Display Yay or Nay?

Display Yay or Nay?

January 7th, 2011 @ 3:09 pm by Ms. Sloth
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Display Yay or Nay? : wedding bridal shower philadelphia Bridal bridal_

Have you heard of a display shower?

Until I got engaged and started reading wedding blogs and forums, I hadn’t. A display shower is one where the guests don’t wrap the gifts. Instead, the unwrapped gifts are placed on a table for the bride and her guests to see and admire.

I think that this idea is absolutely GENIUS.

The benefits, in my opinion, are:

The shower is eco-friendly, since there won’t be a ton of wrapping paper to throw away after the party.
Instead of spending an hour or more opening gifts, the bride can see and admire the gifts, thank her guests, and then spend more time socializing with her friends and family.

I personally think that wedding showers can be painfully boring. I don’t care about watching the bride open a pile of presents—I’d rather just hang out! A display shower is the perfect opportunity to do just that. Eat, drink, talk, laugh, socialize! I would much rather have a chill afternoon with my closest friends and family than spend a few hours with them watching me unwrap boxes.

I mentioned the idea to my mother, and she loved it for the same reasons I do. I mentioned it to my bridal party, and they seemed less than enthused but not entirely against it.

I suppose that to some, a display shower could seem like a gift grab. I think that, if they make it clear that gifts aren’t required, it won’t seem as grabby. Maybe some invitation wording would help, something like:

Miss Sloth is thrilled to be able to have this time to spend with you. Please note that gifts are optional. If you wish to bring a gift and allow Miss Sloth and her guests to view it, please bring it unwrapped. A display table will be set up for this purpose. Miss Sloth prefers to use her time at the shower to celebrate with you instead of unwrapping presents.

It gets the point across without looking like a ploy for presents.

My bridal party will have the final decision, but I hope that they go for the display shower option. I think it sounds like a lot of fun. But I’ll be grateful no matter what!

Tags: bridal-shower, philadelphia |

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40 Responses to “Display Yay or Nay?”

1 2 Last

Member

PrincessBrideSuzy (message) 217 posts, Helper bee

My shower will be a display. I would have a difficult time opening gifts I registered for and then acting surprised!

1/7/11 @ 3:22 pm (reply)

Member

moderndaisy (message) 6,607 posts, Bee Keeper

My friend did this for her baby shower and it was fabulous and fun!! Another bonus is people can kind of come and go as they please since there aren’t as many events to stick around for.

1/7/11 @ 3:22 pm (reply)

Member

moderndaisy (message) 6,607 posts, Bee Keeper

I remember my wedding showers, guests were politely hinting about leaving becaue it took sooo long to get to the gift opening! But everyone wants to stay and wait for their gift to be opened at least.

1/7/11 @ 3:23 pm (reply)

Member

doxie (message) 166 posts, Blushing bee

For my shower we are doing a “bubbly and brunch open house with the bride”, it is kinda the same concept… we are having an open house for 2 hrs at my parents home. People still bring the gifts wrapped, but I open them as they come in the door, then display them on a table for all to see.

Personally I love the idea because nobody is staring at me the whole time, it’s not boring, and people can come and go as they please.

1/7/11 @ 3:24 pm (reply)

Member

crayfish (message) 4,844 posts, Honey bee

When my friend got married, it took her over 2 hours to open gifts. I wanted to shoot myself for even going - I think your idea is genius!

1/7/11 @ 3:26 pm (reply)

Member

blanket (message) 206 posts, Helper bee

Smart wording!

1/7/11 @ 3:27 pm (reply)

Member

ArwenBride (message) 783 posts, Busy bee

I like this…especially because I find be a guest and the guest of honour at showers to be painful. I had to take a break at mine in the bathroom because I found opening presents like that to be very exhausting and emotional. I was so grateful it was painful. lol

It reminds me of a Trousseau Tea where all the gifts are delivered to the house of the bride’s parents and displayed for guests of the MOB to see.

I actually think that this seems less gift grabby because the focus at the shower isn’t on the bride opening presents…they just happen to be to the side. If someone chose not to bring a gift it wouldn’t be nearly as obvious. I think that this could make everyone happier.

1/7/11 @ 3:36 pm (reply)

Member

flamingred (message) 1,921 posts, Buzzing bee

For my shower we requested that gifts not be wrapped but just put a pretty bow on them and the best bow wins a prize. I untied the bows,showed off the gifts ( some guests were really serious about wanting everything passed around) and everyone was happy.

1/7/11 @ 3:41 pm (reply)

Guest

Melissa

I like it. One suggestion for the last sentence though–insted of saying you prefer to spend time (which could be perceived as judging other who do it differently), maybe “Miss Sloth looks forward to spending time socializing…”

1/7/11 @ 3:43 pm (reply)

10.

Member

jjilyeah (message) 275 posts, Helper bee

I’m totally with you! I hate showers of any kind. They are boring. Watching someone unwrap gift after gift that they picked themselves has never made sense to me. I have always secretly wanted to skip the unwrapping at any shower that I may have in my lifetime. As for the display shower being gift grabby, how is that moreso than a regular shower? Same guests, same registry only you don’t unwrap it. I probably wouldn’t do a display shower I just wouldn’t unwrap the gifts.

1/7/11 @ 3:44 pm (reply)

11.

Member

jjilyeah (message) 275 posts, Helper bee

@doxie: love that idea!

1/7/11 @ 3:46 pm (reply)

12.

Bee

Mrs. Taco (message) 950 posts, Busy bee

I have never heard of this, but I think I like it! Present-opening while people watch can get a little awk, and there is the eco-footprint issue. But there is something intangibly nice about unwrapping a package, and I’d probably miss that.

1/7/11 @ 3:48 pm (reply)

13.

Member

heather25 (message) 2,355 posts, Buzzing bee

I don’t think its gift grabby but I don’t think it shows a level of appreciation that shower guests might expect. As a shower guest, I enjoy the opening. So I voted nay. I do think still asking to save paper and bring it unwrapped is fine.

1/7/11 @ 3:49 pm (reply)

14.

Member

CTbride2010 (message) 386 posts, Helper bee

At my sisters showers (bridal and baby) we (bridal pary- friends) opened the gift and gave her the card to open so we got the gifts done in like 45 min we would hand her the open gift and card she would read the card who it was from and annouce what it was, worked out wonderfully!

1/7/11 @ 3:55 pm (reply)

15.

Member

eeper (message) 485 posts, Helper bee

If you do this, you are my hero. I read about these and wanted to try it, but the few people I mentioned it to did not understand at all. They just thought the guests would not like it - I think you do run the risk of offending some people. But I hate showers and the gift-opening part of my own was so incredibly awkward! I would love it if we could get display showers to be mainstream!

1/7/11 @ 4:07 pm (reply)

16.

Member

dddd89 (message) 491 posts, Helper bee

I’ve been to one display shower. Both men and women were invited which was kind of cool! It was in their back yard and catered by a restaurant!

1/7/11 @ 4:11 pm (reply)

17.

Guest

bridey

I agree with Heather.
When you are opening someone’s gift you open a card and say ‘this is from Aunt so-and-so’ then the your appreciation is focused on her as you accept your gift.
A little bit of a highjack here but it ticks me off when people say ‘it’s hard work being the guest of honor’ or ‘i hate to sit and open my gifts in front of anyone’.
Suck it up, these people have spent time and money on you, I guess you’ll have to work for it a little.
Another thing, you don’t have to ‘act’ surprised when you unwrap somthing from your registry. Be pleased. Smile. Be curteous. If you registered for it, it should be really easy, it was somthing you wanted.

1/7/11 @ 4:16 pm (reply)

18.

Member

MrsCatWoman (message) 65 posts, Worker bee

I would have to say Nay, but not because it sounds gift-grabby, just because I like watching people open presents!

1/7/11 @ 4:23 pm (reply)

19.

Member

Misslizzy (message) 282 posts, Helper bee

I love this idea… I’ve always been at a loss of words when it comes to opening gifts in front of people. How many times can you say “oh wow, this is great!” especially when you picked the item out.

1/7/11 @ 4:26 pm (reply)

20.

Member

Megrit (message) 478 posts, Helper bee

The whole point of a shower is to SHOWER you with stuff to use for your wedding so gifts aren’t really optional. Setting up a display table is a great idea, then people can see what you get instead of a quick flash of it before the next thing. And the green aspect of it is AWESOME! I was just going to recycle all teh wrapping paper at my shower, but I like this even more!

1/7/11 @ 4:26 pm (reply)

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