Saturday, May 9, 2015

Garden-Themed Mother's Day Luncheon

For the past 7 years or so, I've been hosting a Mother's Day luncheon the Saturday before Mother's Day. I like using the Saturday date, it eliminates a lot of conflicts with scheduled celebrations with in-laws, outlaws and everybody in between. This year we had 11 in attendance; Mom, my sister, my daughter, step-daughter, three granddaughters, my niece and my nephew's significant other and her son. My daughter-in-law and 4-month old grandson couldn't make the 4 hour trip. Maybe next year!

I found these place mats and napkins at April Cornell last year and fell in love with them.  I've been saving them to be used for this event. My florist matched the colors in the linens to the flowers, they were beautiful.  Each of my guests got to take home a green mason jar with flowers, my Mother's Day gift to them.




The linens remind me of a summer garden so I went with a garden-type theme.  For the kids' table I found birdhouses and I filled them with candy.
Our dessert was chocolate cupcakes baked in terra cotta pots.  They were frosted with a yummy chocolate buttercream then topped with crushed Oreos to resemble dirt. The "carrots" are strawberries dipped in orange candy melts. The dessert table looked like a carrot patch!

My sister made a scrumptious Caesar pasta salad that we topped with grilled chicken.  We all enjoyed this salad and I will share the recipe soon.

After eating, we moved out to the backyard to watch the kids play with bubbles, squirt guns and other outdoor toys. We marveled at how big the children are getting, how fast time is flying, and told various Mom stories. I find Mother's Day to be a little too commercialized and much prefer hosting a gathering like this than buying expensive and, often unneeded, gifts. It was a nice day spent with the women and children I love! Happy Mother's Day!

10 comments:

  1. Julie, this is so precious! Happy Mother's Day!

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  2. Lovely, Julie, of course, I wouldn't have expected anything less!!! Happy Mother's Day!

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  3. Julie, what a beautiful party! I love the placemats & the gorgeous flowers! The dessert was so cute, too. Thank you for sharing these lovely pictures....you truly know how to make people in your family feel loved. Happy Mother's Day to you! xo

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  4. Wrote a comment and I lost it??? Beautiful table setting, you should share it next week with Tablescape Thursday. Love the April Cornel placemats and napkins and all the flowers are gorgeous. Happy Mother's Day, Julie.

    Carolyn

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  5. What a gorgeous tablescape. Stunning colors. Love the colors in the place mats and napkins, as well as the plates and flowers. Hope you had a wonderful celebration!

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  6. Your April Cornelle placemats and napkins are lovely for the garden theme. Your darling carrot top cupcakes are the perfect touch for dessert. Your family of Mothers and children are best entertained on less stressful Saturday!

    Pam

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    1. Thank you, Pam! I have never seen your blog before, love what I've seen so far!

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  7. What a wonderful idea and I love, love, love those April Cornell linens! Your flowers and table are gorgeous.

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    1. Thank you, Bev! I have never visited your blog before, I see you like April Cornell linens, too!

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