Bridal showers are an essential part of the wedding process. In simpler times, they helped the bride get the gifts she would need to start her new life as a wife. They were essentially gifts she would need around the house. Our society tends to be much less traditional these days. Now bridal showers are typically structured around a theme. They are, essentially, parties with a mission. Sometimes the mission is the more traditional getting the bride ready to run a house of her own, and other times the mission is equipping her kitchen or preparing her for a life of camping trips with her husband-to-be. Whatever the overall goal of the shower, the invitation is the most important part, as it is what guests will respond to.

When you get ready to send out invitations, the first thing you must consider is design. You have a few options in this arena. First, you could look at the wedding invitations the bride and groom are going to send out. This would give you the chance to send out similar invitations and stick with the overall theme of the wedding. If, however, your wedding shower has a theme of its own, you will probably want to choose an invitation that reflects that theme. You can be as creative as you like in this arena. For example, if you are having a kitchen shower, you could create an invitation that mimics a recipe card. If you are having a beach party shower, you could create invitations that look like little beach towels. You can either create your themed wedding shower invitation yourself or you might look into having someone create it for you. Some places, party stores and such, have bridal shower invitations that are preprinted. You simply fill in the necessary information. If you'd like to have something a bit classier, you can look into having the bridal shower invitations specially printed for your party.

Most printers have a portfolio of invitations they would be willing to create for your party. This tends to look a bit classier and more sophisticated. If neither of these options meets your needs, you will have to create the invitation yourself. With the renewed interest in things like scrapbooking, though, this shouldn't be a difficult process. Because so many people are interested in creative paper goods, many hobby stores carry a large selection of creative papers, scissors, stamps, and stickers to help you create the invitation of your dreams. Most even have a section of paper that can be fed into your home printer if you wish to computerize your text. For example, if you want to create a beach party wedding shower, you might go to the hobby store and choose a paper with a sea shell background. Print out the invitation wording, cut the edges with a clam shell shaped scissor, and decorate with some beach chair stickers. You suddenly have a much better invitation than you could ever have ordered or purchased in a store.

The invitation design is important, but the invitation wording is equally as important. One of the most important things on the invitation is the name of the bride. You will also need to list the date and time of your wedding shower. Moreover, do not forget to list the location. You will need to list the person who will be handling the RSVPs and their phone number. Listing a deadline to reply to an RSVP is common. Two weeks prior to the shower should give you enough time. You should also consider listing who will be hosting the shower. If you wish, just list the names of the hostesses. You could, though, list the hostess' titles instead of the names. For example, if the hostess' are the bridesmaids, you could just say something like "The bridesmaids of Jane Doe invite you . . ." Additionally, it is essential to list where the bride-to-be has registered for gifts so your guests can get her something she really desires. A typical wedding shower invitation wording would read something like "Please join us for a bridal shower in honor of Jane Doe on Sunday, January 31 at 2 p.m. at the Franklin Mobile Home Park Clubhouse, 123 America Street, Anywhere, Arkansas."

Send your invitations out about one month before the shower, and you will give the bride the best party she could hope for.