It's the Bridal Showdown...

Just kidding, it's not really a showdown.  However, it does have to do with wedding and bridal stuff :)  As has been referred to in past posts, Shelby is soon to be married.  Like, really soon.  You know what that means?  A lot of last minute crafts.  A lot of them.  So many.  But it's cool, because we're really getting to do new and exciting things!

Now, this past weekend was Shelby's (south) Bridal Shower, since there was a handful of us down here in Florida who couldn't make it to the original Bridal Shower with her family up north.  I was in charge of games and entertainment and Cindy, a family friend, hosted the shower at her house and supplied a wonderful, beautiful menu.  My problem was that because Shelby had already had one shower, I didn't want to repeat games she may have played already.  I had trouble finding nicely set-up games that were appropriate for the forum, so in the end I worked with a mix of game ideas I found online and some that I made up from board games or ideas I had heard about at some point.  This post is to outline the six games we played so the next maid-of-honor who needs to plan a shower doesn't have to risk the dangers of the unexplored internet.

Game 1: Steal the Veil!
Start this game at the very beginning of the shower.  Everybody gets a metal ring, similar to binder ring clips, with five strips of tulle.  If you've seen those DIY tutu posts on pinterest, you'll know how to do this.  If not, it's super simple: fold the strip in half and put one end through the metal ring.  Fold the loose ends through the loop the folded side of tulle forms, and tug it tight.

Everyone can attach this to their sleeve or necklace or pant loop - whatever is the most convenient.  Choose 3 "Forbidden" words.  Each time during the shower that someone uses one of those words, the person who catches them saying it gets one of their "veils."  At the end of the shower, whoever has the most wins!  (Our forbidden words were "Cruise," "Josh," and "Wedding."  Shelby totally lost.  Josh's mom won.)

Game 2: Bridal Bingo!
This one is pretty self explanatory.  Make a 5X5 board.  Each square in the grid gets a word related to the wedding or couple.  Make sure each party attendee has a board that is DIFFERENT from the others, so the words should all be in another square.  I'll add the 6 boards that I made below.  Print out one extra board to cut up and stick in a bag to use as the calling cards.  You'll see that there is a ring around the "I Do" square on these boards.  We used those as the freebies.

I printed these on nicer photo paper to make them a little fancier, and I cut out squares of three different shades of pink scrapbook paper the size of each grid piece to cover the words that were called.  This ended up being a hit, and we played it more than once.

Game 3: Wedding Scategories!
I chose 9 wedding/love related categories and typed them up on a pretty graph in Microsoft Word.  At the shower, we had Shelby pick a random letter (she chose "J") and we all had one minute to try to fill in the 9 categories with something starting with that letter.  Afterword, we all compared answers, and in the end the person who had more different answers than everyone else won.

Game 4: Bride or Groom?
For this one, I went on Facebook and copied/pasted random status messages from Shelby and Josh going as far back as I possibly could to make it really hard.  I kept one sheet of paper that said who said what, my cheat-sheet to grade everyone else's answers, and then took out anything that specified gender or name from the status messages.  I arranged them in a chart with two check boxes beside each status message so the attendees could mark who they thought posted it.  Below is an example of the sheet I used.

I added a couple extra status messages on my cheat sheet in case there needed to be a tie-breaker, but Shelby won (only by 1 point) so it wasn't necessary :)

Game 5: Pass the Bouquet!
Think Hot Potato, but without the hot potato.  I bought a little bundle of flowers and wrapped them in a pretty silver tulle with some nice ribbon to make it look like a wedding bouquet.  We all sat in a circle and the tossing of the bouquet began - to anyone in the circle.  I played "Marry Me" by Train on my iPod and paused it randomly.  The person holding the bouquet was out, and the circle closed in until only one person was remaining.  Cindy was the winner with the bouquet!  I'll make sure to add pictures later, because it was quite fun :)

Game 6: Wedding Pictionary!

For this game, I made a list of wedding/couple related words.  I printed the list and cut it into strips, mixing it up in a plastic baggie.  We had some dry-erase markers and a white board set up at the front of the room.  Shelby started the game by pulling a slip of paper from the bag and drawing it on the board until we guessed what it was.  The person who guessed got to pull the next slip of paper and go up to draw, and so on so forth.  I'll add pictures of this later, too, but for now here's the list we used:

And that, my dear readers, is the sum of our Bridal Shower games!  I'll make another post soon with the DIY game prizes, because they were a HUGE success.  If you're planning a wedding, or planning a shower, I wish you the best of luck :)

-Bonnie

A Guide To Theme Parks: Part One

"Hi, my name's Shelby and I'm addicted to theme parks."
All Together Now: "Hi, Shelby."

I live in Florida. Loving theme parks is a (financially) deadly habit to have. Luckily, I have acquired tickets/passes/whatever to most of the theme parks, so I can enjoy them whenever I'm able to! In the last 5 years, I've been to: Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney's Magic Kingdom, Disney's EPCOT, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, SeaWorld, and Busch Gardens. I have actually worked at all three major corporations: The Walt Disney Company, Universal Orlando, and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. I know the ins and outs of theme parks, I know how to enjoy them. Wanna learn?

Cinderella's Castle at Disney's Magic Kingdom

Step One: Know The Difference

Theme parks are different from Amusement Parks (the Fiance and I had this conversation last night). Theme parks offer the whole experience, you step through that turnstile at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and you are immediately immersed with African music, wildlife, plants, and even smells. You walk into an amusement park and you hear screams from the roller coasters and someone offers you popcorn. There's a huge difference. Take, for example, Disney's Magic Kingdom... They have separately themed lands within one park. These lands include: Main Street, U.S.A. (all the best shopping and dining), Adventureland (Pirates, anyone?!), Frontierland (from Tom Sawyer to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad), Liberty Square (The Haunted Mansion!! And The Hall of Presidents, honestly not that fun), Fantasyland (when you think Disney, you think of this area), and Tomorrowland (Space Mountain and more). Mickey's Toontown Fair has recently been closed down to begin an expansion of Fantasyland! You walk into one of those lands, and immediately the music changes. The Cast Members are wearing different 'costumes', speaking differently to you. You are immersed into an entirely different world. A world of total awesomeness.

Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Step Two: One Day Per Park

Do not roll your eyes at me! I'm so serious, here. Unless you have been to the park more than twice, limit yourself to one park per day. You will not enjoy the rides, shows, or attractions when you're racing from Space Mountain to Pirates of the Caribbean because you have to get to Animal Kingdom at 2, otherwise you won't be able to see the Lion King show and the park will close. Seriously, chill out for a moment and think about this. I know your vacation is limited... Most Americans only put aside 4-5 days for vacations. I would suggest doing one of each of the major parks. Do one Disney park, one Universal, and one SeaWorld. I know how difficult it is to only do one Disney park. I, myself, made the mistake of doing multiple parks in one day when I first began going. Me and my friend would race from bus to bus trying to get all of our favorite rides in one day. That's completely crazy and should be completely avoided at all costs.

Waterfall at SeaWorld Orlando

Step Three: Slow It Down

My favorite memories of theme parks are the days when me and my Fiance would go and just walk around. I understand that tourists and out-of-state guests cannot enjoy the parks like that because they are time-limited, but please, make sure you have a little bit of time each time to sit on a bench and just take it all in. If you race to be the first person on a certain ride, you're missing the entire experience of walking into the park. Tourists tend to overlook the landscaping at parks, I've noticed. I used to be guilty of that. I went to Universal today, actually, with Bonnie, and our awesome friend, Amie, and we were waiting in line to get Lemon Slushies (not kidding, the best thing that Universal/Islands of Adventure have to offer... Besides the Green Eggs & Ham Sandwich), and Bonnie and I talked about plants we saw in a pot nearby. It's not often you stop and notice little things like that, and they had these beautiful purple daisies and other wonderful mix plants inside. Theme parks do a lot of work on their landscaping for it to be just right, for YOU, the guest. Which leads me to my next point...

"Believe" show at SeaWorld Orlando

Step Four: It's All About You

You just spent $5,000 on your family of four to enjoy the Florida theme parks. You see that Cast Member over there ready to take your order? Yeah, you're giving them their paycheck. That Universal Team Member leading you to your seat on the Hulk? Yeah, you helped them pay their Cable bill. Without you, the guest, there is no theme park. None. You are the reason they have a show called "Pets A'hoy!", you are the reason for the "Believe" show. You. You. YOU. You have the control (within reason, c'mon). If a Team Member treats you badly, tell them, if they don't try to correct the service, immediately tell a supervisor. Disney is all about Guest Service, all the time. They have Magical Moments, and Guest Recoveries. They're doing it right. Now, Universal and SeaWorld have guest recoveries, too, it's not fair to leave them out. Today, at Universal (won't use any names, don't want anyone fired because of me), I bought a bracelet that I was having engraved. The bracelet was $13. I told the woman what I wanted engraved on it, and she engraved it on the side, not centered, and it looked horrible. I told her I didn't like it and that I wanted her to re-do it. She gave me a funny look and tried protesting. I had none of it. I grabbed another bracelet and had her center it. She did, but was angry about it. I wasn't going to pay $13 for something I wouldn't love. $13 I could have spent elsewhere. $13 could have bought me a cup at Disney. $13 could have bought me a stuffed Shamu at SeaWorld. And usually, team members know this, this lady did not. Theme parks will do almost anything to keep you with them. They want you on their property, spending your money on their food, their lodging, their parks. They don't want you to leave. You have them wrapped around your little finger. Milk it! Milk it for all it's worth!!

Cinderella's Castle at night

That's it... For now. Eventually, I'll get around to doing another post about specific parks, rides, shows, and attractions. But, I would love to know what you think of this one.