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!

Mother's Day Luncheon

I think this is the 6th year that I've hosted a luncheon for Mother's Day.  I always do it the Saturday before Mother's Day to eliminate conflicts with other family celebrations.  It seems to work out well this way. This year we had a full house, everyone was able to attend, from my Mom to my six-day-old great-nephew.

I tend to find a theme for my gatherings.  It helps me stay on track with decorating.  This year my theme revolved around doilies. I made banners sewing scraps of material onto paper doilies. I incorporated doilies in a Mom banner I made.  My dessert dishes and cake plate have a doily-style edge to them.  And, of course, I incorporated doilies that my Grandmas made.

My sister provided the lunch food.  We dined on chicken salad and egg salad sandwiches, pasta salad and fresh fruit.  Just enough to satisfy our hunger but left room for dessert, a yummy strawberry lemonade cake (decorated with a doily banner!)

I used lots of flowers on the tables. One can never have too many flowers!  Each adult was able to take a mason jar arrangement home. 

In addition, I made each adult a tote bag, stenciled with a doily and their initial.

For the kids' table I covered it in white paper and put crayons on the table.  This entertained them for a while but soon they were off to the bedroom to play, letting the women catch up with each other and enjoy some laughs. 

It was a wonderful time with the most important ladies in my life and our children. Happy Mother's Day!

I'm linking up to Inspire Me Tuesday!

Mother's Day Brunch

I've hosted Mother's Day Brunch for 4 or 5 years now. It's on the Saturday before Mother's Day. That way there are no conflicts with kids' in-laws or their own family plans. This year we had 11 in attendance...my Mom, my sister, my two nieces, two great-nieces, my step-daughter, daughter-in-law and two of my grandaughters. It was an age span of 17 months to 74 years!  Unfortunately, the 3 a.m. "crud" hit my daughter's house so she and my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter were unable to attend.

I try to keep the brunches to a theme, I find it gives me a direction for my decorating and food choices. This year the theme was "cherries". As cherries are now ripe in our area it's a timely theme, too!

I set two tables; one for the children and one for the adults. I kept the kids' table very basic and kid-friendly using paper plates, napkins, paper placemats. I included color crayons, some games, cherry-flavored popcorn. Also, at each place setting, were cherry-themed necklaces my niece made.

For the adult table I found some vintage-looking fabric and made a table runner. Again, I kept things pretty simple but it was still pretty. I found cute red pots at Beverly Fabrics and had a local floral shop put flowers in them. Each of my guests got to take an arrangement home.

I also made some cherry bath scrub that was set at each place setting.

I saw napkins similar to these on Pinterest so put my spin on them.  I used one of my rubber stamps to make the outline for the stem & leaf, emroidered them with a simple backstitch, then added buttons to make the cherries.  My Napolean Bee silverware adds to the springy theme.

We had a nice lunch of chicken salad (with dried cherries), fresh fruit salad & sour cream muffins.  Desserts were sugar cookies and chocolate cupcakes, filled with cherry filling, topped with cherry buttercream and chocolate ganache.

One of the gifts for my Mom was also cherry-related.  Again, a Pinterest-inspired creation.

 Here is my Mom and 4 of her 6 great-granchildren.  I think the smiles show that we had a wonderful brunch and many memories were made!

It's Thursday and I'm joining the group at Tablescape Thursday!