How to Host Mother's Day Brunch

How to Host Mother's Day brunch complete with menu, flowers, and DIY decor to wow the mother or mothers in your life.

My great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, and I are/were each the oldest of our siblings. We also look so much alike--especially in the same stages of life (meaning I look just like my mom when she was in her twenties and so on). The genes on my Mommy's side are STRONG. Like, "I grew up thinking a childhood picture of my grandma was a just black and white picture of me" strong. My siblings and I have features from my Daddy's side, too, but I can't even count how many times I've heard "You and your mom are twins!" All this to say that I come from a long line of strong, beautiful, graceful women and want to celebrate and honor them as often as I can. Of course, Mother's Day was no exception. I've shared a bit about how my Mommy is the bravest person I know here so I'll just stick to the details of our shindig in this post. Ok? Cool! I hosted a few special mamas at my house for a (mostly) ladies-only brunch this past Sunday and you can check out the menu and decor, as well as some pictures of the celebrants below. Hopefully, this is helpful for any of you looking for inspiration on how to host Mother's Day brunch!

L to R: Mommy, Aunt Kim, Grandma

My sister painted these! She's working on an Etsy shop with prints and such so let me know if y'all want more information about her art.

Similar Dress | Mules | Lippie

Menu

I have been known to bite off more than I can chew when menu planning. I like to have a wide variety of dishes and something usually gets cut along the way due to time, ingredient availability, or just my sanity. This time, I decided to keep it simple and settled on just five menu items. I'll do my best to have the others up as soon as possible!

• Honey Ginger Lemonade
• Fruit Salad with Sweet Orange & Mint Dressing
• Apple Praline Biscuit Bake
• Creamy Crunchy Avocado Chicken Salad
• Baked Spinach & Bacon Frittata

Wooden Bowl | Pitcher | Ice Bucket

DIY Decor

I originally wanted to spell out "MOM" in balloons but ran out of time. Balloons are notoriously uncooperative so here are a couple of tips for making an easy garland with them. This is a simple way to up the festive factor at a gathering.

• An easy way to get all your balloons inflated to the same size is to count the number of breaths it takes to blow up the first one then repeat that number for each subsequent balloon. No eye-balling or measuring needed!
• Measure out enough curling ribbon or string to span the doorway or wall where you want to hang the garland then cut it. You can then tie the balloons (roughly equal distance apart) on the string to create your garland. This way you only have to tape or pin the string to the wall in a few places instead of individual balloons.

I also created several flower arrangements to double as decor and extra gifts because what mother doesn't enjoy taking home a centerpiece from an event?! I love having fresh flowers around the house (evidenced here and here) and the Montrose area H-E-B is my go-to spot for finding floral prettiness while I get my groceries. I loaded up on different sizes and colors of roses, hydrangeas (Mommy's favorite), and alstroemerias the evening before and got to work with a little music in the background. This was an inexpensive way to gift a custom flower arrangement to each mom. Including vases, they came out to about $12 each!

A few elements to keep in mind when arranging flowers:

• Colors: you may want to mix up things bit but be sure to choose colors that go well together. Keep in mind coordination and variety.
• Height: cutting the flowers to the appropriate height for your vase will help ensure a full look and from there, you can have some stick up higher than others to add dimension to the arrangement.
• Greenery--that is, do the flowers have sufficient greenery by themselves or should you add some?
• Container: I try to always gift flowers with a vase so that the recipient doesn't have to worry about finding one, cutting the stems, etc. (Pro tip: You can find great-looking vases and pails at the dollar store!)

I'd love to hear how you celebrated Mother's Day this year so don't hesitate to share below. I'd also appreciate ideas and recommendations for Father's Day since it's around the corner! Thanks for reading!