Well, friends, to say that COVID-19 has turned our worlds upside would be an understatement. I know many of you are in quarantine as we speak, and those of us who aren’t in a government-mandated quarantine are practicing social distancing and staying home.
For many brides, this means that they’ll have to forego the traditional bridal shower and hostesses will have to think outside the box. But have no fear! If you’ve had to cancel or postpone your bridal shower, I have some ideas to help you think outside the traditional bridal shower box.
Let me introduce you to…the bridal shower by mail.
Now, it’s definitely not as exciting as a traditional bridal shower, I’ll give you that. But, in the current state of social distancing, or even for those who have friends and family scattered across the country and around the world, a bridal shower by mail is a great idea to help shower the bride with love before the big day. Or, if you have a smaller guest list, you could also consider taking your bridal shower online by hosting a virtual bridal shower.
Here are some of my favourite bridal shower by mail ideas:
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Bridal shower by mail invitations
First and foremost, you should still send a bridal shower invitation through the mail or via email. We have many different bridal shower by mail invitations that are perfect and can either be printed or sent electronically. The invitation explains that you’re hosting a long-distance bridal shower and provides important details like the bride’s registry and address so guests can mail cards and gifts to her.
Sending your bridal shower by mail invitations
You can either mail, email or text your invitations to guests. Our invitations can easily be printed through our print partner, Prints of Love, or you can also print on white cardstock using your home printer. Read more about how to print our invitations.
If you do choose to print and send your invitations, read our helpful tips on how to address bridal shower invitations first.
Do a virtual gift opening using Google Hangouts or other video conferencing software
You have to love technology. There’s really no reason any more to not be able to connect in person through your computer or smartphone. So, why not do a virtual gift opening to go with your bridal shower by mail? You could just specify on your invitation that you want gifts and cards mailed to the bride by a certain date. Then, you can simply connect using free software like Google Hangouts, Zoom, Skype or any other video conferencing service.
Since some of the guests may not be as tech-savvy, it’s a wise idea to email directions to guests in advance if you’re planning to do a virtual shower so that they have instructions on how to do it.
If you have a small guest list, you might want to consider doing a virtual bridal shower instead of just a shower by mail. That way, it still feels like you’re hosting a party for the bride; you’re just doing it virtually instead.
Bridal shower by mail gift ideas
The great thing about a bridal shower by mail is that you can have the gifts shipped directly to the bride’s home. Likely, the bride will have a registry already. But if you’re looking for some other good bridal shower by mail gift ideas, here are our favourite gift ideas from Amazon:
Record video messages from your “guests”
A fun way to spread the love to the bride-to-be is to have each of the guests record a video on their phone expressing their well-wishes for the bride-to-be. They can either text it or email it to the “hostess” (whoever is sending out the bridal shower by mail invitation), and then she can email them to the bride. Or if you have a Google account, you can store them in a Google Drive folder to share with the bride in one place.
Curate a bridal-shower-in-a-box
Since guests can’t come to the bridal shower, bring the bridal shower to the bride-to-be with a carefully curated bridal-shower-in-a-box. To still help the bride feel like she got the full bridal shower experience, put together a cute little package to send to the bride-to-be. That way, she could still decorate her house as if she was having a bridal shower or have some decorations in the background if you’re hosting a virtual gift opening.
We love these ideas for a curated bridal-shower-in-a-box for the bride-to-be:
Where to find other bridal shower by mail ideas
There are a lot of great resources you can scope out to get some other bridal shower by mail ideas. I love to personally check out the forums on popular wedding websites or apps like The Knot or Wedding Bee. You can search the forums or post a question of your own and ask people to share their ideas with you.
And of course, Pinterest will never let you down! We posted several ideas in the last few weeks to our long-distance shower Pinterest board that might help you out.
I hope you enjoyed my bridal shower by mail ideas! If you liked this post, please share on Pinterest. And don’t forget to check out my virtual bridal shower ideas as well!