We had about 35 (DH has a HUGE family... 7 siblings) and it was just about the right number of people. Any more than that and I think I would have had trouble giving my full attention... plus it took FOREVER to open gifts.
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We invited 40, but probably about 25 will come the rest are from out of town. I guess it depends on where you are having it also. We are having it in my SIL's house so more than 25 would be a little crazy.
I think the key is to ask the host/hostess how many you can invite. It's not only a major financial undertaking, but there may be space limitations that make certain numbers unpleasant for all involved. Also ditto artsyandi - unless it's a group gift where a bunch of people chipped in on one major thing you need, I'd say anything above 20 gifts just gets exhausting to watch!
Full disclosure, though: I am having 3 separate showers - one with my mom's friends, one with my girlfriends, and one with friends from work. If you're only having one shower, you may need to have a bigger guest list, but do be sensitive to the plans and limitations of your hostess.
We invited 50 and by my estimate, I think there will be between 30-35 attend.
I don't know that I would use the word tacky with a large guest list. Maybe cumbersome is a better word to describe it. That's a lot of gifts to open and that alone will take time. My SIL had a wedding shower with about 80 people and it took 4 hours for her to open everything.
In my house, if we had any more than 15 people total (including me and the 2 hostesses), we would have been too packed in. Opening presents still felt like it took forever.
We invited about 30 and 23 are coming. But we only invited my side of the family not DH's. If we had done it with DH's there would be about double that amount if not more.
We both have large families and I had only one shower with both sides and my friends. That said, we invited 72 and 55 were there. It was great, but tiring, but I'm glad I just had one and was done.
I think some of it depends on your personality. Don't invite more than you think you can actually get around to and visit with. We sent out 110 invites for mine, and 90 are coming (I'm very close to my extended family, and DH's dad has like, 7 brothers and sisters, so of course they and their kids and their kids kids had to invited).
Re: Shower--how many guests is too many?
I think the key is to ask the host/hostess how many you can invite. It's not only a major financial undertaking, but there may be space limitations that make certain numbers unpleasant for all involved. Also ditto artsyandi - unless it's a group gift where a bunch of people chipped in on one major thing you need, I'd say anything above 20 gifts just gets exhausting to watch!
Full disclosure, though: I am having 3 separate showers - one with my mom's friends, one with my girlfriends, and one with friends from work. If you're only having one shower, you may need to have a bigger guest list, but do be sensitive to the plans and limitations of your hostess.
We invited 50 and by my estimate, I think there will be between 30-35 attend.
I don't know that I would use the word tacky with a large guest list. Maybe cumbersome is a better word to describe it. That's a lot of gifts to open and that alone will take time. My SIL had a wedding shower with about 80 people and it took 4 hours for her to open everything.
We sent out just over 40 invites. No idea how many will come. I hadn't thought about how long it will take to open presents ...
same here