Butterflies and Strawberries Bridal Shower

We had such a wonderful time on Saturday at the Bridal Shower for my niece. I really enjoyed working with her best friend Gabby, it's wonderful when you work with like minded people and she came up with some awesome games that were fun, sentimental and a little educational!!! But more about that later.

It's strawberry season here in Louisiana so we decided to take advantage of that and incorporate them in the menu. We also decided because the shower was at 3pm to do a dessert buffet, who doesn't like dessert. 

The budget was tight but I still wanted to make it extremely special for Ashley, it's amazing what you can do with a little thought. My big example is the cupcake stand, it's from Martha Stewarts collection at Joann Fabrics, which opened up a store in March here in Baton Rouge. They were offering a $10 gift card to the first 100 customers during their opening weekend and a 50% off coupon. The stand was $12.99 so with the coupon and gift card it was free. 

As for the food with strawberries in season that made it alot cheaper to buy and I was surprised how quickly you can use a whole flat! I also had stocked up on cream cheese when it was on sale recently and grapped a few 5lb bags of sugar that were on clearance.

Anyhow so let me tell you about it all. Firstly we made the invitation ourselves. I had seen the dress shaped invite online and loved it. I purchased some clipart from Etsy (highly recommend they are beautiful!) and using my photo editing software Corel Paint Shop I did the layout of the wording and pictures. Then printed on some cardstock I had and cut it in the shape of the dress. We then tied a red ribbon around the waistline and attached the dress to some red cardstock with foam stickers to give it a bit more of a 3D effect. Total cost for the invitations excluding postage was around $5. 

My desire for the shower wasn't simply to have a party and Ashley get showered with gifts. I wanted her to be blessed with guidance for her new role as a wife. So I thought it would be nice if all the guests shared a recipe from their personal collection with her. This to me was the hardest part because I wanted something special that would be a wonderful keepsake for her as well as a practical recipe folder. I looked high and low. Photo albums didn't work because of the way the pockets are made to hold the recipe cards. One day after searching my beloved Amazon.com I found the perfect folder and LOVE it, Gabby and I both want one for ourselves! So I created the recipe cards to match the invitations and the recipe sheets that came with the binder. 

I always love to see those diaper bouquets at Baby Showers, so practical but yet so much fun. I saw a great idea for a tea towel bouquet and as I have a little tradition with a rolling pin I will share in a minute I thought this would be perfect. When I got married we bought our house the same week, it was a busy one to say the least. We moved in after our honeymoon and the lovely lady we bought the house from had left me a gift of a rolling pin on the counter with a note attached, it said "Every new bride needs a rolling pin for two reasons, one to make lots of yummy cookies and pies but secondly to keep those new husbands in line!". Needless to say mine has been used A LOT!!! I thought it was such a lovely idea that I like to pass on the tradition. 

Tea Towel Bouquet

So now for the food. I will share all the recipes with you in other posts. Again everything was dessert and another way to cut costs is making it all yourself. I did cheat with the brownies and use box mix but hey everyone is allowed one easy one right!

I found the table cloth in the clearance section of Bed Bath and Beyond for $7 and it's wonderful. I'm tired of buying disposable ones and this will be great for Christmas time. My friend let me borrow some mason jars and her white serving dish. The cupcake stand is from Martha Stewart and I found the white plates and bowls at Target. 

I put some red tulips and white daisies in mason jars to finish the table off.

Mini Apple Pies

While we were working on the menu I though we better ask the bride what her favorite dessert was, fingers were crossed it was something on the menu, and she said apple pie. Not on the menu! Sanity said to go with her second favorite chocolate covered strawberries but again the whole point of the event was to make a fuss of the bride. So I though I'd see if I could make some mini pies. My husband was skeptical because me and apple pie don't have a great history. I had found a new crust recipe that is delicious and after searching the internet created the filling. They really are delicious and they got a huge thumbs up from my husband!

Mini Apple Pie Recipe

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

 Of course if you are having a strawberry theme you can't skip the chocolate covered strawberries. What a genius combination. Strawberries and chocolate. We made them ourselves and enjoyed that process. The bride really wanted to come over and help!!! We did text her a few pictures and she did threaten to stop talking to us!!!! But we were extremely nice and had a whole tray of them for her to take home to enjoy!!! 

Rice Krispie Treats

 I love these guys and because I could make them the day before it helped with the work load. To make them more lady like I cut them into 1-inch squares and drizzled white chocolate over them. 

Coconut Ice

I love coconut ice not just because they are pretty but they are wonderful for anyone with a sweet tooth. I used a little more red food coloring to make them redder and go better with the color scheme. We thought they would be a nice break from the strawberries and chocolate. 

Coconut Ice Recipe

DIY Fruit Pizza

If you a Pinterest person then you will see fruit pizza ideas EVERYWHERE. I think it's a wonderful idea. So I made some round sugar cookies and made up a batch of the Tastefully Simple Lemonade Fruit Dip for the 'sauce' and then chopped up strawberries, kiwi, blueberries and blackberries. The DIY station was a fun way of serving it as I was afraid the cookies would get soggy and the fruit loose it's freshness.
Sugar Cookie Recipe

Mini Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits

I love the idea of mini desserts and found these cute mini cubes and mini spoons at the party store. They were simple to put together and delicious.
Mini Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait

Strawberry Bruschetta

From the very start Gabby had mentioned Bruschetta for the menu. Normally this is a savory dish but we decided to try and create a dessert themed version with strawberries. To say we had so much fun working this one out is an understatement.
Strawberry Bruschetta Recipe

Sugar cookies

 I love sugar cookies and they are so fun to decorate. I found a strawberry shaped cookie cutter and then decorated them with royal icing. 

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies & Mason Jars

I used mason jars as serveware to add a little variety to the table. The bride loves Twizzlers and we filled one with those as well as some butterfly suckers. The last jar in the picture is filled with Strawberry Shortcake Cookies. These are an interesting twist on Strawberry shortcake and extremely delicious. Their only down fall is that they don't do to well after a few hours. We filled the little bowls with red M&Ms, strawberry cheesecake jelly beans and strawberry fruit snacks from Target.
Strawberry Shortcake Cookies Recipe

Water, Ice Tea and Strawberry Lemonade.

 For drinks we served water, sweet and unsweet ice tea and strawberry lemonade. I found these beautiful bottles for the tea at Tuesday Morning. They are glass and the top closes tight, the bottom says it's made in Italy, nice change from China! The Strawberry Lemonade was made from scratch and was yummy. The tablecloth I used on this table was one that had been given to me from a stash of vintage fabric. It is a tablecloth from the 1940/50s and never used. Worked perfectly!!!
Strawberry Lemonade Recipe

Cupcakes

 Instead of serving cake I made cupcakes. I'm a big cupcake fan because they are perfect portions, you don't have to worry about cutting them and serving. With these ones I went all out and found these butterflies for the top which are edible. 

The party games were so much fun. We played four in total. The first was the clothes peg game where everyone gets a clothes peg and if you said the word 'wedding' then whoever heard you got to take your clothes peg. The second game was awesome, Gabby had a cute spice rack from Target where the spices are in test tube style bottles. She put a numbered sticker over each lid to cover the name of the spice and through sight and smell everyone had to guess all 18 spices. I think the winner got 12, some were hard even when you knew the name!!!! It was a little educational when there was a dispute over the Garam Marsala, which is an Indian spice blend that one of the ingredients is Nutmeg. It was argued that if they guessed nutmeg they should get it.  I don't know what the solution was!!! But we all know that Garam Marsala is the Indian Tony's Cajun Seasoning!!!

The next game was wonderful because it put the focus squarely on Ashley. Gabby got everyone to write down a memory they had with her on a piece of paper and then she read it out and everyone had to guess who the memory was from. It was a wonderful time with lots of stories about Ashley and lots of giggles!!! I highly recommend this game as it does make it more Bride focused.

The last game by far was the funniest. Toilet paper wedding dresses!!!! In teams of two they got to make a wedding dress out of toilet paper. It was so funny and entertaining and interesting seeing what you can do with roll of toilet roll!

Toilet Paper Wedding Dresses

 As favors we found these pretty little glass bottles with corks and filled them with strawberry cheesecake jelly beans. I printed out a little label with a butterfly on it and the date of the event and tied a red ribbon around the top. All together they were under $1 for each one. We also got small bottles of water and printed out a label saying Thank You and added a picture of the happy couple. Some curled ribbon finished it off.

It was a wonderful afternoon and the bride enjoyed herself. Ashley was one of my bridesmaids at my wedding so I'm looking forward to watching her get married at the end of the month. 

Happy Home Cooking Bridal style!!!

Suppliers:

Clipart - The Digital Chick Etsy Shop

Martha Stewart Cupcake Stand - Joann Fabrics

Recipe Folder - Amazon.com

Edible Butterflies - Sugar Robot Etsy Shop

Mini Dessert Cube - Party City

Lemonade Fruit Dip - Tastefully Simple

Glass Favor Bottles - Beau-coup.com