Hello friends!

I had the honor of hosting a bridal shower for my sister Megan last week, and ahh it turned out so lovely! The day was filled with sunlight, spring blooms, and a tasty brunch menu. Today I’m sharing all the details, from how we decorated to the food and activities I prepared.

Read on for party planning inspo and some gorgeously sunny photos!

Party hack: instead of printing a welcome sign, design a graphic and display on the TV. I decorated the mantel below with the coffee filter flowers from last post’s tutorial. They were a delightful and much admired addition; highly recommend making some of these for party decorations!

My mom graciously let me use her Great Room and completely rearrange + supplement the furniture. It was the brightest, comfiest spot I could have asked for.

I kept everything looking cozy and cohesive with lots of blankets and pillows borrowed from my house, my Mom, and even from Megan. This is a great way to transform an ordinary room for a party!

Here’s a phone shot since my camera couldn’t capture such a wide angle. I spent all my time decorating this one room, not worrying about the rest of the house since guests mostly spent their time here.

In another nook I set up a bouquet bar using my mom’s white plastic flower buckets and thrifted glass vases. Megan owns a thrift shop on Instagram @goldenrod.thrift, so I knew she’d be proud of me. 🙂

I am SO grateful to all the ladies who let me use their beautiful spring blooms! My mom and grandmother arranged some extra flowers into bonus bouquets to scatter around as decoration too. 

The wall opposite the fireplace held the food. Mom and I spent quite a while figuring out how to fit it all on this buffet table, but with the fruit cups on the mirror ledge, it worked perfectly. 🙂 I also added a small stand to hold tableware.

I figured it might be helpful to include the links and amounts I used for the menu, so… First up was mini pancakes using my favorite recipe here. I doubled the recipe, used an 1/8 cup to pour the batter onto a griddle, and garnished with red raspberries, lemon slices, drizzled melted butter, and a pitcher of maple syrup.

For the protein, my mom made two scrumptious hashbrown sausage quiches with this recipe. We displayed one on a cake stand to vary the height. Note: both quiches and frittata needed significantly longer cook time than the recipe called for. 

I also made a gluten- and dairy-free frittata that everyone enjoyed regardless of diet. I cooked and then refrigerated all the veggies beforehand so day-of prep was quick and easy. I added extra seasonings to the eggs like paprika, garlic and onion powder, etc. Also let’s take a moment for the cute DIY food labels, cut from scrapbook paper and lettered with a brush pen.

Ooh, my favorite: mini avocado toasts! I adapted this recipe, simply using 1 1/2 baguettes from Walmart, around 6 avocados, the juice of one lime, salt and pepper, and Everything Bagel seasoning for garnish. Note: the avocado topping definitely got brown as time went on, so I recommend preparing it as close to go time as possible.

Another diet-friendly addition: blueberry baked oatmeal. I adapted this recipe by removing the white chocolate chips, using a mix of frozen berries, and garnishing with sliced bananas, wild violets, and powdered sugar. It honestly had kind of a weird texture; not sure if it’s my fault or the recipe’s. Maybe it just needed a way longer cook time than recommended since I doubled it.

Last but not least, vibrant fruit cups. I chose red, yellow, and orange fruits to go with the color scheme: strawberries, clementines, and Opal apples. Mom soaked the apples in Sprite to keep them from browning, but duh, I could have used pineapple as an alternative yellow fruit.

I really like how the drink table turned out. I mixed orange and mango juice together with some sparkling water to make sort of a fruit punch, and then had ice water in another pitcher. I used frozen citrus slices as garnish for both.

Okay, now for the party itself! Of course we started with brunch once all the guests arrived.

Oh, another fun detail: I put on the invitation, “if your closet allows, come wearing yellow, red, orange, or coral.” I didn’t want to make people buy new clothes for the event or anything, but the palette was broad enough that everyone obliged! It really added to the bright, cohesive colors of the party. 🙂

After the meal we had a couple of activities and games. The biggest hit was a trivia game. Basically you have a list of questions like “who’s more likely to be running late,” and “who likes ice cream more.” Guests can circle either bride or groom and tally up their results at the end. Everyone laughed so hard when Megan revealed her answers… and some didn’t match up with the ones Harrison had sent in.

I also did a little “guess the kisses” competition that is pretty self-explanatory but was very fun! The winner of Who’s Who got to enter the sweepstakes a second time. 🙂

The other activity was “make your own bouquet.” A few guests at a time chose their favorite vase and filled it with whatever flowers they wanted. So fun, and the bouquets turned out beautifully. Note: pour a couple inches of water in the bottom of all vases before the party starts.

And then, of course, came gifts! Harrison stopped in at the end to greet everyone, help carry the largest gifts, and debate their different answers on the trivia game. Much laughter ensued.

Notes & Tips for the hostess

• Find yourself a pretty house to borrow and don’t be afraid to ask for help setting up! I couldn’t have done it without Mom and a friend.
• We had about 15 guests and the amounts of food were perfect! Some leftovers but not many.
• The party ran from 10:30-1:00 or so, though 12:30 could have worked well too.
• I ordered pretty plates from Etsy but they didn’t arrive in time. Walmart saved me with cute daisy plates, gold-striped napkins, and Chinet plastic cups for drinks and the cut fruit.
• Showers can be beautiful, tasteful, and fun without costing an arm and a leg if you DIY, borrow, and thrift when possible. Natural decor like foraged flowers and branches add so much!
• I prepped a few things beforehand, but Mom, Carmen and I made most of the food that morning. I got there about 3 hours before the party which was plenty; I think 2 1/2 would have sufficed.

Okay, that was a lot of pictures and information! Feel free to Pin the above image for future reference. I hope you found this post helpful if you’re planning a party or just fun to look at if not. 🙂

What was your favorite part of the decor, menu, or activities? Favorite shower you’ve been to?

Thanks so much for reading, my friends, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. Photos taken with my Nikon D7200 and a 35mm lens. Edited with Lightroom.