A Cooking-Themed Bridal Shower

Last summer, I worked with a great group of bridesmaids to throw a pretty large-scale garden tea bridal shower for my good friend Natalie. I loved how the theme of the shower carried through everything, so when my mom said that she’d like to have a small, Pampered Chef bridal shower, my sister and I cooked up an intimate cooking-themed shower for her.

It’s weird to plan a bridal shower for your mother. Let me just put that out there. But a lot of the stuff I’ve encountered related to my mom getting married has been a bit unusual so the only option is to just roll with it.

Since the guest list was manageable, I volunteered my home for it. I printed the invitations at home and included a card with parking instructions and notice that my home is a shoes-free environment, inviting guests to bring slippers or fun fun socks. Asking  people to remove their shoes in my home is a frequently misunderstood policy and occasionally upsets some, the best way of preventing problems with this is to give advanced notice of the policy, by inviting people to bring slippers or fun socks, they could plan accordingly.

One of my mom’s friends thought that the invitations were professionally made! Major compliment appreciated!

Because it was a Pampered Chef shower, most of the hard work was done by the Pampered Chef lady, who is my mom’s friend. She put together a board with my mom’s wishlist and brought items from it for us to look at and learn about.

But like any bridal shower, there needed to be food and fun. My sister coordinated the food and we served light refreshments that were gluten-, dairy- and soy-free protecting the guests with food allergies.

The fun portion was sticky because it’s my mom and bridal shower games aren’t typically intended for small groups or your mother. I got a great recommendation to decorate pots and plant herbs for my mom a week before the shower. In a pinch I was able to pick up herb seeds, terracotta pots, potting soil and I ordered acrylic paint pens from Amazon. (Thank you Prime 2-day shipping!)

I set up a potting station in the dining room to make finding and cleaning up any dirt that spilled easier.

Herb planting and pot decorating can be a fun bridal shower activity, but could also be good for an Earth Day activity or a Mother’s Day gift from kids.

What you need:

• Terracotta pots. I used small diameter pots about the size of a coffee mug
• Potting soil. I put this in bowls on a designated potting table.
• Kitchen herb garden seeds. We planted chives, parsley, basil, oregano, cilantro and mint.
• Paint markers. Acrylic is easier to clean than oil-based, and the wide chisel tips work better on the pots.

The steps are very simple, paint then plant!

Here are the finished pots that we sent home with my mom:

The creative design award goes to my sister-in-law for the strawberry pot! How cute is that?

For anyone curious about the allergen-free menu for the shower, here’s what was served: 

• Gluten-, dairy- and soy-free cupcakes
• Gluten-, dairy- and soy-free cookies
• Homemade hummus (traditional and spicy)
• Corn tortilla chips
• Salsa
• Vegetables: carrots, celery, broccoli, grape tomatoes (I know, I know… not a vegetable.)
• Fruit: strawberries, melon, grapes
• Water and the options of coffee and hot tea

A big thanks to my sister for helping me out with pictures for this post! I failed to capture everything, but she was on top of it.