There are many things to do for fun at bridal showers. I would say to have some games for everyone to participate in. For more ideas you can visit the bridal shower website.
You can find many ideas for bridal showers at www.bridalshowerday.com or other related sites that you can search. Also you can watch E! channel to find great ideas, [they have a lot of wedding and bridal shows]. And you can ask friends who have been married what they did for their bridal showers!
They are ok, but the gift opening part is always pretty boring.
Yes, it is generally a western tradition. However, Germans also partake in this tradition of bridal showers with pretty significant regularity.
At special occasions and bridal showers
It is in poor taste to have a bridal shower at the home of the bride's mother. The bride's aunts or friends host showers.
A bridal shower is, indeed, the same as a stagette - also known as a stag party for the bride. Bridal showers, though, have a less raunchy connotation compared to Stagette.
Ladies Room Diaries - 2011 Bridal Showers Bring Crazed Flowers 1-2 was released on: USA: 9 October 2011
Unless the bride/couple has specifically requested that there NOT be a bridal shower, they are always acceptable. Attention should be paid to holding the shower in a location and with a theme with which the bride will be comfortable.
Yes, it is completely appropriate for a mothers friend to host a bridal shower. Bridal showers are not to be hosted by a mother, sister, or other immediate family member of the couple due to it looking as though they are asking for gifts.
Bridal shower is usually for the bride-to-be and her friends, Mother and Mother-in-law by specific invitation only. No one wants to do all the silly girly stuff in front of the Moms.
Bridal Showers can be held up to two months before the event to three weeks before the event. It is wise to have a Bridal Shower approximately a month before the wedding as the Bride will be busy preparing for last minute fittings for her wedding dress, etc. You don't want the Bride exhausted at her own Bridal Shower.