Over the summer, my sister and I threw one of the best showers,
(in my humble opinion), to date!! The theme was Hollywood, and I
think we hit it spot on! I have had this idea for over a year, and
finally got the chance this summer.
All the invitations I saw online looked cheesy - like for a kid's
birthday party or something. So we designed our own, using red cardstock paper
and rhinestones. I think it turned out perfectly!
My favorite piece of decor at this shower was the huge
HOLLYWOOD sign that we made - and it was also one of the
cheapest and easiest pieces of decoration to make! We just printed
the letters onto transparency paper, traced them on cardboard, cut them out,
painted them white, and then used spray glitter to make them more glitzy.
To hang them up, we put a ton of duct tape on the back, and then accented
them with some spotlights. I loved it!
I also REALLY loved the red ropes that we made for the entrance to the
party. Our church already had these metal stands. We bought insulation foam
from a hardware store, and wrapped red fabric around it. To attach to the metal stands,
we threaded the foam with fishing line, and wrapped it around the top of the stand.
We then sprayed painted styrofoam balls with a couple coats of gold glitter
and added to the top. I thought they ended up looking amazing!
Of course, what's a Hollywood shower without a red carpet? I ordered this
online - it was pretty simple to put down because it already had double sided
tape on it. But it was a lot of work to clean up the residue that it left behind.
I had this idea that I really wanted a photo op section, like how celebrities always
have their picture taken with the logo of the event they are at in the background.
So we printed signs on the computer and hung them with double sided tape
to get a similar look. And of course had to add red fabric to that section to still have
We also displayed my second favorite part of the decorations next to the photo
area... a huge poster of the bride and groom that looks like a movie cover!
My sister works with someone who's husband does this kind of stuff, and he was
generous enough to do this favor for us! It's the cover of the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith
(Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie), but with the bride and groom's faces superimposed.
It turned out SO good... and really just made the Hollywood theme
seem that much more realistic!
The tables were decorated using candle holders from my wedding, connected
together with clear beads, also from my wedding. The table runners are red satin
fabric, from my sister's wedding. We made placemats using a couple different
images of chandeliers, the couple's monogram, and Mr. & Mrs. Greene. We just
printed onto cardstock, and sprayed with silver glitter. We made
the napkin rings using red ribbon and the same decorative piece that I
used on my wedding invitations, just to add a little more sparkle on the tables.
The chair covers were decorated two different ways. One was gold and silver stars
that our church already had, safety pinned to the covers. The other was a movie title
and brief description of the movie flanked by a movie curtain.
We splurged a little on some chandeliers from Hobby Lobby that we hung pretty
low over the tables, but I think they were a great touch!
I also loved the present-opening area... we brought in a red couch that is in the
office of our Children's Director, who also lent us the white feathered "Ooh La La"
pillow. We layed down a leopard print blanket as a rug since the red carpet
clashed with the red couch - just to break up the colors a little so it wouldn't be as
noticeable. Behind the couch were two handmade chandeliers. We made these by stringing
clear beads onto fishing line (the beads were all FREE from someone at church!)
and draping them around a hula hoop covered in black fabric. While each chandelier
cost a whopping $1 to make (cost of the hula hoop), it was pretty difficult to hang evenly.
We then hung white icicle lights down the front of the black scrims, and covered them
with white sheer fabric. The pictures just don't do it justice - it looked so good!
We served SO MUCH food at this shower - it was unbelieveable! I wanted
to do tons of appetizer type foods.... and was so thankful that many people
offered to help bring the food!
The game we decided to play was a little like "Do You Know the Lyrics?"
We had songs from different movie genres - Disney movies, Romantic Tragedies,
and Action movies. The contestants took turns as we played
a song - when the music stopped they had to fill in the number of blanks of the next
part of the song. It was so funny to hear what the contestants actually came up with!
**When the game wasn't going on, we had an old Hollywood movie
playing on the screen, just with no sound. It was a nice touch**
The door prizes were bags that were decorated to look like a Grammy,
an Emmy, and an Oscar. Inside were movie tickets, movie candy, and
popcorn. Didn't they turn out so cute =)
The favors for this shower was another one of my favorite parts...
we bought a bunch of earrings, and I cut out a bunch of celebrity faces
from US Weekly magazines. We glued the faces onto cardstock
that said "Thanks for coming, Doll!" and put the earrings on that.
We put the favors in this cute black and white hatbox that we borrowed.
At the end of the night, we asked that all the guests take a picture in the
photo op area before they left.... and everyone really got into it! We
gathered up all the "ladies" that we made that directed people back to
the gym, and they were used as props during the picture time.
After waiting so long to throw this shower, it definitely all came
together beautifully- thanks to all the work from my sister, my
mom, and Judy Gibbs... the hostesses =)
