham cracker crumbs. Press into bottom of 9x13 pan/ dish. Combine softened cream cheese, powered sugar and vanilla. Blend until smooth; spread over crust. Slice bananas over cream cheese mixture, then spoon pineapple over bananas. Spread Cool Whip over all and top with pecans and halved cherries if desired. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

10 comments:

Heather{Our Life In a Click} said...

What a nice shower! I love the fruit display with their photo on top! The cake looks yummy as does the chocolate fountain. great gift too. Very nice job.

heather

Unknown said...

It looks like a very successful shower! You did a great job with the theme and your decorations. The food sounds great and the cake, YUM!!! xx

Patty in Oz said...

Hi Amy,
What a great party you hosted for your friend! Your home is so beautiful and I know it's a big job to fix everything 'just right' I don't know what photo I like best...the paper brides (so much fun!), the flower balloons or the yummy cake and chocolate fountain with fruit. I like that you took the photo after the guests were enjoying the treat...looks so good! You must be so tired?
I'm doing a garden theme room and your post gave me some great ideas.
Thank you for sharing!
Patty

Christy said...

That is all just so great! I really like the newspaper basket you put your gift in. The sundae cake looks a-maz-ing! I have to add that to my list soon!!!

Susan said...

Wow, Amy. You did a fabulous job for your friend's shower. The balloons were great! Never saw anything like them...I've seen animal balloons but the flowers were awesome. Everything sounded super. Sincerely, Susan

Emily {Frilly Details} said...

What a fun shower! Love all the special touches you added, I'm sure it made the soon-to-be bride feel loved.

Kateyed said...

What a clever shower...love those balloon flowers, Amy. Those are so clever.

I saw that same basket while checking out (another woman had one) and went back to get one...no luck! I thought they were very cool!

I have done that wedding night game before. It really is very funny!

decorating diva {aka deanna} said...

hi amy! thanks so much for becoming a follower of cottage romance! and for your sweet comments! looks like a fun bridal shower! here is the website where u can find the metal stamps, http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result/?category=&q=36+piece+1%2F8%22+letter%2Fnumber+stamping+set . i am fortunate enough to have a harbor freight in my city, but if you don't you can order them on the website> :) happy stamping!

Kristi said...

I love all your finds! And thank you for posting the recipe for this cake!!! I can't wait to try it!! Great shower! :)
Kristi

Unknown said...

Thanks for joining us for another great Anything Related! ~Bridgette