It’s true: bridal showers have evolved over the past several decades. While in the first half of the 20th century, they tended to be small intimate affairs, today they have become major events. In fact, in some quarters, the wedding shower day ranks second importance only to the wedding itself. Therefore it’s no surprise that the importance of wedding shower favors has likewise increased. Modern brides and bridal parties know that they are dependent on the bride’s friends and families to have a truly memorable and successful wedding. Therefore, bridal shower favors are seen as essential ways of telling these loved ones “thank you; I love you.”

This stands in stark contrast to the old days, when you could almost predict ahead of time what kind of wedding shower favors would be given away to the party guests. Typically these bridal shower favors might include something such as a bouquet of flowers or a gift bag with chocolates. And true, these gifts are still offered as wedding shower favors. But the savvy bridal party will offer them with a bit more flair. There are lots of possibilities to totally customize even these traditional ideas so that they coordinate with the overall wedding theme and with the needs and wants of the guests.

Today’s wedding shower is a big event in and of itself. It is something of the “pre-wedding party,” more than just a ladies’ get-together. As a result, the wedding favors given away to the guests are much more important. In fact, wedding shower favors have become as important as the wedding favors given away during the wedding reception. And just as you want your guests to have fond memories of the reception you also want them to have good memories of the shower. This means you need to be careful about the bridal shower favors that you give them in appreciation. These favors should accomplish a couple of things: they should evoke fond thoughts of the wedding, they should serve as a reminder of the wedding, and they should be useful enough that the person wants to hang onto it.

Some gifts we’ve seen that pull off this dual purpose quite well: satin purses are surely kept as practical gifts, yet the satin suggests the beauty of the wedding; wine glasses, which always evoke memories of events such as weddings, can be re-used in the future, and are kept; bottle openers also evoke images of champagne and weddings, and are practical enough to hold onto. Even flowers and candy can now be presented in a nice vase or a keepsake box that the guest will likely want to hold onto.

Some real-world ideas: satin purses, bottle openers shaped like a bride’s shoe, heart-shaped cookie cutters, these are all ideas that are at once practical and yet which evoke memories of the guests’ friend’s wedding. The result: The gift is something they will keep forever, and as long as they look at it, it will remind them of this special day. So get to brainstorming. Think about something unique about this wedding, and think about the interests of the guests who will attend your shower. Write down every small gift that you can think of that will meet your friends interests while at the same time communicate a unique message about your wedding. And when your brain hits a brick wall, ask some married friends for their thoughts so you can get the creative juices flowing again. We’re betting you can come up with a few good ideas that will ensure that these gifts are truly special wedding shower favors.