Littledog, Since the shower is coming up very soon, I suspect you will be at the mercy of whatever the local stores have on hand right now, or whatever comes in on this week's trucks. These are plants that I have seen in full bloom in our local stores and nurseries this week: mini-lilies (although some are already past their prime), mini-roses, calla lilies, all kinds of heat-loving annuals like periwinkles and zinnias, dwarf day-lilies (but no guarantee they'll have a flower open the day of the shower), torenia (the flowers look like small exotic orchids), and other annuals. Annuals of some sort are most likely to be blooming on any given day. Gerbera daisies are gorgeous and sort-of exotic looking if you can find them in bloom. Just yesterday I bought red pentas in bloom in nine-packs at Lowe's. They were either $5.98 or $6.98 for a nine-pack, which is a good price in our area for pentas in bloom. There are tons of all kinds of ground covers in stores in small pots now, so it would be easy to mix a foliage plant into a pot for each table. I might put three plants in a pot for an interesting blend: one annual that is flowering, something tall and spiky like a variegated liriope, sedge or small ornamental grass, and a trailing plant like an ivy or plectranthus. Potted geraniums would be a lovely choice if you can find them in bud and bloom, and not already bloomed out or in between bloom cycles. Good luck. Dawn

What a lovely idea-- wish I'd thought of it for my BFF oh so many years ago. They also went to Ireland for their honeymoon (and just returned from their third trip). In addition to the oxalis, I'd consider including lavender also. If either of them are irish themselves, you could use their family tartan-- some are absolutely lovely (some, not so much lol). You could also incorporate celtic knots, pint glasses, lace and linen. Of course, you could lean a bit more to the irish tavern style-- drop the lace and make some sort of tavern sign incorporating their soon-to-be shared last name... something like O'Malley's Pig Snout Tavern.. Flannery's Black Sheep Tavern.. etc. I've seen some great chocolate stout recipes.. and not sure where you'd get it but I found stout ice cream *very* rich and interesting. It would make a great adult sundae with chocolate or fudge sauce. Champagne and green punch are good ideas-- but I'd be inclined to serve Shandy's and perhaps other irish cocktails. Looking forward to seeing how you pull this together!

Find out if the bride has a scrapbook yet and get her that or some refill pages. I do more of an enhanced photo album than scrapbooking. Someone bought me a very nice expandable album for my wedding. It was great except that it only came with 8 pages. Refills were something like $8.99 per package. Since I ended up using that album to chronicle the engagement through honeymoon, I ended up spending a lot of money buying the refill pages that I needed.

Congratulations! How nice for your mom and for you. Here's another vote for a nice party that isn't exactly a "shower." Your mom is not some kid needing all the basics because she is just setting up housekeeping for the first time, which is sort of what showers are usually all about. Besides, the guests are probably going to get her wedding gifts; for a later-in-life marriage, you don't as often see multiple gifts (engagement, shower, wedding), I guess for the reason above. Anyway, as her daughters, you are close relatives. Showers are usually given by a friend or a more distant relative, like an aunt or cousin. I'd just give a lovely, fun party, whether an afternoon tea, a cocktail party, a spa day, a lunch, a brunch -- whatever suits her style the best -- in honor of her forthcoming wedding. Are you planning on inviting only women? If so, it will have the "feel" of a shower or a bachelorette party without your calling it anything. The invitation can just say something like, "Please join us at for [tea/cocktails/whatever] in honor of our mother, Jane Doe, who will be married to John Groom on September 18, 2004. [Place/Date/Time/RSVP info]." People will probably bring gifts. But whether or not they do, you're not planning this as a way of getting gifts anyway -- you're making a really fun day at which your mom will feel special and her friends will have a ball. That's easier to do if you don't tie yourselves to shower/bachelorette party concepts. You and your sister are just terrific to do such a nice thing for your mom. Whatever you plan, it's going to be great! Have fun.