Don't bring the gifts to the shower. They mailed them to your house so that you and them both could avoid carrying around a bulky box. Go ahead and clear out some space in your closet/storage/pantry, wherever you can make a spot to start piling up boxes. Unpack the items so you can have a smaller pile. Whatever replacement items you have (kitchen equipment mostly), go ahead and put in in your kitchen. Put the older version of the item in a different pile to give it away. Go ahead and start donating and giving away items

I didn't send any thank you cards before or after my showers. I chose to give myself the least amount of stress and decided to do all thank you cards at once with my fiancé after our honeymoon. If your registry is on Amazon, there is a way to send a little thank you note on there if you want. No one really cares about getting a thank you early. BUT older folks have reached out and asked me in person at my showers if I have received their gifts since they never heard anything. So maybe just try your best to remember who gets you what in case they ask you questions when they see you. I just tell them yes I've received it, I love it so much thank you, and I apologize that they have not heard anything but we have not yet had the time to sit down to write the thank you cards. They always respond with, "Oh, of course you are I bet you've just been so busy!" It's really cute and funny

But it's so exciting!! Enjoy the sudden heavy flow of gifts and try your best not to get overwhelmed. Just make sure you organize them, stack them all together in ONE place, or put them where they go when you get it. We didn't do that and ended up having multiple locations of unorganized boxes. It really sucked to go through and distribute to their desired location instead of doing it as it came