Creative Bridal Shower Gifts Ideas

Look beyond the registry for a gift that is both meaningful and useful

By Jen Whitten

Photo by iStockphoto.com

As a wedding shower guest, you want to get the bride a gift to show her significance in your life, not an impersonal item selected at random for the sake of appearances. Coming up with creative bridal shower gift ideas may seem like a difficult task for many family members and friends because you want to get something for her, while keeping the wedding theme alive. Fortunately, coming up with gifts the bride will love is not as hard as you might think.

Starter Gifts

Not every bride enters marriage fully prepared for sharing the responsibilities of cooking and keeping house. Find ways to incorporate items she wants with advice she needs to create your bridal shower gift. The kitchen is an area ripe for the picking. Couples register for a spice rack because they think they need it, not because they know how to use it. Write simple recipes for each spice on index cards or in a cookbook to give with the rack. Use this approach with everything from pasta supplies to baking sheets for a gift that will never be returned.

Comfort gifts

The focus of a bridal shower is on the bride, not necessarily the couple, so feel free to think of wedding shower gift ideas that pamper her. Bath and beauty products are always an acceptable gift. Brides enjoy spending time to take care of themselves, while maintaining silky-smooth skin for their husbands. Bath salts, gels, bubble baths, exfoliating scrubs and loofahs are all items perfect for any bath gift. If the bride is not a fan of taking long baths, look for other ways to indulge her senses. Luxurious bathrobes and thick slippers add a touch of class to otherwise regular chilly days around the house. A delicately scented body lotion is another idea to round out the gift.

Recurring gifts

Why give one gift when you could give the bride a new gift every month? Subscriptions for products and services are available to fit every budget and taste. Avid readers will enjoy a new novel or their favorite magazine arriving each month, while foodies love trying something new on a regular basis. Food subscriptions can be anything from fruit of the month to jam and even to steaks. Sweet treats arriving in the mail in the form of chocolate are another gift any bride will adore.

Honeymoon gifts

Find out where the couple plans to honeymoon and create your shower gift with that in mind. Build a gift filled with items the couple will need, like sunscreen or a foreign phrases dictionary. Arrange to have champagne and strawberries sent to their room the first night, and include a coupon with the gift letting the bride know she gets the rest of her gift on her honeymoon. She'll beg to know what it is, but let her and the groom enjoy one last surprise after the wedding.