For that antiqued, country-store feeling, add old fashioned items such as gingerbread men and Mason canning jars to your decor for a Down-Home Shower.

Mason Jar Wildflower Centerpieces

These off-the-farm centerpeices make perfect additions to your red-checkered table cloth and fried chicken. Find 8 oz. or 12 oz. Mason canning jars at your local grocery or craft supply store (sometimes you can find antique ones that are tinted a beautiful light blue). Fill jar 1/3 full with water, arrange wildflowers. Take strips of grosgrain ribbon in polka dots or checks and wrap around under the lip of the Mason jar. Tie off in a bow.

Variations: Votive candles are just as lovely inside the Mason jars as wildflowers. Or you can plant a small flowering plant or herb in each jar. No matter what you choose, these centerpieces make great favors or game prizes for guests to take home.

Gingerbread People Placecard Holders

To add to the Down-Home, country store feel of your bridal shower, make these placecard holders that double as delicious desserts!

For this decorative project, you will need a male and female gingerbread cookie cutter (unless your bridal shower is all female; then use the gingerbread girl cutter). Make gingerbread cookies, cutting out for each guest according to their gender.

There are several ways you can turn these gingerbread girls and boys into adorable placecards. With the help of a pastry bag and tip, you can write each guest's name in icing across each gingerbread person. Or before baking, you can poke a hole in the hand, heart, or head of each gingerbread cookie with an awl. After they cookies are finished, you can loop a handwritten placecard tied with pretty ribbon through the hole. Or, you can make your own little "Hello, My Name Is..." cards and glue them to the gingerbread person's hand with royal icing. Then the guest can fill it out themselves when they sit down. If you use the real thing, they can peel it off and wear it as well.