A Brunch Fit for Mom

My mom is pretty amazing. She is my best friend, biggest supporter, and overall pretty awesome person. So, I knew I wanted to do something great for Mother's Day, so I hosted a brunch!

OK, OK, I know it has already been a few weeks since Mother's Day, but hey, we have been busy over here (more on that later).

First, I wanted to choose a theme that 1) mom would like and 2) best utilized what materials I already had. My mom loves black and modern designs, so I chose a black and ombre pink theme for our brunch. I already had black table clothes from my business (you can rent them too starting at $6 each). I ordered additional chair sashes that took the place of runners at the dessert bar. I set a budget of $10 a person for food and decor (it's still on the low end without being cheap, because hey- it's mom!)



Our buffet was filled with foods that didn't need to be heated up (less work for me), and that were fresh and colorful. I made pinwheel roast beef sandwiches, pasta salad, hummus with yellow and red peppers, a cheese platter with several cheeses, honey, and blackberries, pita chips, kettle cooked potato chips, and fresh fruit. My mom and dad don't eat much, so no need to go big on the food. The table was simple but filled. All the plates and bowls were square to give a uniform theme (with the exception of the pasta salad).

For the background of the buffet and dessert tables, I chose to make paper rosettes. They are pretty popular right now, and relatively easy to make. Oh, and did I mention pretty inexpensive? All the rosettes were made for about $20 (and they are fantastic quality, much better than the cheap tissue paper ones ;)

As far as the actual tables themselves, I knew I wanted to do a great dessert table. Rather than purchasing or renting another table for it, I used two smaller bookshelves draped in cloth as our dessert bar. For height, I added two cardboard boxes under the tablecloth (see above).

Drinks were simple. I had lemon water, coffee, a mimosa bar, and assorted sodas for our guests. No one really drinks in my family, so it was the perfect amount. For the Mimosa Bar, I purchased plastic carafes from Party City and placed assorted fruit juice in them. To keep them cold, I froze a chunk of ice directly into the container and added shaved ice at the top.

 Seating proved to be a challenge. We have a smaller place with little seating. We had 10 guests coming, and needed a place for everyone. So, I brought in the chairs from the patio, the office, and the dinning room. Of course, none of them match! To make them all fit in, I added black and pink to each section. The patio chairs got black pillows and  the black chair got a pink one. I them grouped each two chairs together and added a table with a small flower arrangement on it.

 

 

The tables- yeah, they are TV trays. I draped them to look a little better. I think the look helped to unify the room to the theme without going overboard on spending money on decor. Each sash cost $1 and the arrangements were $5 each.

 

Speaking of arrangement, I chose my mom's favorite- daisies! Plus, the are pretty darn affordable! I got them for $1 each from Whole Foods and they made 4 lovely arrangements.

 

 Finally, the dessert bar. I made vanilla cupcakes with homemade raspberry icing (use fresh crushed raspberry juice for an amazing flavor and color). I also made homemade macrons which came out pretty good for my FIRST attempt at the infamous cookie. Finally, I had a hot fudge sundae bar with ice cream pre-scooped waiting in the freezer for guests to devour it! It was definitely my favorite part of the brunch!

Finally, entertainment. I found the 60's music channel and we rocked out to some great oldies. My mom kept commenting on how much she liked the music, so that was a big hit!

So, overall it was a huge success, and the cost came in right at $100 for everything, which goes to show that amazing parties can be achieved with a little time and creativity and not a lot of money!

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