Easy Bridal Shower Food Ideas
I recently hosted a bridal shower for a daughter of a dear friend, and this is the food I served! The food was easy to make, presented very well, and a hit with everyone who came. It would be perfect for so many different types of parties and get togethers!
I include lots of tips below on how to prep the food in advance, as well as bonus ideas for other easy, delicious things to serve at parties like this.
What to Serve at a Bridal Shower
I wanted to keep the food simple and delicious for my friend’s bridal shower. The party was held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., so I tailored the food to be more on the snacky/brunchy side of things. It went over so well, and I would absolutely do this same food spread again!
Yogurt Parfait Bar
This build-your-own yogurt parfait bar was so easy to put together, and a great way for guests to customize their own portion.
Below is what I served. As you can see, this entire spread is easily customizable to different flavors of yogurt and toppings.
Yogurt:
- Vanilla yogurt
- Peach yogurt
- Strawberry yogurt
The vanilla yogurt was by far the most popular, but I still recommend having a few additional flavors for options.
Granola:
For this yogurt bar, I had four varieties of granola. I think all were equally popular!
- Honey oat yogurt from my cookbook (but any basic granola would work great).
- Chocolate love crunch knockoff granola (didn’t add the yogurt bites or strawberries)
- Love Crunch dark chocolate coconut granola
- Trader Joe’s passion fruit granola
Toppings:
- Chopped strawberries
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Diced mangos
- Chopped pineapple
- Lemon curd (this was so popular!)
- Chia seeds
- Toasted coconut
- Chopped pecans
- Dried cranberries
- Mini chocolate chips
- Toasted pumpkin seeds
MAKE AHEAD TIPS: I chopped the fruit the night before, and put the toppings that didn’t need to be refrigerated in serving bowls on the counter and covered with saran wrap. Everything else was super easy to scoop/place into bowls before the shower started.
Supplies for Yogurt Bar:
- These 10-ounce cups (aff. link) are a perfect size/width for yogurt plus toppings. The rounded design is a bit elevated and cute.
- Every day disposable spoons work great, but I love these slightly fancier ones (aff. link) for bridal showers and parties. I put the spoons in this wicker silverware caddy (I have the brown one).
- I use these white serving bowls (aff. link) for yogurt.
- These shallow white bowls (aff. link) work great for toppings (and on a sidenote, I use them almost daily for dinners), and these slightly larger textured bowls (aff. link) are just right for the granola.
- These reuseable chalkboard signs (aff. link) are perfect for labeling food (with these chalkboard markers – easily wipe off with a damp paper towel).
Mini Charcuterie Cups
I opted for mini charcuterie cups rather than larger cups (that are popular when you search for ideas) or big charcuterie platters.
This size ended up being perfect! Just like the yogurt bar, all of the ingredients in these charcuterie cups can be adapted or varied based on your own creative inspiration or what you can easily find.
MAKE AHEAD TIPS: The night before, I placed the nuts and pirouline sticks in the cups and placed all the cups on a large baking sheet and covered the cups with saran wrap.
I also assembled the cheese skewers the night before, as well as rolled the salami slices and placed them close together in a baking dish so they didn’t unravel. The morning of, it was easy to finish off the cups with the assembled cheese skewers, salami, fruit and cracker.
The fully assembled cups can be refrigerated for an hour or two (any longer and the crackers can soften or stale).
How to assemble the mini charcuterie cups:
- Fill the bottom of each cup with mixed nuts (or nuts of choice).
- Add a pirouline stick to one back corner and a cheese skewer (a long bamboo toothpick with three cheese cubes) to the other corner.
- Drop in a cherry tomato and several grapes of any variety.
- Place a large cracker diagonally across the tomato and grapes.
- Tuck a blackberry or other berrie(s) in one of the front corners.
- Roll two slices of salami into a rose shape and tuck into the other front corner.
- Optional: Place a sprig of rosemary in front of the cracker.
Supplies I Used:
- 5-ounce square cups (aff. link) for the mini charcuterie cups
- Bamboo skewers (aff. link) for the cheese
Assorted Variety of Mini Muffins
I chose mini muffins over regular-size muffins for several reasons:
- The bridal shower was in the morning in between meals, and I figured guests might be eating lighter/smaller portions. Mini muffins are perfect for that.
- Mini muffins give people the chance to try more than one flavor, since the muffins are small.
- Mini muffins are just cute.
MAKE AHEAD TIPS: I made the following recipes several weeks in advance. I made the muffins, let them cool on a cooling rack, and then placed them in these containers to freeze. I took them out of the freezer the morning of and put them on the serving trays frozen (they defrosted within an hour).
- Lemon Poppyseed Muffins (this recipe is for regular-size muffins; for mini muffins, portion the batter into mini muffin tins, filling about 1/2 to 2/3 full, and bake for 9 to 11 minutes)
- Mini Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (these were the most popular of the three recipes! Everyone raved about them)
- Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (this recipe is also for regular-size muffins; for mini muffins, use mini chocolate chips, portion the batter into mini muffin tins filling about 1/2 to 2/3 full, and bake for 9 to 11 minutes). Here is a non-zucchini chocolate muffin recipe that is delicious as mini muffins.
Supplies I Used:
- Highly recommend these mini muffin tins (aff. link). I didn’t use mini muffin liners when baking the muffins for the bridal shower.
- I served the muffins on this tiered tray (aff. link).
- These reuseable chalkboard signs (aff. link) are perfect for labeling food (with these chalkboard markers – easily wipe off with a damp paper towel).
- I had these plates sitting out next to the silverware and they were the perfect size if guests grabbed any or all of the offerings: mini muffins, a charcuterie cup, yogurt parfait.
Other Food Ideas for Bridal Showers and Parties
- Build-Your-Own (or already prepped) acai bowls with a variety of toppings.
- Chicken salad sandwiches. I’ve found when serving these, it’s better to use smaller croissants (from Albertsons or Walmart) vs the gargantuan croissants from Costco (however, if using large croissants, you can cut them in half).
- Mini quiches served on a platter.
- Variety of different baked scones.
- Finger foods, like caprese skewers, sweet berry bruschettta, easy caprese salad served on baquettes, toffee apple dip, candied almonds, and puff pastry brie bites.
- Variety of dips served with crackers, like this sesame Thai dip, 7-layer dip, cowboy caviar dip, 7-layer Greek hummus dip, feta dip, the best veggie dip, peanut butter cookie dough dip, fruit salsa served with cinnamon chips.
- French macarons or mini crème brûlées or other favorite cookies (I like making cookies in smaller sizes for bridal and baby showers).
Leave YOUR favorite ideas for bridal or baby showers below! ⬇️
Love the bridal shower ideas! What kind of yogurt did you use?
I used vanilla, strawberry and peach.
Thank you so much, Mel! I have your cookbook and love it! I am hosting a shower for the first time, and I am going to use this exact spread so it will be a success!
Do you have any fun games that you did? I am at a loss on how to entertain everyone. Also, did you have the bride open presents in front of everyone? Not really food related questions but I need all the help I can get!
Hi Veronica! The only games we did were 1) fill two large jars, one with the bride’s favorite candy and the other with the groom’s favorite candy, and I printed out sheets to put in front of each jar where people could guess the number of candy in each jar. We revealed the winners and gave the jars to them, but I also had a smaller bag of each candy to give to the bride-to-be. 2) I found a game on etsy that was “him or her” with questions like “most likely to get hangry” and “says “I’m sorry” first” and we did that along with a game where we answered questions about the bride (easy questions like “beach or mountain vacation” and “dark chocolate or milk chocolate” – with both of those games, we had the bride answer out loud and we all tallied up answers (I didn’t give out prizes, it was just for fun). 3) this isn’t really a game, but I had a little table with a chalkboard sign that read “date night ideas” and a jar with papers and colorful pens so guests could write fun date night ideas and put them in the jar, and after the shower, I gave the jar to the bride-to-be.
Yes, the bride-to-be opened presents at the end (with about 30 minutes left). Some guests already left because it was kind of a casual, open-house style, but a lot stayed for that part, too.
This is perfect! Thank you! Thank you!
This is amazing content! Just pontificating here, but I am so curious about the prevalence of nut allergies in the east and west coast. I would NEVER consider serving nuts at any kind of human gathering given how widespread nut allergies are. I can’t think of the last time we were in a group where there were none! But I know how conscience you are and that that was considered. Also, as someone who is ON a Glp1 I find the comment about not using cups so funny. The point is they allow you to choose to eat or not eat what is best for you and this requires zero accommodations on the part of anyone around you. I would be horrified if I thought a host was taking my medications into account. They allow me to participate as a “normal” person and that is the beauty of them.
Thanks for your comment and input, Kate! On the nuts question, it’s very valid. I consulted the family of the bride about the guest list and allergies and nuts didn’t come up as one to avoid. But I do agree that nut allergies are ones to be aware of! I’m wondering what a good substitute could be for nuts in those charcuterie cups?
honestly, I think it would be perfect even without the nuts!!
What brand of crackers and what flavor of Pirouline sticks did you use?
I used the Trader Joe’s crackers in the white box (it’s a three cracker mix). And I just grabbed the regular chocolate pirouline flavor.
I hosted a bridal shower last weekend and was “channeling” you all through my prep.
We did a parfait bar but I would have loved to have added the charcuterie cups. However, we made your overnight egg casserole and overnight French toast bake. They worked out beautifully!
Honestly, every one of your recipes have been great! Your cookbook and website are my very first “go to” when needed!
Beautiful! It’d be super easy to add a coconut yogurt if you needed a vegan option, too.
As a side note, my kids love what they call “fancy yogurt” for dinner in the summer—when it’s way too hot to think about cooking. We have a bunch of different fruits, granolas, seeds, nuts, etc. and use unsweetened Greek yogurt or skyr. I figure it’s a riff on breakfast for dinner 🙂
That is a brilliant dinner for warm summer evenings, Ingrid – thanks for sharing!
I’m just sitting here planning food for girl’s camp using your amazing resource and I get this bridal shower info. today in my email which is just in time for a future bridal shower! Can’t thank you enough!
Bless you!!
Amazing ideas!!! Thank you!
Mel, I love all your ideas and so appreciate the pictures, recipes, product links and “how to assemble” suggestions. All of this is helpful and manageable. You inspire me, you truly do!
You are so kind…thank you, Stella!
Mel! How do you do it? So many good details and links here. So helpful. Everything is beautiful, flexible, customizable. I am not planning a party but this post makes me want to! Bravo! Again!
I’m not an elaborate party planner (you can tell simply by the fact that I didn’t address decorations or anything else, haha), but I do love planning little food spreads. I’m glad this was helpful!
These are some of my favorite kinds of posts, Mel! Thanks for outlining everything so clearly and doing most (all!) of the thinking for the rest of us. I think we have some baby shower planning coming up at church, so I’m excited to try out some of these tips. ❤
Have fun with the baby showers! I love snacky little get togethers like that. 🙂
I love this!! ♥️Such helpful hints and info so we don’t have to guess! Thank you!!!!
You are so welcome!
Amazing resource, especially spelling things out with such clarity. I will 100% replicate some of these exact recipes. My sister invested about 20 $2 white mugs from Ikea that fit on a wooden tray, which becomes the basis for a hot cocoa bar. We have used that at so many parties and showers! Not really seasonal right now, but it was a good investment that family and friends have borrowed extensively.
I LOVE that idea, Susan! I’ve been to a few wedding receptions that did a hot chocolate bar, and it was so fun!
This is amazing and so helpful! I would love to see a post just like this with recommendations for feeding a large crowd of somewhat unknown size following a missionary homecoming or farewell. We never know how many teenagers are going to show up! Or how to prep in advance when we are all gone for up to 90 minutes before serving. Is hot food possible?
I totally get that, Natalie! I have a few posts dedicated to feeding large groups:
https://www.melskitchencafe.com/how-and-what-to-feed-a-crowd/
https://www.melskitchencafe.com/feeding-large-groups/
https://www.melskitchencafe.com/build-your-own-recipes-large-groups/
I haven’t really done a post delving into the specifics of how much to make or prepping in advance mostly because there are so many options and menus and ideas, but that’s a good idea to tackle!
Love all of this. It is so cute and yummy. Something for every taste. I can always count on you to have great ideas.
Thank you, Jill!
This looks so great!
Thanks, Sharon!
This post is so helpful, Mel! Thank you! I did a bridal shower last month and served a couple different chicken salads (like kind of a classic one, a dill pickle chicken salad, and your avocado chicken salad) and offered croissants or crackers with it. Then just did fresh fruit. It seemed like everyone liked it! Love the idea of the yogurt thing and those cups are so cute.
That sounds like a great idea – a variety of chicken salad. Yum! Thanks for sharing!
I would love a post like this but with food for the car for long trips. It seems we just keep doing the same thing over and over.
I agree! A post about road trip food would be amazing!
Yes, I would be interested in a list like this, too!
Hmmm, not sure I’m the best resource for this, since our road trip food usually consists of a cooler of sandwiches and a bag full of pantry snacks, but I’ll put my thinking cap on!
I would avoid preparing the meat and cheese cups for guests and let them choose themselves for several reasons. Mostly, food allergies. I have celiac and *something* gluten free is always nice. Cheese would have been great, but when it’s touching a cracker…it would be risky. Also, so many people are on GLP-1s! A little cheese and 1 tomato might be all they can eat. A cup makes sense for all like items, like a veggie stick cup. Or a fruit cup
Thanks for mentioning food allergies. I knew in advance that none of the guests had to avoid gluten. But to be safe, I kept a few assembled charcuterie cups (minus the pirouline stick and the cracker) in the refrigerator, and I had gluten free crackers in the pantry ready to go, if needed. I deliberately wanted to avoid a tray of meat and cheese where everyone grabs their own because those trays start looking messy within minutes, but I understand the need if working around food allergies. The yogurt bar was all naturally gluten free (the granola, too – I make all the homemade granola recipes with gluten free oats).
Regarding the GLP1’s, these cups are already quite small – definitely a “snack-size” portion. And I’m never offended if guests can’t finish everything on their plate. If someone on a GLP1 needs to eat just a little cheese and 1 tomato out of their cup, hopefully they feel comfortable enough to do so. I’ll be honest, people choosing to be on GLP1s didn’t even cross my mind when planning the food for this event. Going forward, I still don’t think I’d plan all the food at an event around people being on GLP1s and having a reduced appetite, since there are so many opportunities to choose smaller portions (like the yogurt bar).
Hahahahaha, a little cheese and 1 tomato. Is this where GLP1 culture has gotten us? That’s so not normal. And expecting that a party is going to tailor food around skinny culture is ridiculous. I cannot.
Plus nuts, a cracker, grapes, a berry, a pirouline stick and salami. Not to mention the yogurt parfait and mini muffins. Considering this is a snacky party and not a full meal, I think it’s plenty of food for a mid morning snack!
This is excellent 👌👍 thank you so much Mel!! I needed this for my upcoming bridal shower in November everyone is going to enjoy this!
Congratulations, Amy!
I want to purchase every serving bowl and platter you linked – your spread looked so good! Thanks for helpful post!
You are so welcome, Beth!
Perfect timing! We are doing a garden party with our Young Women next week and this post is exactly what they were talking about for food! Especially the mini charcuterie.
That sounds like fun!
What a spread!!! Looks amazing!!! Thanks for sharing! A few quick questions if you don’t mind, can you share what brand of yogurt you used? Do you have a favorite? Is Greek yogurt good for parfaits? Thanks!!
Hi Brittany! I used the Chobani vanilla Greek yogurt (the one in the cream container – not the dark blue container), and it was perfect for parfaits. Thick but not stodgy like some Greek yogurts. I used Yoplait peach yogurt (not Greek) and I used half Yoplait strawberry yogurt and half strawberry Greek yogurt (store brand from Walmart).
Wonderful! Thanks so much!!😁
How many people did you plan for/vs attended the shower?
Good question! We planned for 50 and had about 45 people there. I made 45 charcuterie cups and had about 15 left over – not everyone took one of those. I made WAY more mini muffins than I needed (about 48 mini muffins for each batch), but I was planning for extras so I could send them home with my friend who the bridal shower was for. For a group of 50, I’d plan on 2 mini muffins per person. We went through three 32-ounce tubs of vanilla yogurt, and one 32-ounce tub each of the peach and strawberry.
Thanks for the wonderful ideas! Will you please add the above information for the amounts used to serve 50 to the post, so it is easy to find? Love your site and recipes!!
Very bold of you to make demands on someone providing free content to make life easier for you.
Hi Mel, I have been an avid follower since the beginning. I have never commented on any social media post anywhere before. Therefore, I am HORRIFIED to see how my comment here is perceived! I have found your past posts on planning food for large gatherings extremely helpful. I truly value your experience and advice. I just didn’t want this little planning gem to get buried at the bottom of the comments so it could be useful to all. So, when you read this comment, will you PLEASE put me out of my misery and delete my first and this, my last, comment! Lesson learned. Thanks in advance for the deletions!!
Sharon! I don’t want you to feel badly at all!! I didn’t not perceive your comment in a negative light at all, and I’m so sad if you feel like you can’t comment in the future. Please know that I appreciated your feedback and still need to update/edit the post to reflect that information (I’ve been out of town). Please don’t worry another second about it. I’m grateful you are here!
Bravo Mel! This is so helpful and practical. You have a real flair for display and visual appeal which really elevates the entire party!! Thank you for your generosity in sharing every detail!! You are truly an angel.
You are so kind…thank you, Eileen!
This is such a great resource, and I love all the links to the equipment you used. I have gotten so many things you have recommended and it really has been so helpful!!
As a side note, the link for the containers you used to freeze the muffins is not there…
Sorry about that, Natalie! Just added the link.
You Are AMAZING! Thank you.
Thank YOU, Peggy!
Hi Mel!
Not sure I could love a post more 🙂 Your menu, helpful tips and item links are so so helpful – sometimes I get overwhelmed with making food for a crowd, but the way you break it down is really helpful!
Enjoy your day
Patricia
Thanks, Patricia! You are always so kind and generous.