Hosting a spa themed bridal shower

Earlier this year, I hosted a bridal shower in New York for my baby sister. The party was just two days before the wedding as most of the girls lived all over the world, so we wanted to incorporate some relaxing spa elements along with an Alice in Wonderland inspired tea party. With the popularity of mobile, at-home services, this was actually quite easy to achieve!

Tips for hosting a spa themed bridal shower

1. Incorporate spa treatments with in home professionals or DIY stations. Companies such as The MadiSun Effect or Glamsquad offer in home massages, make up application, manicures, and blowouts. Any combination of these would work well for a relaxing spa party, and makeup or blowouts would be a great party activity if the group later heads out for a night on the town. For our party, I hired two manicurists and a massage therapist from The MadiSun Effect company to come to the house for a couple of hours, and they were so easy and wonderful to work with.  We used some of the tables and chairs in my sister’s place to set up a manicure station, and the massage therapist brought her own chair which we just placed in an empty corner.                                    If in home professionals are not in the budget, just set up different tables with nail polishes, face masks, eye masks and guests can apply the treatments themselves while sipping champagne and mingling.
2. Go for lighter food or snacks to keep that relaxed zen feeling and not a heavy food coma daze.  We went with tea sandwiches, macaroons, little petits fours, cake, scones and salad to go with our ‘Tea party at the spa’ theme. Guests mingled and nibbled on these treats when they were not at the massage and manicure stations.

   

   

   

   

3. Have copious amounts of champagne!  The bride and the rest of the girls sipped champagne (with amazing sugar swizzle sticks from Sugarfina) and got to know each other while taking turns at the massage and manicure stations we set up.
4. Think about the audience if you plan to play any bridal shower games. You might not want to be pinning things on a naked male pictures with the conservative grandmother. There are loads of games you can google that would suit every type of group. Also stick to 2-3 group games so as not to overwhelm guests, and allow them to mingle and enjoy the party.
5. Favors to match the spa theme. I sent the bride and her guests home with the cutest favor bags filled with nail polish, eye masks, face masks, lip balm, hair oil, and a mini candle.