Bridal showers remain a meaningful part of wedding-related entertaining, but interest varies by age, income, education, and relationship to the couple. The figures below come primarily from HomePage News wedding-shower surveys, with gift-spending and wedding-cost figures reported by HomePage News and attributed to Brides.com or The Wedding Report. Survey years and measurement periods are kept explicit throughout.
Contents
- How many people expect to attend or host
- Who is most likely to participate
- What guests choose as gifts
- When shoppers buy wedding-shower gifts
- Gift budgets by relationship and event format
- Income, education, and location patterns
How many people expect to attend or host
The 2025 HomePage News Wedding Shower survey measured anticipated activity over the following 12 months. Twenty-one percent of respondents said family-and-friends wedding showers were in the sights of the next 12 months, down 3 percentage points year over year. Fourteen percent said they were getting ready for a wedding shower in their own lives, unchanged from the prior year. These are expectations rather than a count of events that ultimately occurred.
Gift intentions were somewhat broader than personal hosting plans. Twenty-three percent of respondents said they were likely or somewhat likely to purchase a home-and-housewares gift for a wedding shower, a result consistent with 2023. Separately, 30% said they would give gift cards for a wedding shower in 2025. Together, the figures suggest that shopping interest can extend beyond people who expect to host their own celebration.
HomePage News also reported a newer 2026 measurement. In that survey, 8% of consumers said they were very likely to attend a friends-and-family wedding shower, while 13% were somewhat likely. For hosting, 5% were very likely to host their own wedding shower in the next 12 months and 9% were somewhat likely. The 2026 survey also found that 22% were very likely to give a home-and-housewares gift and 24% were somewhat likely to do so. Because the 2025 and 2026 results use different response categories, they should be read as separate snapshots rather than directly combined totals.
Who is most likely to participate
Age was associated with expected attendance in the 2025 findings. Twenty-nine percent of consumers ages 35 to 44 were most likely to attend a family-and-friends wedding shower in the next 12 months, compared with 25% of consumers ages 18 to 34. The same source reported that, in its 2023 survey, 36% of consumers ages 18 to 34 expected to attend and 29% of consumers ages 35 to 44 expected to attend. The 2023 and 2025 percentages describe different survey periods.
For hosting or having a shower of their own in 2025, both age groups were at 20%: 20% of consumers ages 18 to 34 expected to have their own wedding shower, and 20% of consumers ages 35 to 44 expected to have one. The matching percentages do not establish that the groups behaved identically in other aspects of planning or spending.
The 2025 survey also separated relationship-based participation from gift selection. Family-and-friends attendance was anticipated by 23% of respondents with post-graduate degrees, 23% of respondents with bachelor’s degrees, and 19% of respondents who did not attend college. For respondents expecting their own shower, the reported figures were 15% among people with less than a college degree, 13% among bachelor’s-degree respondents, and 13% among post-graduate respondents.
What guests choose as gifts
Bedroom products were the leading wedding-shower gift category in the 2025 HomePage News results: 34% of gift givers chose them. Kitchen products followed at 30%, while bathroom or personal-care products reached 25%. Gift cards were selected by 30% of consumers, giving shoppers an option that does not fit neatly into a physical-product category.
The survey’s gender breakdown showed relatively close results for some categories and wider gaps for others. Thirty-two percent of women would give kitchen products, compared with 29% of men. Bedroom products were selected by 34% of women and 33% of men. Bathroom products showed the reverse pattern: 29% of men would give them, compared with 22% of women.
Home-environment and organization categories had larger differences in the reported results. Twenty-three percent of men would give cleaning or home-environment products, compared with 11% of women. Twenty-six percent of men would give organization or home-decor products, compared with 19% of women. Among gift-card choosers, 32% were men and 28% were women. These percentages describe the survey’s reported respondent groups; they do not indicate why people made those choices.
| Wedding-shower gift choice | Reported share |
|---|---|
| Bedroom products | 34% |
| Kitchen products | 30% |
| Gift cards | 30% |
| Bathroom or personal-care products | 25% |
For readers planning a party, the category figures point to several practical lanes for a registry, prize table, or gift guide: bedroom items led the overall list, kitchen items were close behind, and gift cards were selected by nearly the same share as kitchen products. The data does not identify specific products, brands, prices, or registry sizes, so those details should not be inferred from the category percentages.
When shoppers buy wedding-shower gifts
The 2025 HomePage News survey found that April to June was the time of year when respondents were most likely to buy a wedding-shower gift, selected by 31%. July to September was selected by 22%. These are seasonal self-reports about the period respondents considered most likely for their purchase; they are not monthly transaction totals.
The spring-to-early-summer figure is useful when planning a party calendar or content schedule. It indicates that the largest reported buying window was April through June, while the next reported window was July through September. The supplied results do not quantify the shares for October through December or January through March, so no complete annual distribution can be calculated from these figures.
Seasonality also needs to be separated from personal participation. A respondent may expect to buy a gift without expecting to attend or host a shower, and the survey separately measured attendance, hosting, and gift intentions. That distinction matters for party planning: invitation demand, host planning, and retail interest are related but not interchangeable measures.
Gift budgets by relationship and event format
HomePage News, citing Brides.com, reported different expected gift levels based on the giver’s role. Acquaintances were expected to spend at least $25 on a wedding-shower gift. Bridesmaids were expected to spend $50 to $75. The maid of honor was expected to spend more than $75.
The same cited material described a broad range of possible per-person costs for the shower itself. A family-home wedding shower could cost as little as $10 to $15 per person. A modest restaurant wedding shower could reach $50 per person, while an elaborate venue wedding shower could reach $150 per person.
| Role or event format | Reported amount |
|---|---|
| Acquaintance gift | At least $25 |
| Bridesmaid gift | $50–$75 |
| Maid-of-honor gift | More than $75 |
| Family-home shower | $10–$15 per person at the low end |
| Modest restaurant shower | Up to $50 per person |
| Elaborate venue shower | Up to $150 per person |
These amounts are benchmarks reported through a secondary source, not universal etiquette rules. They also measure different things: the first three are gift expectations by relationship, while the last three are possible event costs by format. They should not be added together or treated as a single recommended budget.
Income, education, and location patterns
Income was associated with expected attendance in the 2025 HomePage News results. Thirty percent of respondents earning more than $100,000 expected to attend a family-and-friends wedding shower. The corresponding figure was 22% for middle-income respondents earning $50,000 to $100,000 and 17% for respondents earning less than $50,000.
The same source reported income differences in planning a respondent’s own wedding shower. Twenty percent of affluent respondents were planning their own wedding shower, compared with 14% of middle-income respondents and 13% of lowest-income respondents. The supplied figures do not define the dollar boundaries for the affluent or lowest-income groups beyond the middle-income range stated above.
Geography showed a narrower spread for anticipated attendance. Twenty-one percent of rural respondents expected to attend a family-and-friends wedding shower, compared with 20% of urban respondents and 20% of suburban respondents. The one-point rural difference is descriptive; the supplied data does not establish whether it is statistically significant.
Education results also varied by the question asked. For anticipated attendance, post-graduate and bachelor’s-degree respondents each registered 23%, while respondents who did not attend college registered 19%. For expectations about their own shower, respondents with less than a college degree registered 15%, and both bachelor’s-degree and post-graduate respondents registered 13%.
The broader wedding context is costly as well. HomePage News, citing The Wedding Report, stated that the average wedding in the United States costs about $30,000, while the median U.S. wedding cost is about $18,500. The average and median are different measures: the average can be pulled upward by more expensive weddings, while the median identifies the midpoint of the reported cost distribution. Neither figure is a bridal-shower budget, and neither should be used as one.