Skip the Traditional Recipe Sharing

My sister is getting married next year so we have started to discuss her bridal shower.  She decided since she doesn't cook and most people forger not to bother with creating a collection of recipes.   So we have come up with two alternative ideas....
The first is to ask people to bring cleaning tricks to share.. like use this household product to get wine out of carpet and then supply that product.
The second idea is to ask everyone to bring their spare change to feed the honeymoon piggy bank.
Now since participation isn't always great with these extras we thought we would give away raffle tickets and create a basket to give away.  So instead of asking just for these items you can just say purchase raffle tickets for a great basket giveaway.  For every cleaning gift or $1 you get a ticket.   Other ideas could be stock the bar and for every bottle receive a raffle ticket.  Or every kitchen item brought in gets a ticket.
Hope this helps those planning showers :)

More for the Great Outdoors

I think the girl scout in me was the inspiration here, but how cute would it be to create S'mores gift packages either as a welcome gift and invite your guests to spend "S'more time with you" before the wedding or as a wedding favor as an after party gathering.  You could brown lunch bag it to keep it simple and casual or fancy it up as much as you want with personalized labels on your chocolate bars, ribbons to tie everything together.  Or if you really want to keep it simple you could create post card size invites or even simpler print fliers to invite your guests to spend "S'more time with you".

(Photo provided by Wikipedia)

For the Great Outdoors

There are so many wonderful options for centerpieces, but here is one inspired by the nature lovers that love to go hiking.  Purchase glass conisters that have lids or you could even use small mason jars and stack them in a pyramid and they could double as the wedding favor.  Fill the glass container with your favorite trail mix or make your own.  If you want to add more color you can add ribbon to match the colors of your wedding.  Easy & simple.  And I'm huge fan of the fact that you're not just spending money on something that will wind up in the trash that night or the next day...at least your guests can enjoy your centerpiece as an after party snack or for energy the next day :)



Check out the colors the trail mix can bring to your centerpiece...





(Above photo found on e-how.com)



(Above photo found on ThriftyFun.com)

Or if you have something already in mind for your centerpiece this would make an excellent wedding favor or welcome gift.....think brown paper lunch bags stamped for decoration filled with trail mix.  So cute!!!