Bachelorette party : Not so expensive party ideas

Hi


Happy March to all you guys there. Two months of 2016 are gone. Time to start ticking things off on your 2016 wish list.
My cousin ticked one major wish from her list by getting married a couple of days back. It was a 6 day affair in Mumbai split up in two weekends kicked off by a wild bachelorette party.
It was my first time throwing a bachelorette party and hence I had no idea the cost involved in readymade, glitter infused plastic items. Even a simple bride-to-be saash costs ₹380 bucks in Mumbai.

Me believing it to be a waste money decided to use my brains and do things my way. So below our some common stuff that feature in a bachelorette party. I will show you how you can have it all and not burn a hole in your purse.

1. Saash:
A saash for ₹380 bucks was a major shock initially. One that took me a couple of days to fathom. But there is a simple solution that will cost you mostly nothing. You need black chart paper, pink glitter, glue, pink crape paper and a pin. Except for the glitter all the other things were already at my place. Cut the chart paper into a shape of a saash(as in the picture). Then crumple crape paper and stick it on the back with a small part of it coming out. Then with the help of the glitter write 'Bride-To-be' and it's done. Use a safety pin to pin the two together.



2. Decor:
Instead of going for some new drapes, we used an old drape in the background. This is a typical drape that you get for Ganapati decoration. My cousin had one so we borrowed it from her. As we were on the cost saving mode, we used the sexy lingerie(her gift) as decoration. Also the saash that we made was also used for decoration (as in the picture). We placed all the stuff on a flat table and used a small cushion to place the tiara on it.



3. Cake:
My cousin is quite the shy girl. So when it came to cakes we decided not to go really wild. We googled wild cakes and ignored the ones with man parts on it. Instead we went with a bikin and make up essentials for her first night. A normal cake with all these things come with a fondant base in minimum 2 kgs costing ₹2000 easily. We made the cake decorator lose the fondant base and asked her to make the base in icing itself. It costs us just ₹1000 and it tasted so delicious sans the sticky & sugary fondant.

4. Gifts:
Even though we cut back on a lot of things, we splurged on the gifts for our bride-to-be. The lingerie that we used for decoration was especially flown in from Victoria Secret, USA. Also the tiara we bought from a local store named Madcaps at Kemps Corner, South Mumbai. I bought badges for the bridesmaids from Madcaps itself. We also bought floral wreaths from a local jewellery store for the other girls at the party.

Gyaan:
In all the planning madness, we forget that the party is for the bride and some special touches for the bride is a must. Hence we played close attention to her. We actually kidnapped her from her place. We got her dressed in her one piece and did her make up and hair. Completely got her decked up because it was her first night from the many nights to come.

I hope these tips help you guys. Please leave a comment below and tell me about your bachelerotte party experiences.


Until my next gift
This is your serial gifter signing off,
Manasi Kabadi

Baby Shower: DIY Diaper Cake

Hi guys

First of all Happy New Year. I pray that you have a good year with lots of love and happiness.

2016 has started on quite a good note for me. Especially on the gifting side of things.

Recently I attend my cousin's baby shower in Pune. Baby shower is  the western term for godhbharai. As the name suggest its literally showering the mother to-be with presents and prepare her for her upcoming sleepless nights.

A regular at these showers is the diaper cake. A lot of people asked me if its a cake and whether they will have to eat chocolate diapers (Ewwwww). Well I will be clearing all those weird misconceptions today.

Diaper cake is basically a stack of diapers stuffed with gifts for the baby to be born. The reason it's called a cake is because of the tier shape in which it's made. It's fairly simple to make and require only a few hours to make. I took around 3 hours.
Let's get started.

You will need:
1. A round cardboard base. I had saved an old base which I had got during Diwali.
2. Around 50 diapers. You may need less based on your base. I used Pampers.
3. Rubber bands.
4. Ribbion. I used golden because it matched my base.
5. Transparent wrapping paper.
6. Toys for stuffing. I got fruits that make noise.
7. A toy for the top of the cake.

Step 1:
Take each diaper and roll it in like a frankie with the help of a rubber band. Roll all the diapers in the same way.

Step 2:
Once you are done with the rolling, take your base and start stacking the diapers in a circle. You may need some help here as you may not be able to hold all diapers together. Once your round is done, place some diapers inside the bigger round and with the help of you ribbon secure the round. That's your base done. In the middle you may place the toys that you have got. Don't stuff it entirely and save some for the other tiers as well.







Step 3:
For the second tier you will hv to repeat the same process as step 2. However you will need only one round of diapers. Make sure that the round is smaller than the base for the tier effect. Secure the second tier with the ribbon and stuff it with the remaining toys.

Step 4:
For the last tier, take around 5 diapers and secure them together with the ribbon. Place a single diaper inside to hold the last tier together. If you have some toys left you may even stuff those instead of the diaper.

Step 5:
To complete the look of the cake, it's important to place something at the top of the cake. For this you can pick a small teddy bear or a small toy like the one I have picked. It had a big handle so I stuffed it in a diaper and placed that diaper inside the top tier.

Step 6:
For some more decoration, I had these cute little baby bips with funny writings on it. I just placed them on the either side of the cake and stuck the ends in the cake. They completely transformed my cake.







Step 7:
Now for the last bit you need wrapping paper to secure the cake. Remember that the tiers are not attached to each other so it's possible they may move which  is why this last bit is extremely crucial. Make sure that you completely cover the cake and secure the wrapping paper at the base so all of it stays together.




And that's it. You cake is all done.

Gyaan:
Normally in India nobody really bothers to check the sex of the baby. It's actually against the law as well. So when you make this cake make sure you do not choose pink or blue because pink and blue are meant for baby girl and baby boy respectively. Go for a green or yellow like me.

I hope this helps in making the cake and surprise the to-be mother.

Until my next gift
This is your serial gifter signing off

Cheers,

Manasi Kabadi