Scrabble-themed wedding shower

Guest post by Sheryl Woodhouse-Keese

We've featured a very few posts about wedding showers, because wedding showers aren't often, well, offbeat! But here's a Scrabble-themed shower that we thought y'all might like!

ScrabbleCard2 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)My twin sister, an indie publisher, founder of Lake Claremont Press, avid reader, and kick-everyone's-butt-at-Scrabble player, got married a couple of years ago at age forty. An independent thinker who had been intentionally avoiding marriage, was actually getting married! We wanted to throw her a couple of smart pre-wedding parties that reflected her interests and style.

Our first event was a Scrabble-themed shower at an Irish pub that served a beautiful, tasty brunch. Instead of playing silly games, we placed Scrabble boards, cut into quarters around the tables, with Scrabble letter tiles and wood glue. Groups of four guests worked together to spell out messages for the bride and groom in crossword Scrabble form. When they were finished, guests glued the tiles onto the board and signed their artwork. I was going to bind the boards into a book, but they fit perfectly into one of the game boxes, which is how she preferred to keep them.

Preparation for this main activity of the shower was easy….

ScrabbleCardandTiles alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

My other sister and I went on Ebay and bid on used Scrabble games and extra letter tiles. Who knew? There are a lot of people out there selling bags of 200-400 extra Scrabble tiles. With a heavy duty paper cutter, we sliced the game boards into quadrants. Before this, we had also tried a ruler and exacto knife, but the cutter was easier, faster, and left a cleaner edge.

Scrabble Bookmarks alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

As favors for the party to reflect my sister's love of reading, a friend glued a tile with the first letter of each guest's name onto hobby wood to create bookmarks. People loved them!

They really got into making the Scrabble messages, too…

ScrabbleCard1 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

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Comments on Scrabble-themed wedding shower

  1. I love this! When my FH first proposed, I suggested a Scrabble themed wedding! Since he wouldn’t go for that, maybe a bridal shower like this.

  2. Awesome idea! It looks super fun; I might have to steal this for my next birthday party. 🙂
    I didn’t want a bridal shower either, so my MOA gave me a “bridal bath”. 🙂 We had formal tea at my future Mother-in-law’s house, with everyone dressed up in sundresses or something similar. Then we went bowling in the dresses; it was great! For gifts, the suggestion was to keep it to less than $20 or, preferably, make a donation to a women’s shelter in my name. We had so much fun, it was all low-key and no stress … plus, there were no ridiculous party games or hats made of bows. Let’s hear it for offbeat fun!

  3. Why would you think that bachelorette parties and bridal showers aren’t (or can’t be) “offbeat”? A gal (or guy or couple) with a bunch of friends can have a ton of “offbeat” fun, call the party what you will. For my “bachelorette” party 5 friends and I hung out drinking margaritas and doing crafts. I was hoping to paint birdhouses for the wedding, but mostly my friends decorated underwear for me to wear…Middle School style! “Sexy Beast” in puff paint, rhinestones applied with the Bedazzler, jingle bells sewn on the front, etc. (Thanks, ladies!)

  4. Ooooh, I LOVE THIS!!! I am SO making scrabble bookmarks! Thanks for the idea, hope you don’t mind me stealing it… 😉

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