E is for: Eat. Drink. Be Bloody Mary. {Bacon Bridal Shower}

Usually when you think of bridal showers, things like balloons, tea sandwiches, and lemonade all come to mind. Not me. When I volunteered to host my friend Kim’s bridal shower, one thing that constantly kept popping up in my party ideas was bacon. So much so that I decided to make an entire theme out of it.

Yup. I went there. I hosted a Bacon Bridal Shower.

Kudos to Kim because a lot of brides probably wouldn’t be down with that, but she happens to love bacon and was on board right away. In fact, it’s the only meat her body will actually digest properly, which is part of what sparked the idea. The guests totally embraced the concept and we had a fabulous time. Though, understandably we’re all laying off pork for a bit…especially me. (Let’s just say out of the FIVE POUNDS of bacon I went through, I don’t even want to think about how much I consumed on my own while cooking.)

To get everyone excited about the baconpalooza…I sent out these adorable invitations I spotted on Etsy. Stacie at Girl In Gear Studio customized the postcard invites and gift tags to perfectly reflect the theme. I loved the “Eat. Drink. Be Bloody Mary” tag line so much that it inspired another fun component of the shower…the Bloody Mary Bar!

I cleared off one of my tiny counters to create a drink station that was mostly filled with fixings for Bloody Mary’s (another favorite brunch staple of the bride). I used some of the extra gift tags to mark carafes filled with plain tomato juice and homemade Bacon Bloody Mary mix. I set everything up so people could choose their favorite garnishes and add any extra flavors to the mix…or start from scratch and make their own. Kim’s future mother in law Tammy told me she doesn’t even like Bloody Mary’s normally, but she loved this one! (I think it was the “Bakon” vodka and the little bits of bacon in the mix. :))

For the actual breakfast foods, I made bacon waffles, which I sliced up into small pieces and stacked on plastic shot glasses filled with maple syrup. Brown sugar bacon was served up on a silver platter and we enjoyed eggs two ways: BBQ Ranch Deviled Eggs (garnished with bacon), along with two flavors of these delicious mini quiches, made by Kim’s former co-worker, Molly.

Although I was tempted to somehow work bacon into everything, I held back and offered a couple of bacon-free items. For dessert, I made Amaretto Cream Cheese Strawberries, Mimosa Jello Shots (using tangerines instead of blood oranges), and Maple Bacon Cupcakes (I couldn’t resist!)

For favors, I wrapped up pieces of Chocolate Covered Bacon Candy with cellophane bags and tied them with matching gift tags so everyone could savor one last bacon treat when they got home. I even gave away Bacon Band-aids as a prize for one of the games we played. (Appropriately, Kim was the winner!)

It was my first time throwing a shower (and my first time creating the gift-ribbon bouquet), and overall, I think it was a huge success! Thanks to Kim and her guests for indulging in my off-the-wall idea and for everyone’s help to make it a great afternoon. Cheers to the bride!