How to Host a Great Bridal Shower (8 Steps)

I recently helped my mother-in-law host a bridal shower. It was such a pleasant experience that I decided to help others by sharing how we accomplished this feat.First enlist help. Although you can do this by yourself it is a lot easier and less expensive if you enlist the help of some family and friends. We broke up the tasks of the party to make it easier on everyone (one person made the main course and centerpieces, another person brought the vegetables and cake, another person made the games and prizes and brought the fruit, another person sent out invitations and made favors).
You need to decide what type of shower you are going to plan. In this day and age it is not necessarily the brides' place to partake in events alone. Some wedding showers include the husband to be. These showers are thrown more as a couple shower where guests bring spouses. This type of shower can get expensive to throw, as you are essentially doubling your guest list. You need to decide if you are going to make it a themed shower (i.e. garden bridal shower or kitchen bridal shower). This will help guests know what to buy off of the couples registry. Pick a date, time, and place to host the shower and send out invitations about four weeks before the event so that you will give people enough time to accommodate their schedules and receive responses.Create an estimate of the number of guests that will be coming to the shower. This will help you decide on how much food to prepare.Create a menu. (We did a chicken salad sandwich on croissant, vegetable skewers, sliced fruit, and a cake for desert). Decide weather you will be having a buffet set out or if you are going to do plated meals. This helps for time management. A plated lunch will take less time than a buffet lunch if you plate the food a half hour before guests arrive. This also means that you will not run the risk of some guests taking to much food and some guests not getting any food.
Set up tables with plates, silverware, drink ware (drinks should be poured prior to guests arrival to save on time). Forks are to the left of the plate while knives and spoons are to the right of the plate lying atop napkins. Favors should either be placed at each place setting for guests or placed on an entryway table for guest to take as they depart. In a garden themed party for example, you could buy inexpensive small clay pots and place flower seeds, flower bookmarks, and candy in them. Tie a simple ribbon around the pots in the couples wedding colors to give good presentation to the favors. Throwing a themed shower also gives the host/hostess a direction for creativity. For example, a garden themed party can have flower centerpieces (a simple vase on each table with hydrangeas will suffice), flower trivia game( a name that flower game), spice smelling game, potted plant favors, and garden tool prizes.
The Shower should flow well. There should not be any large lulls in time, guests will visit with each other during the dining and game play. After guests have eaten there should be one or two games to be played by guests. For the shower I threw I created a wedding movie trivia game with multiple choice questions for the first game and a game I call Spice Delight, where guests have only their sense of smell to use and must guess the spice or herb hidden in several different containers. I awarded prizes to the person with the most correct and the person with the least correct. I had tie-breaker questions ready as well. The prizes I created were simple glass vases I picked up at a local dollar store with a pair of gardening gloves, a garden tool, and a pack of garden herb seeds placed inside. I tied two ribbons around the vase in the couples colors to tie into the rest of the décor of the bridal shower.
Before using these games you need to make sure to keep a copy with the answers. The guests' copy of the games should not have the answers highlighted. Once everyone has had a chance to guess the answers, you go over the answer key out loud with the guests. Hand out prizes after each game.The Tie-Breaker questions I got from Wikipedia.Wedding Movie Trivia Game
1) In the 1991 film 'Father of the Bride', where did the bride and groom, Annie and Bryan, meet?
A) Paris
B) Rome
C) Chicago
2) At the end of the 1989 film 'When Harry Met Sally', how long do Harry and Sally say it took them to get married?
A) 12 years and 3 months
B) 3 years and 10 months`
C) 7 years and 9 months
3) What song is playing at the very end of the 1999 film, 'Runaway Bride.'
A) Love the second time around
B) You Can't Hurry Love
C) Finally Found Love
4) In the 1998 film, 'The Wedding Singer', what rock star was on the plane when Robbie was going to Vegas?
A) Bruce Springsteen
B) Boy George
C) Billy Idol
5) In the 2001 film 'The Wedding Planner' How do the main characters Mary and Steve meet?
A) Steve saves Mary from getting run over by a car.
B) Steve hits Mary's car.
C) Steve saves Mary from getting run over by a dumpster.
6) In the 2005 film 'Wedding Crashers' Who are the two main characters?
A) John and Jack
B) John and Jeremy
C) Jack and Jim
7) In the 2002 film, 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' who says,' 'The man is the head, but the woman is the neck.'
A) Maria Portokalos
B) Harriet Miller
C) Thia Voula
8) In the 1997 film, 'My Best Friend's Wedding' Michael made Julianne swear that if they were still single at age __ they would marry each other.
A) 30
B) 28
C) 35
9) In the 1987 film 'The Princess Bride' What was Miracle Max's favorite food?
A) A nice MLT
B) A nice Pastrami on Rye
C) A nice BLT
10) In the film 'Pride and Prejudice' what is the name of the house that the Bennett's live in?
A) Netherfield Park
B) Rosings
C) Longborn
Tie Breaker Questions:
1) Wearing a white dress was a trend started by what famous bride?
A) Queen Elizabeth *B) Queen Victoria C) Queen Mary2) Wedding veils from ancient Rome were what color?
A) White B) Black *C) Yellow
Spice Delight There are seven different spices in seven different containers. Each container has been numbered and covered. This game quizzes your sense of smell and your knowledge of common herbs and spices. Please smell each container and try to identify its contents based on smell and smell alone. Write down what herb or spice you think is in the container next to the corresponding number on your paper. 1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7) Tie-breaker Questions:1) What is the difference between and herb and a spice?Herbs are, or may be, used fresh. Typically the leaves of annual and perennial plants are used as herbs but sometimes the leaves of woody plants are used. Spices come from plant parts other than leaves such as the bark, roots, buds, flowers or fruits. They are usually perennial plants grown in tropical areas and include things like cinnamon (bark), ginger (root), nutmeg (fruit/nut) and pepper (berry).2) Where does the herb name Mint originate from?The name comes from the Greek legend of the nymph Minthe, who attracted the attention of Hades. Hades' wife, the jealous Persephone, attacked Minthe and was in the process of trampling her to death when Hades turned her into the herb (and was ever sacred to him). A symbol of hospitality and wisdom, 'the very smell of it reanimates the spirit', Pliny tells us.
After the games have been played and prizes have been awarded it is time for the guest of honor (bride/bride and groom, depending on how the party is thrown) to open gifts. Someone must be in charge of writing down what gifts the bride and groom are receiving and from whom they are receiving them from. This is essential for the bride and groom to be able to write their thank you cards. Usually the person in charge of doing this task is the maid of honor, the mother, the mother-in-law, or the groom to be.
After the gifts have been opened, there is one more task to be complete. Thank your guests for coming. A simple, 'Thank you for being a part of celebrating the union of two wonderful people. We are incredibly happy that you are all here to be a part of the beginning of what I am sure will be a happy marriage. Once again, thank you for coming, thank you for taking the time to be here with us.' (If you have favors placed on an entryway table this will help segue the end of the shower and the departure of guests. You can simply add on to the end of your thank you speech, 'There are favors for each guest to take home with them on the entry table, please make sure to take one as you are leaving.')
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How to Plan a Swim

Contact USA Swimming. Prior to hosting a Swim-a-Thon, your organization must complete a contract with USA Swimming that states certain conditions to follow. Once the contract is completed, you will receive a handbook about how to host a successful Swim-a-Thon, with forms and promotional materials. Swim-a-Thon is a registered trademark that is owned by USA Swimming.
Select date and location. Once you have a contract signed with USA Swimming, seek out a location to have the Swim-a-Thon. City, county and school pools may offer facilities for a small fee or free if used for fundraising events. Compare calendars with venues and pick a date to hold the event.
Hand out fliers. Use the promotional materials provided by USA Swimming to promote participation in your Swim-a-Thon. Hand out these items to members of your organization and others who would be interested in participating. Make sure to include the date, time and location of the event, instructions on how to collect pledges and your contact information.
Plan your Swim-a-Thon for an entire afternoon, offering different activities to encourage spectators to come out and watch. Collect donations from local businesses, such as gift certificates, gift baskets or merchandise that can be raffled. Offer food to spectators from a concession stand operated by volunteers or find a food vendor to set up during the event. Other activities for spectators can include music by a DJ and games for kids, such as water balloon toss, sidewalk chalk art and a sprinkler play area.
Give out awards. At the end of the Swim-a-Thon, offer awards to all participants and top performers. Hand out ribbons for participating, raising the most money and swimming the most laps.
Collect pledges. Once participants have completed the Swim-a-Thon event, have then collect money from friends and family who pledged. Give participants one week, or other amount of time you are comfortable with, to collect the money and turn it in to you.
Send out thank you notes. Write up a thank you note to send to each participant for helping raise money for your organization. If addresses are available, send thank you notes to those who donated to the Swim-a-Thon, such as vendors, friends and family.
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How to Start a Movie Music Download Website

Plan a model for your website by asking yourself important questions about its design and purpose. Do you want your site to cater to particular demographic and community, or will it be more general like Youtube? Do you want to host user-made videos and copyright-free music at your website, or do you plan to distribute copyrighted material in exchange for a fee? If you choose the latter, you'll need to acquire the appropriate licenses and strike deals with content copyright holders.
Choose a web hosting company. This will allow your web site to have an online presence, complete with its own URL. Yahoo! Small Business offers web hosting packages for as little as $10 per month. This includes unlimited data transfer, disk space, audio and video galleries, and web design tools, all of which will be necessary for a movie and music download site.
Consider choosing an alternative, purpose-specific web hosting site, such as Fliggo. Fliggo is a free web hosting agency that will allow you to create a video hosting site without any technical knowledge of web design. At this time, Fliggo is free. Unfortunately, the level of customization involved with a method like this is rather limited, and you won't be able to run a for-pay site. This will, however, allow you to test the Internet waters and find a market before taking the plunge with a custom site.
Hire a team of skilled individuals to help with the development and day-to-day operations of your website. You'll need web designers, content creators, marketing experts, moderators and probably a legal specialist. Unless your consider yourself to be a 'jack of all trades' with an unlimited amount of free time, starting a movie and music download site by yourself will be overwhelming.
Build an online community around your website. One of the biggest problems facing Internet startups is a lack of traffic. The Internet is flooded with music and movie download websites, and your site will need unique features, excellent design and interesting content in order to stand out. Find other websites catering to your chosen market and demographic, and purchase advertising.
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How to Make Money Hosting PC Game Servers

Decide on the type of server you want to use. You can use your computer as a server, but once you shut down the computer, no one can use it. A dedicated server is in use 24-7 and will be unavailable for your own personal use.
Find a game to host by contacting developers or programmers working on games. If you want to court a large company like Blizzard, then you need to have large servers that can host a large-scale game. If you plan on courting a small company, then you don't need such a large system.
Figure out how you plan to charge. If you are working with a large company, they will likely lease your servers for their game; that will be the primary source of revenue. If you host a small scale or even local game, then you can charge people a monthly fee to play.
Create your pay-for-access system by working with your Internet service provider or hosting company. They both have the ability to set up a username and password system for either a membership section of your website, which you can provide access to your server, or directly with the server itself for a limited time. This will give only paying customers access to the server and the game.
Publicize your gaming space. If you are hosting a local game, then you will need to publicize your business in order to get people to come and play the game. The most common ways of publicizing products are advertising, social media and news coverage.
Upgrade the servers when needed. If you want to continue making money, then you will need to upgrade your servers when the number of people gets too large or the games take up too much memory on the server.
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How to Download Music From Mediafire (4 Steps)

Log in to your email account and locate the email that contains the Mediafire link.
Click on the Mediafire link. A list of the downloadable links will appear on the screen.
Place your mouse over the title of the song. A small 'Download' button will appear on the right side of the screen. Click on the 'Download' button. A new Mediafire window will appear on the screen.
Click on the 'Click here to start download' link. When the Windows dialog box appears on the screen, check the box next to 'Save File.' The song will automatically download and save to your PC's 'Downloads' folder.
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How to Run a Euchre Tournament (7 Steps)

Choose a number of players. You will need a total number of participants that is divisible by four. If you are hosting the tournament in your home, choose a smaller number, such as 8 or 12. If you are hosting the event in a larger venue, you can increase the number of participants to 20 or more.
Advertise the event one week to one month prior to event. For small events, contact participants by phone, email, or mailed invitations. For large community-based events, post fliers around town or advertise on public access television or radio. Keep 'back-up' guests in mind in case you have an uneven number of replies for the event.
Gather all of the supplies. You will need small card tables and chairs for each foursome, a deck of cards for each table, a copy of the rules for each table, prizes and snacks and beverages.
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