You don’t have to spend a ton of money to throw a memorable bridal shower on a budget — just follow these 7 steps!
Hosting a bridal shower is an incredible honor and opportunity to show the bride-to-be just how much you care about her. Luckily, you don’t need to have a big budget to throw a beautiful, memorable party that doesn’t cut any corners.
If you’re wondering how you can possibly pull everything together without spending tons of cash to do it, you’re in the right place. Below, we’ll show you how to host a budget-friendly bridal shower in a few simple steps. Don’t worry — your secret’s safe with us!
Step 1: Set your budget
Before you start planning the shower, get a general idea of how much money you’re willing to spend. A simple shower can run you around $18 per guest, so a safe rule of thumb is to plan on spending closer to $20–$25 per guest just to give yourself some wiggle room. You can also consider co-hosting to help offset costs without compromising your vision.
Step 2: Find a free venue
There’s no need to feel any pressure to host a bridal shower in a formal venue like a restaurant, hotel, or country club — you can create the perfect atmosphere right in the comfort of your home (or someone else’s). If a generous guest volunteers their home, go for it! Other fun, free venue options include beach pavilions and local parks. Just be sure to check the forecast if you’re planning on hosting outdoors!
Step 3: Email your invites
Let’s be honest: even the most affordable bridal shower invitation sets can cost a significant amount of money that digs into your party budget. Save on the paper and opt for email invites instead. Paperless Post makes it easy to customize your party invitations and track RSVPs, and they don’t skimp on beautiful design — so your guests will still love receiving them in their inbox. If you want to keep the invitations completely free, use your creativity to design them on Canva.
Step 4: DIY your decor
You don’t have to be a professional party planner to set up a gorgeous bridal shower on a budget. Some easy, inexpensive ways to spruce up any space include:
- Using tablecloths to add instant elegance to any table
- Adding artificial flowers to your DIY floral arrangements
- Renting a helium tank to fill your own balloons
- Creating a giant balloon arch
- Buying banners and other essentials with your Target RedCard for 5% off your purchase
- Printing photos of the bride at home to string up around your party space
Step 5: Print your games
Purchasing a variety of pre-printed bridal shower games can start to add up fast. Luckily, there are so many great Etsy shops offering downloadable game sets that you can print at home. But, you could also play paperless games, like “pass the bouquet” — whoever has the bouquet when the music stops is out each round — or “don’t say bride.” If you’re celebrating outdoors, you can keep things more casual with ring toss, corn hole, and other backyard games.
Step 6: Be strategic with food and drinks
Keeping your food costs low is all about timing; planning a mid-afternoon or late evening shower means you can get away with light bites or dessert and coffee. There’s nothing wrong with serving a buffet of finger foods at your bridal shower — it’s all about the presentation. You can easily impress your guests with a well-designed cheese board, fruit kabobs, cucumber tea sandwiches, mini quiches, and a store-bought cake on a gorgeous stand. For drinks, stick to easily batched beverages like lemonade, iced tea, and citrus-infused water in 2-gallon dispensers.
Step 7: Celebrate!
When party time comes, be sure to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your budget-savvy labor. The best part? No one will be the wiser that you kept it low-cost, because like we said: you don’t have to cut corners to throw a great bridal shower on a budget. If they ask what your secret is, just tell them you get all your party-hosting tips from RegistryFinder.com!