Whether you are planning for a wedding, bridal shower, baby shower or other family celebration, look to us to add a personal touch to the occasion.   At Recipe Legacy, we believe that every family has recipes, photos or other unique memorabilia that should be carefully preserved and celebrated on family occasions.

Create a bridal shower memory album for the bride-to-be.   Each guest contributes a recipe, letter, poem or helpful hints page.  Guest icebreaker: at the shower, the guests put the album together - including photos taken at the shower.  

Our Recipe/Photo Album CDs provides artwork and instructions to do this easily.   Or read our family memory album e-book - it provides helpful hints for this type of album too.

To help you with your celebration planning, we offer ideas, gifts, favors, shower games, how-to ebooks and etiquette guidelines.   Planning for the celebration is part of the fun - so enjoy!

It is usual to give small gifts for the winners of the games played at a bridal shower.

Whether you should give favors to every guest is up to you.    They are expected in some circles and not in others.   If you feel that your guests will expect favors, the most general favors to offer are flowers and candles.

The cost efficient way to provide flowers is to visit your local supermarket or plant supply store and buy a flat of annuals and some colored cellophane.   Wrap each container in cellophane and tie with ribbon.   This makes a cheerful display by each place setting.   If you don't have time for this, we suggest buying some colorful packets of plant seeds and placing one by each place setting.

If you look on our Favors page you can find several favors that are reasonably priced and suitable for bridal showers.

There is no set time for a bridal shower.   It is usually timed to be close enough to the date of the wedding so that the excitement is already building, however not so close to the wedding date that it will disrupt the bride from last minute preparations.   Bridal showers are usually scheduled for about 3 to 4 weeks before the wedding day.

Send out the invitations about three weeks prior to the shower.   Assume that those not responding will attend - or make a follow-up telephone call to those that have not responded.   This will avoid the embarrassment of preparing for too few people.

You should not ask for gifts of money.   You will offend your guests if you do this.  

Note that most people do not like others to know how much they have or have not spent on a gift.  

To many guests, the highlight of the shower is to see the gifts opened and to examine and admire them.  

Today, the bride can register at a variety of stores other than department stores, from bedding to hardware.   Encourage the bride to think about what she needs most and register for those items at the store of her choice.   When guests telephone to RSVP and ask for gift suggestions, you can give out the registry information.

Definitely!   If a guest found the time to purchase and wrap a gift, then a personal thank you from the bride-to-be is the polite thing to do.   It is definitely the obligation of the bride to write her own hand-written thank you notes to everyone who has given her a shower gift.

It is always helpful if the bridal shower hostess makes a copy of the invitation address list for the bride-to-be, so that the bride-to-be's thank you notes can be addressed more efficiently.

It is customary at a shower for someone to be assigned the job of writing down a list of each gift and who gave it, as the bride-to-be opens her gifts.   Since gift notes can get separated from the gift, this assures that the bride-to-be will thank the correct person for each gift.   If the bride-to-be is given a gift list and an address list, then she is more likely to mail her thank you notes in a timely manner.

The Maid of Honor, Matron of Honor or the bridesmaids traditionally hosted bridal showers. Today, it is also acceptable for a friend or relative to host the shower.   However, it is not correct etiquette for the mother of the bride to host a bridal shower.   This is because it would be self-serving, i.e. asking for gifts for your daughter.

Often, the mother of the bride feels compelled to host the shower if the bridesmaids are unable or unwilling to do it and there is no other friend or family member who will take on the responsibility. If you feel this way, do try to host the shower from behind the scenes. You can put your phone number for the RSVP, but don't list yourself as a hostess. You can do most of the preparation and funding, but let one or more of the bridal party have the"hostess" title.

It might be that no one in the bridal party wants to take on the full responsibility, but that some would be willing to help you with a chore or two. I would suggest that you call the women in the bridal party and tell them that you are planning a bridal shower and that you would like to know if they would like to participate. Give them a suggestion of what you mean by participating, such as " would you like to bring a salad?" or "would you be able to help me set up the buffet table?" If they know what is expected, you will be more likely to get a positive response. Treat those that give you a positive response as a "hostess", and list them that way on the bridal shower invitations.   Be polite and understanding to those who bow out.

If the bride is to be married away from her hometown, there is no reason why her friends should not make a shower for her in her hometown before she leaves.   I would suggest discussing convenient timing with the bride-to-be and scheduling the shower accordingly.

Planning a shower in an unfamiliar location would not only be difficult but it would also require scheduling the event just prior to the wedding - when last minute wedding planning takes priority.   Also, all the gifts would need to be carted to the wedding location and back again.

Add a note to the invitation, as follows: "Since we are serving alcohol, we cannot allow children under 21 on the premises.   We appreciate your understanding and we ask that you make alternative arrangements for your children on that day."

Alternatively, if you know that this will be a hardship for some of your guests, why not arrange for a local baby-sitting service for a few hours?   Add the following note to the invitation:

"Since we are serving alcohol, we cannot allow children under 21 on the premises.   We are arranging baby-sitting services for those who do not have alternative options for their children.   Please let us know by May 4, 2004 if you will be in need of this service."