What’s the one category of wedding gift that most couples say they want? China sets? Kitchen appliances? Flat-screen televisions? Believe it or not, the answer is organizing and storage items for their homes.
 
We’re all overrun with clutter, lots of toys and kitchenware, DVDs and books, linens, pots and pans with lids, tools and home maintenance items, and enough papers to re-fill a rainforest. That blender isn’t going to help much.
 
Couples who have been living together before marriage already have most of their essentials, and couples who plan to blend their two existing homes into one after the wedding have a big problem: finding room for all their stuff and having an attractive, organized home when they get there. So while previous generations’ shower themes have focused on stocking the kitchen or the bedroom, and then we moved into the lingerie shower theme for the woman who has everything and wants to look sexy, the 21st century bride wants all of those great organizing tools and containers she’s seen on home décor shows. Organizing is such an industry that you can have a specialist come to your home and help you classify and store all of your things. An entire company designs closets with amazing shelving and storage capabilities. And the home office? Most homes have them now, and all of those office supplies need to be stored somewhere.
 
If this seems like an amazing idea for the bride and groom, then set your sights on The Organizing Shower as your theme. Talk with the bride about it to see how she feels on the subject. She might love the one-topic shower, or she may prefer the more traditional registry with that blender, linens and a bunch of organizing items thrown in. You can still do the organizing shower! Guests would then give the towels with an organizing rack or storage bins. For the blender, the organizing sidekick might be a terrific recipe file system. 
 
One your bride is in the know and her registry built accordingly – she may be thrilled to go back online and add additional organizing items to her registry, and her groom may do the same for the organizing containers and systems he needs for his possessions – it’s time to let the guests in on the plan. Designate groups of guests to get presents for each room of the home. A dozen guests, then, would get organizers for the kitchen such as pot and pan organizers, plastic container storage systems, plastic bag storage container, spice racks, and utensil slotted drawers. A dozen other guests would get organizing items for the bedroom, such as jewelry organizers, tie racks, under bed storage boxes. For the bathroom, towel racks, toiletry keepers, cosmetic bags and baskets, cleaning supply caddies, and bath salt racks for the bathtub. For the home office, magazine holders, organizing cubes, shelving units, supply trays for in the desk. For the closet, hanging shoe racks, sweater keepers, airtight containers to keep off-season clothing. For the workshop, organizers for tools and hardware, racks for hand tool manuals, and assorted containers.
 
With your guests sent in search for the categorical gifts, think about some additional items that can round out the theme:

 •Books on home organization
 •A group gift to have a closet redesign team come in and maximize their closet space
 •Label-maker machines
 •Colored pens
 •Cedar for storage bins
 •Accordion folders
 •A new address book
 •A list of your favorite home design and organization Web sites
 •A list of organizations that accept donations of home items the couple may want to get rid of
 •Environmentally friendly items like the recycling box from www.greendisk.com in which the couple can throw out old cell phones, DVDs and other toxic materials for free pickup.

What do you serve at an Organizing Shower? Pretty much anything you want, and your dishes can be presented in organizing platters and trays, such as appetizers placed in each tray of a jewelry organizing rack. The serving items become part of the couple’s organizing plan. Your food choices are set out in organized rows, like sushi rolls lined up perfectly. All in keeping with the theme.

For games, you can ask your guests to fill out cards with their best organizing tips, and then try to match the tip to the person who suggested it (make it multiple choice) or create new, creative ones and have the bride guess which is real and which is not. Another game might be a speed game where the players have to organize key moments in the bride and groom’s relationship by chronological order (first kiss, first weekend away, first time meeting the in-laws, etc. – it’s tougher than it sounds.) Or present an organizing item and have guests write down creative and outlandish ways to use it. The winner is the one with the most ideas.

For favors, give out great organizing items to the guests. Terrific travel toiletry cases are always welcome, as are wallets with great slots and zippered portions, weekend bags, jewelry organizers, and books on organizing tips. Home inventory books are also welcome as favors, and you can mix up the colors of travel cases like toothbrush holders and soap dishes. One shower host gave out lingerie organizing trays, which were a big hit with guests.

Other gift ideas: photo albums and photo boxes, DVD and CD holders, home safes and lockboxes, stackable food containers, in-refrigerator produce containers with air vents, soda can holders, and lazy Susan trays that spin. For entertaining, covered dishes for transporting food or cakes to parties, and picnic baskets that hold all of the utensils and glasses in place. And if it’s your practice to do a Wishing Well, in which guests place little things that can be used in the household, paper clips, labels, calendars, notepads and egg timers are always welcome. Why the egg timer? It’s for setting the clock for 10 minutes of organizing time…devoted organizers swear by it.