Jack & Jill Ideas anyone?

That sounds tacky to me, just my opinion My cousin had the same issue (kid, house, etc) so what we did was had a shower for her and had a money tree made. We sent out an invite with I think it was $20 per person, if they were interested (people did not have to participate, they could bring a gift if they didn't want to do money). Some people gave more also if they wanted, but either way my cousin was grateful and it was an actual useful gift. We spent the shower just enjoying eachothers comapny and eating of course!

Question: are Jack & Jill parties popular where you are at????

If they are done in your area/region then go for it. But for most of us, it is a foreign idea and many will comment this is a bad idea.

I've heard of them, but we do them for more of charity events, which I don't think you want your shower to feel like. But I guess if your town has done these for wedding type events, go for it?

Yes, Jack & Jills are very popular with our friends. We just want to get together and have a large bbq, but we dont want any gifts. Just trying to get ideas...

Almost every baby shower Ive been to in the last year was considered "Jack & Jill" then men were there participating, same goes with the wedding showers we've attended.

IMO, any form of asking for money is inappropriate, no matter how cute the wording is or what method is used.

Being over budget is not your guests responsibility. We did not need many household items (and we have a house, bills, kid too so that's no excuse to ask for money) so we had a small registry and people either bought off it or gave monetary gifts.

Nope. Tacky in all ways.

We are doing a Jack and Jill (I'm not girly enough to do a normal bridal shower), and we're just going to have a Movie & Game Night theme. We have items that fit this theme already on our registry, and it seems a better way to get the guys somewhat involved, so that's what we went with.

But otherwise, I agree with Hayley. There are some regions where the raffle/admission is the norm, but we're going to try to keep it more like a bridal shower.

It seems like you are asking a lot from your guests, they need to bring/buy something AND then they need to pay money to buy something at the raffle.

I think you need to provide the prizes and maybe do lots of games that will cost you next to nothing to set up.

Are you thinking of doing this when it is warm out? An outdoor event?

Where i'm from, jack and jills are VERY common. Here are some ideas:

50/50 raffle: 1 dollar per ticket; 50% to bride and groom, 50% to winner

"find the bride and groom" card game: standard deck of cards including jokers. glue your pictures to 2 cards (or simply write your names). place the cards on a bulletin board or piece of wood (or something) face down. 2 dollars per guess. (each person walks in and "bids" on a card(s). you write that person's name on the card, and when the board is full of guesses (or the party is winding down) flip over all the cards to reveal the bride and groom. B & G keep the cash, winner gets a prize.

raffle: basic raffle prizes (standard raffle)

Newlywed game: like the tv show; $ to play (tbd). write up questions beforehand; have a few couples play at a time (3-4 couples). Most answers correct/matching (out of 5 or 7 usually) wins a nice prize.

Trivia: similar to above; only all questions deal with bride and groom.

Cont'd:

Most correct answers gets a prize

hope that helps

Okay, apparently this went completely off of what I anticipated.

Thanks for your input.

IMO I have never heard of it before. But it could work for you, if you don't want to do that and don't want household items, just come up with a theme that will get you what you want. For example, Wine theme gets you wine, receipe theme gets you food and recipes and the dish it was made it, so just make the theme work for you. Hope this advice helps.

Inviting people to a 'party' that involves them paying in any way just isn't cool. Jack and Jill parties, though not real popular around here, are not, in themselves, a bad idea but the whole raffrle thing, cash thing.....nope.

This isn't a fund raiser for a charity; this is a wedding related celebration. That makes all the difference.

Please Amy, let me a bring some rays of sunshine. There will be people who are going to tell you NO, this is a horrible idea and tacky as hell. Please do whatever your heart and FH want! It doesn't matter what anyone else has to say.

I personally have never heard of this being done, and my FH also wants cash instead of gifts. I don't know how I'm going to go about that right now but I will cross that bridge when I have to. Good luck to you. I wish you a long happy marriage.

GAMES

- Drop the coin in the shot glass ( a water jug from a water cooler filled with water - if it falls in the shot glass they win a free drink) ** Use a broom handle and put it in the shot glass to hold it in place while you fill the jug with water

- In the balloon popping game participants tie balloons to their ankles with a string and try to stomp on each other's balloons. The last person with their balloon intact wins a prize.

- "Hammer Time' You get a big tree stump a hammer and super long nails. Whomever hits the nail down with the least number of hits wins ( EVERY little tap counts even to readjust) Guys get super competitive for this one and keep playing to win. One guy spent about 80 bucks to win. Keep track of their name and number of hits on a big chart so people will keep playing. Bring safety glasses and keep the stump on the floor (too easy if it's on a table or something).

Thanks everyone. The idea was that the guests would bring a gift, they get raffled off and in return everyone leaves with a gift, just not the same one they brought... somewhat of a yankee swap. So in theory, they might spend an extra $10 to what they brought, but we are feeding them and its a good time with friends. If it were me being invited to something like that, i wouldnt look at it as tacky.. I would have fun with it! But thanks for all the info.

But this isn't a white elephant party...this is a raffle where guests have to pay, right? Because at a white elephant party, guests bring gifts and then they're exchanged through a raffle-game. But, no money is involved.

If you know your audience, and they'd be fine with it, then go for it. I would think it's a bit different, but it's only because i'm not familiar with it.

Hey Amy, Can't say I've ever heard of Jack n Jill but it sounds like a lot of fun!

Ive never heard of it, but we had originally planned to do a "stock the bar" party instead of a shower until FFIL offered to buy all our booze. Can you bring your own liquor to your venue~its an idea to help cut expenses

i think if the jack and jill is normal in your area, go for it. Ive been to one where they do it for a baby shower