If you ever plan on hosting a Mother's Day brunch, it's best to go all out. We're talking about glass tea cups, lace tablecloth, finger sandwiches, and all. And that's what we did—and more. Since it was Spring Family Weekend at our university (formally know as Moms and Families Weekend) the weekend before Mother's Day, we made the plan to have a brunch for the moms who came for the weekend.
With each of us assigned a role to bring this brunch to life, we executed it better than we anticipated. Here are the main courses that we wanted to spotlight for this article.
Mimosas
As the token lightweight of the group, it was only fitting to assign Patti to beverage duty. With little knowledge beyond making a killer Tom Collins, she set out to craft a celebratory mimosa recipe. The construction of a perfect mimosa isn’t like NMR spectroscopy (remember organic chemistry?) and the success is largely dependent on your personal preferences. With two simple main ingredients—juice and champagne—your customization options are endless.
For this Mother’s Day mimosa, muddle fresh raspberries, strawberries, and dried hibiscus flowers in a large serving pitcher. After steeping the mixture in strawberry guava juice for ten minutes (or longer), strain the juice into raspberry-sugar rimmed glasses, and top with your choice of bubbly (we chose rosé). Serve immediately for a picture-perfect, revitalizing beverage. Fair warning: these go down easy, so prepare to get tipsy!
Finger Sandwiches
Smoked salmon is great any day of the week, but when combined with complementing flavors, it transcends typical breakfast fare, earning a spot on our Mother’s Day brunch menu. Patti—a self-professed salmon addict—concocted these simple finger sandwiches.
With most finger sandwiches, it’s difficult to prep ahead of time, as the sandwiches tend to get soggy. A thick smear of cream cheese on pumpernickel bread will create a temporary barrier while providing a sturdy base for the delicate salmon. Salt thin cucumber slices and pat with a paper towel to remove most of the moisture, then heap salmon and fresh dill on top. This is a delicious, aromatic finger food that’s perfect for any occasion (or just a typical day).
Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Quiches
With dietary restrictions on the rise, it's important to have a couple gluten-free, lactose-free, and vegetarian options for the nutritionally selective eaters. We had our resident gluten-free epicurean, Hollie, tackle the egg dish. Hollie wanted to find a recipe that was gluten-free and dairy-free so she went on a search for a tasty quiche recipe.
She decided on a recipe found on glutenfreehomemaker.com, and it did not disappoint. The mini zucchini quiches were a perfect finger food option for the brunch: they were easy to transport, and you wouldn't even know they were gluten-free. To accommodate the vegetarians in the group, it was easy to set aside a portion of the quiche batter before adding the bacon. The recipe calls for almond flour, but with the high cost, Hollie opted for tapioca flour instead. Even with the substitution, they turned out beautifully and were a huge hit.
Pies
It may not look like it, but this pie up above is actually a banana cream pie with banana slices lined at the bottom of the pan (and the crust is made out of Oreos *drools*). We know what you're thinking; pie is not something you would eat at a brunch. Well, we say that you can eat pie at any time of the day. Besides this banana cream pie, there was a lemon meringue pie that got eaten up as well.
Decorations
When it comes to throwing a brunch for your mom, you gotta got all out, and what better place to find all the decorations you need than at Michaels? With every upcoming holiday, Michaels will always have special sales, so Whitney Lauren was able to snag some fun, cute decor to spruce up her place.
First, you have to get an elegant tablecloth, because what's a brunch without a nice tablecloth to put delicious finger foods on? And then you sprinkle a generous amount of confetti on the table to give it a more modern vibe, as well as to give it some color. It isn't shown in the pictures provided, but we also got patterned triangle banners to hang above the windows!
#SpoonTip: If you are hosting an event, check out Michaels' Weekly Ad page where you can see the latest coupons and sale items to help you snag the decorations you need ahead of time.
Photo Op Area
After we all stuffed ourselves with as much food and drinks as possible, we moved on over to take some photos in front of our homemade backdrop. This is super easy to set up if you want to have a photo op area for a party because all you need is some festive wrapping paper, tape, and balloons.
Since Whitney Lauren was in charge of the decorations, she didn't mind setting up a wall in her house and getting the materials to make a photo op area. Michaels literally had everything we needed for making the house look as festive as possible. The store even had lettered balloons that we thought would be cute to have to hold in the photos.
After The Brunch
With a morning filled with stories, laughs, photos, and, food, we think we did a pretty sweet job at hosting a Mother's Day brunch for the first time. We were able to make memories together and had fun with our moms. And yes, we do know that some of us decided to hold the balloons to say "WOW" in the picture above—some of us are rebels like that. But overall, it was a great bonding experience for all of us as the editorial team and for those of us with our moms. If you're planning on hosting an event like ours, definitely make sure to go all out and have fun!