Front Yard Bridal Shower
Although 2020 has brought many challenges, one wonderful thing that has come out of it is a new appreciation for outdoor hosting. This year I have hosted drive-by birthday parties for both of my kids, a surprise backyard happy hour (turned many hours) for my husband, a few causal backyard happy hours with friends, and now a drive-by turned front yard bridal shower for my sister. Weather always concerns me for these outdoor celebrations, but the relief from stressing about preparing the house, prepping food, and entertaining guests indoors is worth that concern, in my opinion. This bridal shower hosted in my front yard at the end of September 2020 was by far one of my favorites of this year’s outdoor celebrations.
At first, the thought of “decorating” the front yard for a bridal shower was intimidating. It’s a large, open space and doesn’t do much for a bride vibe. Fortunately, after doing some online research and attending a few other drive-by showers, I developed a plan to create a functional, pretty space with big items. The first big item I focused on was yard decor. I looked at yard signs, big confetti balloons, and landed on the big balloon M (the first letter of the bride’s soon-to-be last name). It seemed like the easiest way to elegantly fill some of the yard space. I used Ballooms of Houston to create the big, white M. Ballooms of Houston was great to work with, they have an easy to order website and they timely delivered, setup and picked up the balloon M – no extra work for me.
The rest of the shower decor centered around the balloon M. The most functional decor was the table, which was a great space to walk the guests through upon their arrival to the front yard: a place to put their gift, clean their hands, and grab a drink, napkin, and snack. I purchased the white, petal tablecloth from CV Linens. It arrived quickly and was great quality. Not pictured are the necessities (music speaker, ice chest, and trashcan) that were placed behind the table for easy access and low visibility.
I also wanted to include a seating area and was able to use the yard chairs I keep in our backyard for visitors. These blue outdoor chairs, from Lowes, are affordable, durable, easy to clean, and are pretty cute in the yard.
Originally, food was not going to be served at the shower, but after some thought, I decided to include a few snacks and beverages in case anyone decided to hang out in the front yard. To keep with COVID caution, we served individually wrapped food items that would not melt from being outside too long. The Boom Chick A Pop Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn bags were the first to go, the guests also enjoyed the BelVita biscuits (pumpkin spice flavor) and Cheez-Its. For beverages, we served small water bottles, iced tea bottles, and canned wine. The canned wine was a huge hit, Bollicini sparkling rose and sparkling cuvee, and the cans worked well with the decor. We found the classy and affordable white and gold beverage napkins on Amazon. Then, to finish off the table, we setup a fresh, white flower arrangement.
The shower favor cart was my favorite piece of the decor. The bar cart is the one I currently use in our formal dining room – it was the first piece of “furniture” my husband and I bought together. The incredibly fun cups are from Natalie Chang Studios. I will definitely be buying more goodies from her – the cups are great quality. The festive gold sparkle tissue paper used to stuff the cups was purchased on Etsy. These cups were an easy and unique shower favor that also added to the decor. Like the table, fresh, white flowers were an elegant finishing touch to the favor cart.
All in all, it seemed like the guests, bride included, enjoyed the shower, especially with the great weather we ordered. Setup and clean up were relatively easy, and the shower itself did not need much “hosting” with all the drinks and food being prepackaged and self served. After figuring out how easy a front yard shower can be, I look forward to another opportunity host a front yard celebration!