This has nothing to do with baking my own wedding cake or churning our wedding ice cream (which I am currently psyching myself up to do) but with another small wedding detail that actually could be applied to almost any sort of party.
Wedding Friday: Customized Recipe Cards
My mother and sisters are planning a shower for me later next month, and we decided to make it food-themed. (Surprise!) These recipe cards are being sent with the invitations, and we're asking each person to come with a favorite family or personal recipe. We'll sit around and swap recipe and cooking stories in lieu of those terrible shower games that usually pass the time between lunch and gifts. (Sorry - not to offend - hope no one here really enjoys making wedding dresses out of toilet paper!)
This idea could easily be adapted for a birthday party, graduation party, or another occasion. Tried-and-true, family-tested recipes are one of the greatest treasures any of us can receive, and I love the stories that come along with recipes that have been used and enjoyed for years.
Have you ever had a recipe "shower"? Any tips?
And making the cards was very easy; I adapted a template from Real Simple and used a font and piece of artwork that we're using across all our wedding materials. (The artwork is an element from a papercut done by the amazing Cindy Ferguson; she designed and cut a custom papercut for us.) I printed these on Avery template #8387, which is their standard matte white 5.5"x4.25" postcards.
Related: DIY Wedding Inspiration: How To Make Your Own Wedding Cake (Without Losing Your Mind)
(Image: Faith Hopler)
Comments (7)
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What a great idea! Unfortunately it's about three years too late for me, but I could see adapting this to another kind of party as well. And such a great way to get really personal memories from your family and close friends. Oh, and I'm totally with you on the shower games thing. I told my maid of honor that I flatly refused to have any games at my shower. She just told the guests, "you all know each other, talk amongst yourselves." Haha! Congratulations on your wedding. =)
view jlyn13's profile
I had a kitchen shower where the guests brought recipes on cards that were mailed to them (great minds, Faith...) Each guest also brought a spice that went along with the recipe, so I went home with new bottles of nutmeg, cinnamon, Old Bay, etc. I did end up with 3 enormous bottles of paprika, though. Can't ever use up that much paprika.
view Elizabeth P's profile
Spices! What a good idea!
I don't use much paprika either, but SMOKED paprika is entirely different story.
view faith's profile
What a brilliant idea. I love it. Man do I HATE shower games. This over the 'candy bar in a diaper' baby shower game? A godsend.
view EB's profile
I just did this for an upcoming wedding I'm going to. I think it's a great idea, especially for younger brides, or just brides who don't cook or haven't cooked a lot yet.
view Marbargarbo's profile
For a friend's shower, we had to bring the recipe cards and a kitchen utensil you'd use while making it. (For example: a recipe for salad dressing and some salad tongs.) The spices are a lovely idea, too, though.
view annaholl's profile
Agree on the shower games generally speaking, but there was a terrific one at a friend's shower a few years ago. Her mom found the random gadgets in her kitchen, put them on a tray, and had us guess what they were supposed to be used for.
view Susanna's profile