Pre-wedding Parties

large bridal shower - open all presents?

I am having a rather large bridal shower 70+ in attendance. Do I open all the gifts at the shower? I feel like this would take up so much time and if roles were reversed, I would not want to watch someone open all those gifts. But then it would be rude to not open all of them... Need opinions!!

Re: large bridal shower - open all presents?

  • I am having a rather large bridal shower 70+ in attendance. Do I open all the gifts at the shower? I feel like this would take up so much time and if roles were reversed, I would not want to watch someone open all those gifts. But then it would be rude to not open all of them... Need opinions!!
    Open them all. If you didn’t how would you choose whose to open and whose to leave wrapped? 
  • My tips - Keep a knife with you to open hard to unwrap things, have a designated gift bringer, a person to write, and someone to scoop trash away and move opened gifts away. Having your FI to help open is good too...but definitely acknowledge everything. 
  • 70 guests at a bridal shower?  WHY?  I thought bridal showers were supposed to be an intimate party with the bride's friends bringing gifts.  Somebody please explain this insanity to me!
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  • CMGragain said:
    70 guests at a bridal shower?  WHY?  I thought bridal showers were supposed to be an intimate party with the bride's friends bringing gifts.  Somebody please explain this insanity to me!
    Oh 70 is nothing!  One of the women on a moms forum I'm in recently hosted her OWN baby shower for over 200 people. 
  • CMGragain said:
    70 guests at a bridal shower?  WHY?  I thought bridal showers were supposed to be an intimate party with the bride's friends bringing gifts.  Somebody please explain this insanity to me!
    Depending on family size 70 might not be so big.  DH has 21 cousins on one side.  Collectively we have had more than 50 children.  And the family is fairly close.  

    I would hope that the BP work in an assembly line so it moves quickly.
  • Times have surely changed.  I bet it was easier in the old days, though!
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  • It would be bad etiquette to leave gifts unopened. By having a large shower, this just goes with the territory. Hopefully people go in on group gifts.

    Ask the host(s) to have an efficient system for keeping things moving. Have all the gifts within close proximity to you so no one is running back and forth to get stuff. Ask someone to hand you the next gift - maybe even locating the card and giving you that first so you aren't spending time searching through bags with tissue and such. Someone can also sit next to you to manage paper/ribbons/waste. And, of course, have someone recording who gave you what in case cards get separated. You'll have a lot of TY notes to write. 

    Before things start, scan the room so you know, generally, where people are sitting. To be efficient about opening stuff, open the card first, state who the gift is from, quickly open it, smile and hold it up for people to see, make eye contact with the giver and say "thank you, so-and-so name" and move on. By saying who it's from twice, the person writing down the gifts won't have to stop the process to clarify who gave it to you. These things will help the process move along quickly.
    When I've been to larger showers (or baby showers where the large gift is a PITA for the guest of honor due to its and her size), there's a group moving things along.   Sometimes the bows are cut and tape opened a bit so the guest of honor is flinging the wrapping paper open quickly. 

    Then someone is next to the guest of honor writing it all down in a notebook and next to the writer is another friend/family member who helps to move the opened gift to secondary placement area for easy car loading.

    @knottie680e653c84c3cd3f one word of advice is going to be to either travel with a large car (like a mini van with seats removed) or arrange for a few friends to help you transport the gifts.   Ideally some people will go in one one gift (I won't buy a Vitamix buy myself but it's an awesome group gift) but you'll still probably have a lot that need to get to some location where they can be stored until the wedding.  

  • banana468 said:
    CMGragain said:
    70 guests at a bridal shower?  WHY?  I thought bridal showers were supposed to be an intimate party with the bride's friends bringing gifts.  Somebody please explain this insanity to me!
    Depending on family size 70 might not be so big.  DH has 21 cousins on one side.  Collectively we have had more than 50 children.  And the family is fairly close.  

    I would hope that the BP work in an assembly line so it moves quickly.


    SIB

    This is my family. My parents are both 1 of 5 siblings, I have 25+ first cousins and we are all extremely close. We have Sunday dinner every weekend with my mom's side of the family and that's 30 people alone so large showers are expected in my family. My gift opening moved pretty quickly, my MOH offered to write down everything and my two younger cousins who were bridesmaids offered to cut ribbons, gather trash, and bring everything back and forth from the table.  I did receive about 10 gift cards but everyone else seemed to bring their own gift (no large group gifts) and it still didn't take that long. 
  • CMGragain said:
    70 guests at a bridal shower?  WHY?  I thought bridal showers were supposed to be an intimate party with the bride's friends bringing gifts.  Somebody please explain this insanity to me!
    This is the norm in my friends group. Showers are about 4 hours, include a several course meal, wine and cocktails, and the gift opening is done in spurts throughout the event as an assembly line. Often the guests leave with favours and treats. 
  • CMGragain said:
    70 guests at a bridal shower?  WHY?  I thought bridal showers were supposed to be an intimate party with the bride's friends bringing gifts.  Somebody please explain this insanity to me!
    This is the norm in my friends group. Showers are about 4 hours, include a several course meal, wine and cocktails, and the gift opening is done in spurts throughout the event as an assembly line. Often the guests leave with favours and treats. 
    This is kind of a great idea! It can get a little boring to watch gift after gift, but if it was broken up between other events or courses of the meal people might be more inclined to pay attention :) 
  • Yup. Whether there are 2 people or 100 people at your shower, the point of the shower is for you, the honoree, to open every gift and graciously thank the respective givers. 
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