Engagement Party & Shower Themes

JMC and I are blessed to have a number of close friends and family who want to throw us showers and engagement parties. It helps, I guess, that we are so young and happen to be the first of any of our friends to get married. As showers are being planned for the summer, I have found myself having a hard time deciding on theme ideas, or if we want to have themes at all.

In December, JMC's parents (with the help of mine) threw us the greatest engagement party. It was "Trim Their Tree" themed and was held at JMC's parents' house in Charlotte. I LOVED the idea of having a Christmas-themed engagement party. JMC and I both love everything about Christmas so it kind of only made sense. We got some of the most amazing gifts from our family and friends that will really mean a lot to decorate for our first Christmas as a married couple next year.

JMC's parents got us a pre-lit tree (along with a UNC Christmas platter, a staple for holidays around JMC's house), and to go with it, my parents got us an adorable tree skirt with our name embroidered on it.

So after our engagement party was so awesome, I've started to think of other themes we could use for couple's and bridal showers that are to come this summer. Here are a few that I've been considering:

Kitchen Shower:

I feel like this is the go-to shower for most couples. JMC and I are going to need a lot of kitchen supplies and utensils to outfit our new living space (whatever it may be). Sure, we have hand-me-down pots and pans, and things we used in college apartments, but now that we're grown-ups, we need quality everyday items as well as a few utensils and appliances that we (read "I") will need now that we (I) will be cooking all the time.

Margaritas & Monograms:

I saw this idea on Pinterest (shocker), and I thought, this would be the perfect shower for me. Who doesn't love margs? Plus, I have all this monogrammed stuff with my OLD monogram that I need replaced, right? But then I thought, how many options for monogrammed things could there really be before it starts getting weird?

Entertainment Shower:

JMC's cousin and her husband had an entertainment shower before their wedding, but people ended up bringing games and things to entertain the couple. I'm thinking that a better way to spin this would be to bring things that the couple can use to entertain OTHERS. JMC and I are innate hosts, always wanting to have people over for dinner, parties, etc. We are definitely going to need to stock up on party-throwing items ASAP.

Anyone else have any brilliant ideas for shower themes?