After the disappearance of family-provided dowries or "marriage portions" in the 1880's, bridal showers appeared in lower class communities in the U.S., where brides had no financial means of buying everything they needed for their new households at once. Other women in the community assisted by chipping in so that all brides would have a decent trousseau for their weddings without going broke (Pleck 212-213).

Today, bridal showers still exist in all classes of U.S. society, irrespective of the financial status of the bride-to-be. To some extent, they are the female counterpart of the Bachelor party, although this is changing, with women having more and more Bachelorette parties that are similar in style to Bachelor parties.

Bridal showers are viewed as being the more conservative method of celebrating the future marriage "with the girls." Indeed, the main entertainment at bridal showers consists of watching the bride open her presents, chatting and drinking coffee. There may also be some party games.

Often a bride has more than one shower, making it possible to accommodate all female guests of the wedding in case the number is large. Each shower has a distinctive theme, for example a recipe shower, a kitchen appliance shower or a lingerie shower, and all guests are expected to bring a gift that suits the theme.

Because the main purpose of the event is gift-giving and receiving, the bride herself or her mother traditionally does not host the party, as this would be considered greedy.

More and more couples are also now having "couples' showers" instead of bridal showers, with both the bride and groom present at the party and picking the themes of the showers around their shared hobbies. For example, a couple may have a camping equipment shower or a bar-stocking shower.

Another change in the history of bridal showers are bridal shower favors.   The bride will chose favors typically based on her wedding theme.  The use of favors is to spread thanks to all of her guests for celebrating and for sharing the bridal shower.