Coffee & Tea Tasting Bridal Shower

What a great idea for a brunch shower- a coffee and tea tasting.  The City Cradle did this wonderful shower using the theme "a perfect pair." A perfect pair coffee & cream. A perfect pair tea & sugar.  A perfect pair her & him.

For the tasting, they served a sampling of 2 types of coffee and 5 types of tea, all chilled and ready for sipping. For great iced coffee recipes try this one and try the iced tea recipes found here. (A sample menu: Thai Iced Tea, Peach Iced Tea, Russian Iced Tea, Black Currant Iced Tea, and Iced Lemon and Ginger Mint Tea.)

They also served a brunch selection of muffins &scones which they wrapped in personalized pastry paper for an extra touch. In addition they personalized the muffins with the words muffins & tea on one side and A perfect pair written on the other. To make these she simply cut down parchment paper to an 8×10 size, made the word sheet to match, and sent the whole thing through an inkjet printer. 

As favors, they handed out custom pomegranate-green tea bags as favors to be brewed later that day. Each had a personalized label saying thanks and directions on brewing the tea over ice at home.

To top this shower off, there's FREE printable labels for the iced beverage bottles, the cups, and the tea bags.

Bridal Shower Brunch: Drink Bars

(Image via YumSugar)

Just because you're having a bridal shower brunch doesn't mean that the drinks have to take a backseat-instead organize the drinks into a drink bar where guests can choose from a wide range of alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks.

• Serve different types of orange juice and place in carafes.
• Suggestion from Yumsugar, place vodka, Champagne, and sparkling water beside the juice so if any guests want to have a spiked beverage they easily can.
• Have a signature cocktail prepared in pitchers. Try a classic Bloody Mary,Blood Orange Champagne Cocktail, or Pomegranate Mimosas.
  
• Make a smoothie bar. To save on time and mess, make the smoothies ahead of time and serve in small glasses so guests can choose the one they best like. Our suggestions: Coconut, Strawberry, and Banana; Peach-Honey; and Papaya Pineapple.
• If smoothies are too much trouble (or too heavy for the weather), try a juice bar with a variety of different juice drinks. We like the idea of Melon Coolers or Cucumber-Lime Agua.
• Tea and coffee should be standard but consider offering tea and coffee drinks like Iced Caramel Coffee or Green Chai Spa Tea.

Bachelorette Party-French Lingerie Brunch

What an exciting bachelorette party. We love the idea of lingerie showers and lingerie bachelorette parties. Here's the happy bride proudly standing by all the goodies she got at the shower. Displaying them like this is a great idea-it works for lingerie showers and baby showers too!
Invites-It definitely sets the tone for the entire event. I'm sure the guests were super excited about it after seeing these.
Favors- little hankies by Design Design-they were packages of 10 pretty tissues that say "I See London, I See France, I Travel the World in Frilly Underpants!" How cute. (The host found them at Hobby Lobby stores.)
The Food-It looks delicious and had a French theme. The menu:

• Mimosas, of course!
• Croissants, danishes, and muffins from the local Memphis bakery: La Baguette
  
• Mini Quiches
• Fruit and a simple fruit dip
• Petit Fours
• Orange Pecan French Toast Casserole

Decorations-A bust decorated with lingerie. Cute decoration or a nice way to display the frilly gifts.

A fun game they played-When the bride opens up each lingerie gift, all of the party attendees have to give the item a name. They then wrote tags with the names down and attached to each outfit with ribbon. On the bride's honeymoon, the groom gets to pick out her outfit each night based on the name alone. Some are cute, silly, sexy, and everybody gets a good laugh!

The idea of a brunch for a bachelorette party is also a great one. It's a nice alternative if you're looking for something to do thats not alcohol-filled and it can be a great way to start off a day of partying.

The rest of the bachelorette party can be found at Keeping up with the Jones's. Thanks so much Kendall for allowing us to feature it.