One of my closest friends, Fiza, is getting married in a couple weeks. As part of our obligatory best friend duties—and our undying love for her of course, the TTC and I hosted her bridal shower. It was one of my favorites to pull together because the theme was so different from anything I’ve done in the past. Fiza is an undercover baker. I’ve mentioned in previous posts, that she needs to open up her own bakery. Her love of baking led me to pull together a full baking-themed bridal shower.
So how exactly do you pull off a baking-themed bridal shower? Let me show you …
Centerpieces
To tie in the baking theme to the entire shower, I used everyday kitchen items and appliances as centerpieces. This was the first time I used wet foam, as well as made my own arrangements. The fun part was picking out what flowers I thought looked good together in each of the centerpieces. The not so fun part, making sure I got all the stems into the wet foam so the flowers wouldn’t die on me.
I picked up a few dozen roses from Costco [$19.99 per bouquet], as well as the baby’s breath and greenery, all for a very reasonable price.
I’m not a florist, and after making these arrangements, I have a newfound respect for florists.
Materials
- Wet Floral Foam
- Kitchen Appliances [I used a small colander, pot, food processor, blender and bunt pan]
- Assorted Flowers [light pink, fuchsia and white roses; white and pink carnations]
- Heavy-duty Scissors, for cutting the stems
Directions
First figure out how much floral foam you will need for each appliance/kitchen tool and cut the floral foam to fit
Next, soak the floral foam in lukewarm water. To do this, fill a large bucket with water, carefully place the foam on top. As the foam absorbs the water, it will begin sinking. DO NOT push the foam all the way down, allow it to slowly sink on it’s own. Once the foam is fully emerged in water, it’s ready to use.
Arrange your flowers to your liking. Don’t be afraid to mix together colors and types of flowers.
When you’re ready to assemble your centerpiece, choose your appliance/tool and place the floral foam inside.
Cut the stems off the flower arrangement to fit the height of your centerpiece.
Carefully place the arrangement in the foam. Make sure all your stems have poked through the foam – if not, they will begin wilting.
Repeat for the remaining appliances/tools.
Cupcake Dress Cake
It’s all about presentation, presentation and shortcuts. For the dress-cake, I used boxed cake and canned frosting [I just didn’t have enough time to make cupcakes from scratch].
Materials
- 2 Boxes Strawberry Cake Mix
- 4 14 oz Cans White Fluffy Frosting
- Piping Bag
- Cupcake Liners
- Flowers [for the belt]
- Boxed Cupcake mix and canned frosting
- 1 inch open star Frosting Tip
- 1 plastic table cover in the color of your choice
- 1 Large Cardboard Poster Board [$1 at the dollar store]
Directions
Bake the cake mix as directed in the cupcake liners
Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting
In the meantime, wrap your poster board with the table cover to create a sleek base
Arrange your cupcakes on the wrapped board in the shape of a dress. I used about 61 cupcakes to fill the entire board
Assemble your piping bag and frosting tip and fill the piping bag by spooning in frosting
Carefully frost the cupcakes by creating a flower-like design
To do this, simply start in the middle and work your way out by making a large swirl
Once you’ve frosted the cupcakes, cut the ends off 4 roses and place them in between the narrowest part of your dress, creating a belt
Donut Rings
The easiest, and cutest addition to the dessert table was the donut “rings.” Make sure when you’ve assembled the rings, you place them on a display allowing the full shape of the rings to show.
For the diamond template and instructions visit Evite.
Photo Backdrop
No party of complete without a photo backdrop. For Fiza’s bridal shower, I used our core colors: pink, fuchsia, white and a touch of teal.
Materials
- Streamers in white, teal, pink and fuchsia
- Packing Tape
- Scissors
- Props
Directions
I suggest you find a space on the floor where no one will bother you
Cut a long strip of packing tape and place on the ground, sticky-side up. You’ll use this to hold down the individual pieces of steamer
Decide, before you stick, how you want to alternate the colors. I did fuchsia, baby pink, white and a hint of teal.
Cut each streamer to the length desired and stick them to the tape. Continue alternating colors until you’ve reached the end of your packing tape strip.
Add another long piece of packing tape, this time sticky-side down on top of the first layer and the row of streamers. This way, you’ve made it easier to move the backdrop to your desired location and also easier to tape up to the wall.
Once you’ve taped the backdrop to the wall, put all your props on a table for easy access during the party.
Salad Bar
This was one of my favorites to pull together. The most time-consuming part of the salad bar was filling the jars and arranging them on the table.
Materials
- 4 2 Quart Mason Jars
- 2 1 Quart Mason Jars
- 12 ½ Quart Mason Jars
- 1 6-cup Muffin Tray
- Salad Ingredients, I used:
- Mixed Greens
- Baby Spinach
- Grilled Chicken Slices
- Shrimp
- Marinated Artichoke
- Pitted Olives
- Shredded Carrots
- Corn Kernels
- Sliced Cherry Tomatoes
- Feta Cheese
- Sliced Cucumbers
- Sliced Red and Yellow Peppers
- Chopped Red Onions
- Chopped beets
- Chopped Mushrooms
- Chick Peas
- Add-ons, I used:
- Craisins
- La Choy
- Sliced Salted Almonds
- Sunflower Seeds
- Chopped Turkey Bacon
- Sprouts
Directions
Make sure to run the jars through the dishwasher before use, especially if you’re using them for the first time
Fill the large 2-quart jars with mixed greens and baby spinach
Fill the 1 quart jars with the meats; chicken and shrimp
Fill the ½ quart jars with the other salad ingredients
The add-ons go into the 6-cup muffin pan
Be sure to include tongs for the greens and spoons for the other veggies
Favors
To tie in the whole baking theme, we gave out mason jars with cookie mix in it and labeled them with chalkboard stickers that read: “Love is sweet”
Materials
- 12 ½ Quart Mason jars
- 2 boxes Chocolate Cake Mix
- White, milk and dark chocolate
- Chalkboard stickers
- Chalk
Directions
Fill each mason jar in the following order:
¾ cup Cake Mix
¼ Cup Dark chocolate Chips
¼ cup White Chocolate Chips
¼ cup Milk Chocolate Chips
Place the chalkboard sticker on the front of the jar
Using chalk, write “Love is Sweet” on the sticker
Be sure to include instructions for baking:
Pour contents of the jar into a medium bowl
Add 1 egg and 1/4 cup oil
Mix together until the batter thickens
Refrigerate for 45 minutes
Drop spoonfuls of the the batter onto an ungreased baking sheet
Bake for 8-9 minutes at 350 degrees
We had some other baking-inspired elements, including marriage advice on wooden spoons, a display apron that was gifted to the bride, and a banner above the dessert table that read “Love is Sweet.”
