The lingerie shower is a fabulous way to shower the bride-to-be with personal, sexy gifts. Who wouldn’t enjoy opening up packages containing silk pajamas, sexy bra and panty sets and save-it-for-the-honeymoon negligees? These are little luxuries and that’s what a shower is all about… showering your friend with tokens of love and good wishes!
Save the See-Through Thong for the Bachelorette Party!
The intimate nature of lingerie itself lends this type of shower to being hosted by good friends. It might be a good idea to invite the bride’s grandmother to the “Stock The Kitchen Shower”—in the end, everyone will be more comfortable!
Invitations
As mentioned above, a “Lingerie Shower” is just that—an opportunity to gift the bride with sexy and flirty lingerie. Set the tone of your shower right off the bat with the invitation. The invitation itself will immediately convey to the guests whether over-the-top sexy or even trashy gifts are in order…or if they will be purchasing gifts that the new bride might actually wear!!
You might consider hand-making the invitations. The theme of the shower kind of lends itself to this—you could cut out a simple bodice shape, using nice white or ivory card stock. Try attaching pretty lace or ribbon, or even glue on a few rhinestone embellishments. Hot glue guns will work best and be the least noticeable! Again… if it’s more of a bachelorette party-type shower you are going for, the invitation can be a black lace garter. You get the idea.
Decorate? For a Lingerie Shower?
You bet! You can really go all out here, giving your home a sexy, feminine vibe (not that it doesn’t already feel sexy and feminine)! Start out with a good housecleaning. No, really. Simply scrubbing the floors and cleaning the bathrooms will make it smell great. Make up a sink-full of PineSol and wipe everything down with that. The stuff will make your whole house smell clean!! Next, you’ll want to have plenty of fresh flowers on hand. This time of year, there are many sources for flowers. Sam’s Club and Costco always have huge bouquets of beautiful flowers that aren’t budget-breakers. You can pick up your food while you’re there, too! More on the good eats later. Another spot for flowers is your own backyard! Or your neighbor’s. Or your mother’s. Pick whatever’s blooming and it will look great. You might also check out your local farmer’s market for fresh blooms. Purchase some scented candles to lend a nice soothing, sexy feel to the day. Nothing overpowering—save the apple pie scent for fall. Maybe something slightly floral…or even a chocolate-scented candle!!
Drinks & Food
As far as what time of day to have the actual event, I like to do a lingerie shower in the evening. You can really vamp up the mood with lighting (or lack thereof) and candles. Also, this is where the drinks come in… you MUST have champagne to toast the bride-to-be and her girlfriends! It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have some sparkling white grape juice on hand in case someone doesn’t drink or is pregnant. You could do champagne as your drink for the night…or you could mix up a signature cocktail, one that is especially loved by the bride. Either way, go for sexy and sophisticated! And what to nibble on with that champagne? Try this:
- Purchase 12-15 long-stemmed strawberries, green caps intact
- Slowly melt a bag of chocolate chips (I like dark, but you can use dark, milk and white to have a variety!) in the microwave, stirring after every 45 seconds
- Dip each strawberry into melted chocolate, about halfway up; twirl to shake off excess chocolate and let cool on wax paper.
How easy is that? And it’s much cheaper than purchasing them from a specialty store!
You’ll want to have some other food on hand to go with the chocolate-covered strawberries. Girlfriends, especially those with lingerie, swimming suits or jeans on the mind, like to nibble. As a hostess, nibbling is your friend. Look through your favorite cookbooks or online for your favorite appetizer and hors d’oeuvres recipes. Now’s the time to get a little more creative than the usual artichoke-spinach dip! Choose a few hot items to prepare, and a few cold items. Plan on 2 pieces each, per person. For a simple but totally awesome recipe, try some yummy tomato tarts. Ahh, summer! Girls always like a nice selection of cheeses, paired with assorted crackers and fruit. Just think bite-size!!
The Parting Gift
After all of that eating, drinking, laughing, lingerie-opening, drinking and laughing, it’s time to gift each guest with her own special favor. A darling, theme-appropriate idea is a sachet—for each girl to place in her own lingerie drawer! I checked a few places and found some cute ones that you might want to try. The best part about these? You can make them yourself, which will keep your costs down, and they aren’t difficult to make! Yes, you heard right…these pretty little sachets are on Martha Stewart’s site and THEY AREN’T DIFFICULT TO MAKE! Send the girlfriends out the door with their lovely sachets. Take off your shoes, prop your feet off and enjoy the left-over strawberries!
Leave a Reply