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Bridal shower gift boxes for the bride, not the wedding

At a shower the gifts get opened in front of everybody, which is exactly why there's no price on anything inside mine. I pack every box myself, by hand, here in Canada, and I write your card out in your own words. Shipping anywhere in Canada is on me.

I pack every box by hand here in Canada, and nothing inside has a price on it.

Four bridal shower boxes from $99 to $119, shipped free, each with a card written by hand.

The Bridal Spa Box, a bridal shower gift box packed by hand in Canada
An example of the card, written in your words

Nadia. Run a bath and don't answer the phone.

Love, Aunt Jo

The Bridal Spa BoxAbout three things, and about two more at $119.From$99Buy now, $99: The Bridal Spa Box, $99

Four boxes I pack for a bridal shower

Four different boxes rather than four versions of one, and three of the four come in two sizes: the larger one is the same box with about two more things in it. A shower gift gets opened in front of a room, held up and passed around, so I've written what each one is for rather than listing what's in it. They all arrive with a card in your own words, and shipping is free on every one.

Would you rather choose what goes in? Build your own box instead: you choose the box, you choose what goes in it, and it ships free the same way these do.

Not on the registry

Showers usually have a registry too, and by the time it gets round to you the good half is gone and what is left is a set of ramekins. A box is not a cheaper substitute for the thing she asked for.

It is the only kind of gift at a shower that is for her rather than for the house she is about to share, and that is the gap in every registry ever written: nobody can put a quiet hour on a list, because you cannot ask people for one. If you are buying off the registry as well, send this as the one she opens first.

There's no price on anything inside the box, so what gets passed around the room is the gift and not the number.

When to send it, and where

I can't promise an exact arrival date, so don't plan on a box landing on the morning of the shower. Send it to the bride's own address a good few days ahead instead, or to whoever is hosting if the gifts are being collected in one place. It arrives closed, so it can go straight onto the table with the rest.

Plenty of these go out because somebody couldn't be at the shower at all. That works: her address, your message, and the card in handwriting does the part you would have done in the room. You can pick a preferred delivery date at checkout, which tells me when to send it rather than when it will arrive.

More boxes that suit a bride before the day

Each of these is sold here for another reason too, so nothing on this page calls them anything else. Every price includes free shipping anywhere in Canada and a card written out by hand.

Showing all 5

If you want to spend more than this

Three of the four come in two sizes, and together they stop at $119, which is what these boxes cost, and I'm not going to pad one out to reach a bigger number. If you're the maid of honour, or a few of you are going in together, take the larger size of one of these, or put the money into a different box rather than into padding one out.

The box below isn't a shower box, so it would need a card that explains itself. Nothing on this page is a smaller gift for costing less.

Or start from every box I make, sorted by priceThe whole ladder, $70 to $299, including the sizes between these boxes and those.

The card gets read out.

You type the message when you order, up to 280 characters. I write it out in pen on a real card and set it on top. At a shower the cards are read aloud while everyone watches, which is either a good reason to write something real or a good reason to keep it short. Both work better in handwriting.

Stuck on what to write? You could start with one of these:

"Wish I could be there.""Don't answer the phone for an hour.""This one's for you, not the wedding."

There are more lines you can borrow in my guide to writing a gift card message.

An example of the card, written in your words

Wish I could be there. Run a bath and don't answer the phone.

Love, Aunt Jo

How to choose a bridal shower gift

Most people buying a shower gift are already in for something else: a dress, a flight, a weekend away, or the wedding gift still to come. That's worth saying out loud, because the shower is the one on that list where a smaller gift is completely normal and nobody in the room is doing arithmetic. So pick by what the bride is short of rather than by what you spent. In the months before a wedding she is short of unbooked evenings, and almost nothing she's been handed is for her rather than for the day. My guide to how much to spend on a gift in Canada goes relationship by relationship.

An hour to herself

Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Sweet Pre-Wedding Box and the Bridal Spa Box. Everything else she has been handed this year is for the wedding. These are the ones that ask nothing of her and don't need doing before a deadline.

For the run-up

Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Cozy Future Bride Box and the Ultimate Bridal Pamper Box. There are months between the shower and the wedding and most of them are admin. These get used in that stretch, and on the morning itself, rather than sitting in a cupboard until the day.

If you're already in for the dress

Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Sweet Pre-Wedding Box, the Bridal Spa Box and the Cozy Future Bride Box. A shower gift at the bottom of this shelf is a whole gift, particularly from somebody who is also paying for a fitting, a flight or a weekend away. Shipping is free on every one of them, with no minimum to reach.

More boxes for her

The rest of what I make that suits a bride rather than a couple, from $99. Each one is sold here for some other reason too, so none of them arrives calling itself a shower gift. The card does that.

The same couple, three more times

Engaged, showered, married, a year in. About eighteen months and four occasions, and if you're on the shower list you're almost certainly on at least one of the others.

You are probably buying twice. If you are, send the quiet one here, where it gets opened in front of people, and put the weight into the wedding gift, which is opened later, alone, with a list beside it.

If the engagement was recent and you missed it, nobody minds and nobody is counting. The engagement boxes are smaller than these and there is no etiquette attached to them at all.

A year after the wedding the first anniversary goes by with nothing at all, and a box on that date gets remembered precisely because by then everyone else has stopped. The anniversary shelf is where that one lives.

Four occasions, one couple, and you never land back on the same shelf twice.

Questions people ask me

What do you send to a bridal shower you can't go to?

A box, to her own address, with the card you would have written anyway. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and takes 1 to 7 days in transit. Put her address in at checkout and type your message, and I copy it onto the card by hand before it goes out. I can't promise an exact arrival date, so order with room rather than aiming at the day of the shower.

I can't find a registry for the shower. What should I send?

A box, and you're not missing anything by sending one. Plenty of showers never have a registry at all, and the ones that do are usually the couple's wedding list with a shower pinned to it, which is a list for the house rather than for her. Send something that is hers and you have covered the gap either way.

How much should I spend on a bridal shower gift?

Less than on the wedding gift, and less than on the bachelorette if you're going to that. My bridal shower boxes run from $99 to $119 and every one ships free anywhere in Canada. If you're the maid of honour, or a few of you are going in on one gift, the luxury box for her is $299, though it isn't a shower box.

What is inside a bridal shower gift box?

It depends on the box. They run from things for a long bath and an early night to slippers and something warm for the morning of the wedding, and one of them is built around the months of planning still to come. What goes in shifts with what's good this season, so I describe each one by how full it is and who it's for rather than listing it. There's no alcohol in any of them: where a box has glasses in it, the glasses come empty.

Can I send the box to the shower host instead of the bride?

Yes. Put the host's address in at checkout and write the card to the bride the same way, and I send it straight there. It arrives closed and unopened, so it can go onto the table with the rest of them.

Can I return a bridal shower gift box?

All sales are final. Every box is food, skincare and other things that can't be resold once they've left here, and each one is packed by hand to order. If you have a question before you buy, email me at team@swipegifts.com.

While you are here

Thanks for reading this far. If you have a question about any box, write to me at team@swipegifts.com. I read every email, and I write back.