How I ‘Proposed’ To My Bridesmaids!

Yes, I am one of those cringe bride to be’s who did a bridesmaid proposal. I was just so excited to finally be getting married after being with my partner 5.5 years and believing marriage wasn’t an option, so I really wanted to surprise people. I knew that these ladies also wouldn’t necessarily know they were going to be bridesmaids so wanted to do something fun to ask them. For those of you who haven’t heard what a bridesmaid proposal is, no it isn’t going down on one knee with an expensive ring (sorry ladies), it is just another term for doing something creative to ask your bridesmaids aside from, well…just asking them.

I decided to go for a balloon pop as I felt this was quite a fun thing to do that wouldn’t cost fortunes and that I could put together myself.  It was really simple to do and all I did was buy some small water balloons (although they were more difficult to source in Winter). I bought some cupcake boxes from Home Bargains and they just about fit the balloons in. You need to make sure that whatever box you get does actually fit the balloon in once blown up. I only blew the balloons up two thirds of the way as they wouldn’t have fit otherwise. I got pretty much everything else from Home Bargains too which made it easier and cheaper. I then bought some little tags to go with it and some stick on knitted lace and both were in the store’s craft/stationary section. I bought some little heart card cutouts that they also had in that section too and I already had the ribbon and pin I needed.

To make them up I found a long tube lying around the house from one of my Son’s toys and I carefully fitted the balloon around the end of it. I then put one of the little silver heart’s in there so it went down the tube. With a short sharp (but careful) blow in to the tube the heart went in to the balloon. On the hearts I had written ‘be my bridesmaid?’, so until they pop the balloon they have no idea what is in there. I have to say, there were many times I burst the balloons whilst blowing in the tube and many times I ripped them trying to feed them on to the end of the tube. So you may need to buy something to use if you don’t have something already lying around the house. Once the heart was inside the balloon I then carefully pulled the balloon off the end of the tube and then blew it up by mouth to the desired size and then tied the end.

I needed to provide them something to pop the balloon with. So that I didn’t just have a loose pin lying around in the box with the balloon, I attached some of the knitted lace tape to a little brown tag and then stuck the pin in to the lace. I then attached the brown tag to some ribbon and then the other end of the ribbon to the balloon. Once this was all done all I had to do was put the balloon with the tag attached in to the box and it was all ready. The cupcake boxes I got had a clear panel bit on one of the sides so I added a brown tag on the inside so that you couldn’t see through and to make it look like less of a cupcake box. You could add more decorations to the boxes or get some more exciting boxes if you want, but I didn’t want to spend too much on this as it isn’t really something that can be kept and it seemed unnecessary to spend a lot.

The second part of my proposal was a ‘bridesmaid survival kit’ that I had made. This was also a lovely thing to give to my bridesmaids that wasn’t expensive at all. I stuck with Home Bargains for all the bits again and it was perfect. I bought some clear makeup bags for 99p and then bought some lip balm, mints, hair spray, tissues and a mirror to go inside. The lip balm came in packs of 3 for £1.99 and the hairspray and mints also came in packs of 3/4. The tissues were super cheap and I just bought them one each and bought the mirrors for 99p each. it looked like a lot of effort had gone in to the gift but without it actually being expensive. Just goes to show that you can do something totally fun and different that doesn’t have to cost lots of money. I gave each bridesmaid a ‘survival kit’ once they accepted my proposal and they can keep their kit until the day of the wedding when they may need all of those things in there. All handbag sized items that are handy and will hopefully see them through the day and night. I think I spent a total of around £25 on everything for 4 bridesmaids, you could possibly do it even cheaper but seeing their excitement was amazing really for something that cost me around £25!