No, I’m not talking about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. I’m talking about channeling Oprah for a “My Favorite Things” bridal shower, a versatile theme that allows you to present the bride with a huge range of gifts and also get all the guests participating without much fuss. (I love Julie Andrews as much as the next woman, but when it comes to gift-giving, go to the master.) This is also a great low-budget theme. It’s best done at home and the cost is split between guests, but still quite low per person. Dinner or lunch is pot luck–style and the gifts can be small and personal in nature.

For your meal, ask each guest to make her favorite dish. To do this well will require a little bit of planning and coordinating on the part of the host, but it will be worth it in the end. After sharing the theme with the guests, create a Google doc or email list with different slots for the courses: appetizers, mains, sides, desserts or drinks. This way you can be sure you’ll have a balanced meal. You can also ask guests to call you with their preference if you have older guests who don’t email. As the host, you should take on the main dish, but can defer if one guest is really eager or agrees to step in if cooking isn’t your forte. In this case, make sure to invite this guest to cook in your kitchen if they’d like. Everyone else should prepare their dishes at home and be ready to serve or just reheat at your place. But since main dishes can be hard to transfer and require more prep, offer up your kitchen if someone volunteers to shoulder this task.

Have each guest email you a week or so before the shower with the name of their dish so you can make up a menu (great for scrapbooks later!). Also ask each guest to bring an index card with their recipe. You can send out custom cards with the invite or let guests make their own. You can buy a recipe box (check Micheal’s or The Container Store for a start) or make one yourself by purchasing a box at your local craft store. Add all the recipes at the shower and present it to the bride as one of her gifts. You can also ask the guests to send you a Word doc with their recipe and put together a book for the bride. Use a binder and sheet protectors or get fancy and have a book printed using a service like lulu.com. I’ve made cookbooks for my family using their service and the finished product is very nice.

For the gifts, each guest should bring one or a few of her favorite things. It can be a beauty product, kitchen gadget, gift card for a clothing brand, food product, decorative item, piece of jewelry—anything! Along with a recipe card, send each guest a card for their gift as well and ask them to jot down a quick line explaining why this thing is so great! Then ask the bride to read each card and guess which guest chose each thing.

Send the guests home with a few of the bride’s favorite things as their party favor. Or a brand-new car. Whichever you can manage.