Household Hints by Rosemary

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Baby and Bridal Showers

June is the month for weddings, and not surprisingly, a majority of babies are born in this spring month. We are preparing for a family wedding and the showers are about to start. A little help for the bride and groom, or for the Mom and Dad to be, is always welcome and having fun along the way is always an added bonus.

Find out if there is a preferred colour scheme; check first with those in the know if the recipients want their colour known. Sometimes parents to be want their baby's sex kept a secret until he/she arrives, sometimes a bride wants her colour scheme to be a surprise, otherwise go with the flow.

Setting up: Is there a preferred theme, and once again, can you use it or is it private. You can also decide on your own, storks are great for baby showers, hearts and flowers for weddings. Bridal showers can be for a kitchen, bathroom, linen or general. If the shower is to be a surprise work with the family of the guests of honour to decide the colours, theme, time and place that would work best for everyone. Send out invitations with enough time for RSVP replies. Prepare a room for the celebration with a decorated chair(s) for the guest(s) of honour and plenty of seating for other guests. A tried and true decoration stand-by is an upside down opened umbrella hung from the ceiling, filled with balloons. Don't fill the balloons with confetti; it's horrible to clean up after. Food and drink should be set up in a separate room so that the table can be tidied and replenished without disrupting guests. Try to draft some young family members to be “servers” and to organize games.

Gifting: Several types of gifting are optional; each guest may bring their own, if that's your choice, then specify on the invitation what type of shower it's to be so they can keep to the theme. It's sometimes easier to collect a money gift from each guest and have one person be responsible for the shopping so the gifts aren't duplicated and are consistent with the needs of the recipient. Set aside a day for wrapping, you might invite some of the guests over to help out and to have a cup of tea or a glass of wine. This may also help to introduce members of both families prior to the big event in a less formal setting.

Food: Finger food always - sandwiches, hors d'oeuvres, petit fours and plenty of solid small plates to hold them. Don't forget a shower cake as a center piece and focus for the table.

Drink: Best punch - twelve ounces of frozen orange concentrate, forty-six ounces of sweetened pineapple juice, 1 and ¾ cups lemon juice, 2 cups of sugar, 1 gallon of water. This recipe can be made several days in advance. If you want to use sparkling water instead, the punch must be made the day of; alcohol mixer can be added if you choose to your taste. A good trick is to freeze half of whatever punch recipe you use in ice cube trays, add before serving and your punch isn't watered down.