May 31, 2022

Backyard Bridal Shower Picnic

This past weekend, my family and I hosted a backyard bridal shower picnic for someone special! For the most part we had creative control but we were instructed that it must be picnic style. Now, you may or may not know, that I started this blog 5 years ago sharing mostly party hacks like baby showers, Eid parties, etc. so you know that this sort of comes natural to us and we enjoy getting creative with hosting parties!

Of course, I am not taking credit for the set up. This was a team effort by parents, siblings, cousins and great friends. Between all of us, we divided ourselves into committees such as food, decor, games and set up crew. I’m going to breakdown the entire event for you so you can recreate this gorgeous backyard picnic!

Set Up

After going back and forth on the venue, we decided to host the event in my parents backyard. My dad set up 2 large tents side by side. One for seating and the other for food with plenty of space in between for socializing.

My dad and cousin also BUILT the table used for the seating using plywood and some scrap wood. They built 3 8ft tables totaling 24 feet. I was not a part of this committee so I can’t give you details on how they built it but just know that they are master carpenters 😂

Lastly, they covered the grass with tarp and between all my siblings houses, we collected all the unused rugs we had and placed them on top of the tarp.

Links:
Tent

Pictured: My dad figuring out how he could possibly sit by this table 😂

Decor

Ok this is the fun part! Of course, this was the committee I was a part of. Disclaimer: We’ve been “party planning” (for family) for over a decade now with bridal showers, weddings, baby showers that we already have a collection of decor items. We mostly reuse the items we have just in a different way. However, we did purchase a few things to fit the theme.

Tent

We made a last minute decision to drape the tent and it was definitely the right call! The theme was blush pink and burgundy so we alternated those colors on the tent. In the section where the bride sat, we staggered the 2 colored drapes to add a subtle backdrop.

We also hung floral arrangements from the tent that we created for a previous event. The floral arrangements were super easy to make and all materials were found at the dollar store. We used green floral blocks and dollar store flowers to create the hanging arrangement. We suspended them using twine or you could use invisible wire.

Links:
Blush Pink Drapes
Burgundy Drapes
Floral Foam

Tablescape

The tables-cape was the majority of the decor for the bridal shower and the prettiest if I do say so myself! The goal was to fill up the center with a mix of candles, lanterns, flowers, and greenery. Since the theme was blush pink and burgundy, we went with a 30 ft blush pink satin table cover and burgundy table runner. The dinnerware was added to each seating as well.

For the favors, we went with mini apple cider bottles. I designed and printed the labels to go on there. Here is the template for the design I made. Feel free to create your own!

The centerpieces were actually super fun. 2 days before the event, I went thrifting and found mix matched vases for anywhere between $.30- $.90. I also found a ton of candle holders in all shapes, sizes and colors. I spray painted the candle holders gold to match the theme. Finding decor doesn’t have to be expensive, check out your local thrift store to see what you can use. All you need is a little imagination and an open mind.

Flowers were found at Costco and Trader Joe’s. My cousin did all the floral arrangements. She says she has no idea what she’s doing, but I find that hard to believe!

Links:
Table Cloth
Table Runner
Floral Vines
Lanterns
Charger Plates
Dinnerware
Apple Cider Bottles
Candle holders- Thrift store
Vases- Thrift store

Floor Seating

So we have been planning the floor seating for a while because we wanted to be as frugal as possible. We purchased the cushion covers in advance and searched Facebook Marketplace or neighborhood yard sales for cushions people were giving away. We mostly got all the cushions for free which was a huge win!

If you can’t find cushions or need them in a hurry, I would check out IKEA for a variety of cushions in all sizes.

Links:
Cushion Covers
IKEA Cushions

Grazing Table

The biggest part of any event is the food and this was no joke! Hats off to my sister in law for planning and executing this massive grazing table. Safe to assume she was leading the food committee 😂

The event took place during brunch time so there was a mix of breakfast items like waffles and lunch items like subs and pasta. I can’t even comprehend how she pulled this off so I’m just going to share a ton of pictures so you can see for yourself. Most items were found at Costco and Trader Joe’s. The Halal deli meats were found at our local halal meat store.

She did a great job and presenting the food with different cutting styles, mixing bowls and trays! Did she nail it or what?!!